THE
APPRO-ACHING CRISIS:
BEING
A REVIEW
OF
DR. BUSHNELL'S COURSE OF LECTURES,
ON THE BIBLE,
NATURE, RELIGION, SKEPTICISM,
AND THE
S UPERNATURAL.
BY
ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS,
AUTRHO OF "NATURES- DIVINE REV ELATION8S," "GREAT IIARMONIA," "ARABULA,"
"STELLAR KEY,"t  TC., ETC.
SECOND EDITION.
BOSTON:
WILLIAM  WHITE & COMPANY,
BANNER OF LIGHT OFFICE,
158 WASHINGTON STREET.
NEW YORK AGENTS-AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY.l
1870.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
ANDREW jACKSON DAVIS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the
District'of New Jersey;
MOCarn  & MMLLLR, TERIEOTYPRJI&




AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
TaE GREAT QUESTION of this age, which is destined to convulse and divide Protestantism, and
around which all other religious controversies
must necessarily revolve, is exegetically foreshadowed in this Review; which is composed of
Six Discourses, delivered by the Author before
the Harmonial Brotherhood of Hartford. Religious truths present themselves naturally to a good
mind; and by such a mind they will be most
accurately comprehended. Men of the greatest
talent and learning frequently reason themselves
into the profoundest errors, by commencing with
the confusing impression that Truth is complex
and supernatural. He who would apprehend
the simplicity of Truth and worship at her shrine,
must be ready at all times to divest his mind of
prejudices and of preconceived opinions, whenever Truth reveals their falseness. The author's
method will be found to be plain, because such
is truly the seal of reason.
The views presented concerning the "Word,"
it may be remarked, are mainly connected with
the external peculiarities thereof, as the occasion
does not now demand a deeper criticism. The




-4             AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
author is acquainted with a more spiritual Logos,
within the original symbolical expression (o 2u6yos'to3 O~eo,7 "the word of God," to be found, with
identical meanings, in the Zenda Vesta, in the
Vedas, also in the Bible), which lies quite untouched in the present work. Indeed, the spiritual " Word " here alluded to, as originally signified by JoHn, is not (o 2toyoS  and  265ot)
Divine " Truth" and " Reason " dependent upon
the paper and ink habiliments of the Old and
New Testaments; but upon the intellectual progress and religious development of the human
soul-a growth of parts into a completeness.
The organizing, unfolding, and energizing Spirit
of God (which is the true translation of John's
meaning) will surely be more manifested, or inworlded, in a New Dispensation than in any conceivable number of sacred canons. Supernaturalism adheres to the form; the Harmonial Philosophy seeks the spirit.
Among all the author's recent impressions,
there stands no one question so imnportacnt and conspicuozus as that set forth in the succeeding pages.
The most external and superficial aspect is first
presented; but deeper investigations are certain
to follow. There is much to illuminate our
present existence, and far more to joyfully anticipate.                         A. J. D.




THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Religious reformation the greatest question of the age. —A letter to
the Rev. Dr. Horace Bushnell.-Object of this work.-The Crisis
approaching.
FAITHFUL to my spiritual impressions, I watch, with
constantly deepening interest, all the important and
momentous changes of this eventful Era.
All superior intelligences regard the origination and
universal application of the Art of Printing, as a
power of immense and never-ending value. By it,
the world is fast becoming illuminated with the scintillations of wisdom, and with the principles of a
spiritual republicanism.  By it, the early Alteration in
the Church became widely diffused —an  alteration,
which, owing principally to educational convictions,
the Catholic Church stigmatizes as the great " HERESY.".But all Protestants know, from the various sources of
civil and religious experience derived therefrom, that
the alteration alluded to was a decided improvement or
"REFORMATION " in all matters pertaining to Christi —




6            THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
anity. Printing first enlightened the people concerning the irreligion and atrocious ceremonies practiced
by the early Church. And the world has at last come
to see that religions reformatcrion is both possible and
beneficial. This conviction has attained a high place
in nearly all well-educated and healthy minds.
Changes and consequent improvements in almost
every department of human interests, are confidently
expected by those who live in the Nineteenth Century.
While those who are confessedly mortgaged to the dogmatic organization of Old Opinions, can not bring their
minds to contemplate Reformations in any thing as
possible without being accompanied by some overwhelming disaster either in the Church or State. The
enlightened and clear-seeing intellects, however, can
read the events of this epoch,-recognizing plainly, in
the long, well-defined shadows which approaching
changes cast before them, the peculiar crisis or interregnum that is certain to precede the establishment of
a higher form of ecclesiasticism and a nobler type of
republicanism and religious freedom.
Religious reformation is demonstrated to be both
practical and beneficial to mankind. Deeply impressed
with this conviction, and believing also that the highest
_point of improvement, in social arrangements and religious institutions and faith, has not yet been reached
by man, I obey my inflowing impressions, and strive to
help move forward the ponderous Car of human pro
gression. Accordingly, hearing that HORACE BUSHNELL,
D. D., of the City of Hartford, had in contemplation'
the delivery of a course* of lectures, bearing, as I sup
posed, on the great general question of religious Refor




A LETTER TO DR. BUSHNELL.'
mation, I made it a point, by interior direction, to be
present on all the occasions, and listen to his disclosures.
Immediately after the pronunciation of his introductory discourse, I penned and addressed the following
letter through the Hartford Times; the import of
which will appear on perusal:A LETTER TO REV. DR. BUSHNELL.
A SUGGESTION.
HARTFORD, December 15, 1851.
DEAR SIR, —The simple announcement that you had in contemplation
the formation and deliverance of a course of lectures " On the Naturalistic Theories of Religion as opposed to Supernatural Revelation," gave
me much pleasure. Nor did that pleasure experience any diminution on
hearing the first lecture of the proposed course, delivered by you last
evening. Indeed, I can scarcely express the gratification excited in my
mind by the clearness of your definitions, the broadness of your premises,
the fairness of your statements, and by the goodness of your intentions,
manifested in the introductory discourse to which I now refer.
Your position in the question is, it seems to me, entirely unlike any
other ever assumed by the clergy of Christendom. And your appreciation of the magnitude and importance of the subject-nay, its intrinsic
momentousness to the welfare of mankind-is also vastly different and
far more just, it seems to me, than I have ever before discovered in any
other member of your exalted profession.
That the clergy of this city have manifested wisdom in the selection
(by suggestion and compliment) of yourself as the person most calculated
to approach and treat this great question with ability and candor, is
very evident; and that the enlightened portion of this community will
be attracted, gratified, and instructed by the manner and method you
design to adopt, there can be no doubt.
You approach the subject, define your position, and declare your intentions and arguments in a manner considerably unlike the method




8                THE  APPROACHING CRISIS.
pursued by most clergymen, viz., with a firm reliance upon your own
reason or judgment, with which you design to address the corresp2onding
faculty in the mind of the hearer. This, as you must be aware, is quite
a new method to adopt in the analysis and examination of a Bible question, so undoubtedly important.
Although you seem not to acknowledge the. " Sovereignty of Reason,"
in matters pertaining to a supernaturalistic revelation and faith; yet
you very evidently rely upon that faculty (reason) to perform its appropriate functions in order to convince your audience of the soundness and
legitimacy of your conclusions.
In addressing you thus publicly, I aim not at discussion or controversy; but simply to make a suggestion to you, and also to the Hartford
community, that this course of lectures be delivered by you in a place
where all parties interested can have an opportunity, should they
desire it, to analyze and examine before the same audience the various
positions you may assume in the discussion. As the case now stands,
the matter at issue is not properly apprehended by half the number of
minds that may listen to your discourses. The people do not so clearly
realize that very many thousands are more or less involved in the
insinuating infidelity of this age; indeed, I was myself surprised at the
statistical information which you "mparted on this head. Hence, to
most minds, the question has not yet attained that imposing magnitude
which, in your own opinion, and in fact, it undoubtedly possesses. I
concur entirely with you, and with the clergy of Hartford, that the
greatest question of this day is the one you have resolved to answer,
viz.: Whether Rationalism or Supernaturalism shall be triumphant?
You propose, as I apprehend you, to reconcile the two forms of faith,
and show that Mir'acles, in the theological definition of the term, are not
inconsistent with the operations of unchangeable law and system.
Now I think, Reverend Sir, that you will most willingly accede to
the foregoing proposition; inasmuch as you affirmed, toward the termination of your discourse last evening, that in announcing the course of
lectures, you had no design to draw people to the North Church, or to
imply that you undertook the task from any consciousness of personal
qualification. But you very nobly and ingenuously took upon yourself
this work of reconciliation from a love of truth, or from an unmixed
sense of the magnitude and vital importance of the question to the
generality of mankind. I perfectly harmonize in the latter conviction;
and, therefore, suggest the FREE analyzation and discussion of the
question proposed in your lectures. Will not the citizens of Hartford




A LETTER TO DR. BUSHNELL.
adopt some method which will secure to all parties an opportunity of
free speech? Will they not obtain some large and commodious hall;
and would you not, Sir, in such case repeat the introductory lecture of last
evening; because you therein lay the foundation broad and satisfactory,
and in a manner so frank and truthful, that I would recommend its
frequent repetition. I do not know that any persons would avail themselves of the liberty of speech proposed, and say any thing by way of
criticism on the subjects involved in your discourses. I have at present
no design to do so myself; but I simply ask, for the parties interested,
that the same audience may hear the Pro and Con of the greatest
question of the age. I know no other way to obtain a rational verdict.
Very respectfully,     A. J. DAvIS.
The breadth and comprehensiveness of the greatest
question of this age, and the bold, independent statement thereof by Dr. Bushnell in his introductory lecture, sent a thrill of pleasure through many truthseeking and liberty-loving minds. And, necessarily,
the result of the foregoing letter was anticipated with
no little interest. But no response was received. At
the time the letter was penned, I had received no impression to write any discussionary criticism of the Lecturer's  propositions.   It was only  after it became
evident that no heed would be given to the above
suggestion, that the interior direction came to me to
proceed with a plain, unadorned examination of Dr.
B —-'s principal positions.
Many  hundreds have  listened  with  considerable
interest, but with  more anxiety, to the  affirmative
treatment of this high theme; whilst only a small portion of that number heard the analyzations of the
main arguments on that side, which constitute the contents of this work. Rationalism versus Supernaturalism.
This is the great religious question of the age.  And
1*




10           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
considering the position of the church, and the condition of faith among the people respecting it, the subject has been approached and treated by Dr. B -, in
a manner as fair and comprehensive as could be reasonably anticipated from that source. Yet he will perceive, it is believed, that a deeper and more candid examination must be instituted before those who have
become accustomed to independent thinking, can, with
a confiding mind, look to the pulpit for sound argument and practical reform.
The frst lecture of his course was delivered by him
on the 14th; the second, on the 21st of December,
1851; the third, on the 4th; the fourth on the 18th;
and the fifth, on the 25th of January, 1852. The
course is supposed not yet completed. But the lectures,
thus far, do not solve the most essential problems,
which lie at the basis of what is termed, "Infidelity';
and, hence, it is deemed wisdom briefly to analyze the
positions assumed, and state the various difficulties
which threaten to prevent the solution undertaken.
The author attended the delivery of these lectures;
but he has had no external access to the MSS. This
Review is, therefore, wholly the result of an interior
effort on the part of the author; and yet it is written
in a style adapted to the popular understanding, being
free from elaborate and tedious disquisitions.
Since the Norman conquest, there have been evident
advancements made in every thing, except, perhaps, in
supernaturalistic revelations. The seal of infallibility
must be broken away, before a new light and beauty
can enliven and embellish the mystical disclosures of
any seer, prophet, or evangelist; whose soul may be




A LETTER TO DR. BUSHNELL.           11
able to reflect the symbols of many truths. Owing to
the dogmatism of infallibility, the Bible is taught nowa-days as it was nearly four centuries ago. And although very many minds have escaped from the old
faiths and creeds, and left the priests to their idols; yet
the strength of popular or external sentiments is such
that the seceders are usually constrained to remain
very quiet; and thus they pass in society for very good
" lukewarm" Christians, unless, indeed, they have the
courage to stem the central current, and establish a
new form of worship. If so, they are likely very soon
to become respectable, and antagonistic in their turn
to those who may prefer a still greater latitude in their
theological opinions.
It is confidently hoped that the talented mind, whose
recent labors have suggested the succeeding criticisms,
will find therein some points-or intended-to-be pointsof argument on his part, which may require much reconsideration, in order to subserve the objects for which
his lectures were avowedly designed-viz.: —to remove
doubt and skepticism from the rising generation, and
give a new philosophic light to the rationai8stic Christian. He may rest perfectly assured that no captious
or merely controversial spirit has dictated this review.
On the contrary, the present work is expressly and
conscientiously designed to convince him, and the investigating world besides, that Spiritual Rationalistic
positions are as invulnerable and satisfying as his doctrines are unsound and insufficient.




12             THE APPROACHIlNG CRISIS.
CHAPTER II.
FIRST R E  IEW.
Truth and custom.-Mental equilibriums.-The modern Martin Luther.The grounds of supernaturalism.-The defective text. —The sacred
canons.-The Greek philosophers.-The foundation of Christianity.
Combe's gospel on the Constitution of Man.
STRICTLY speaking, there are, and always have been,
in this rudimental and undeveloped world, two classes
of minds.  One class, being improperly situated in society, and mentally trammeled and undeveloped, always
love and reverence Custom more than Truth. The other
class, being endowed with superior powers of mind,
combined with social advantages and high conceptions
of Justice, always find it easy to reverence Truth independent of Custom —nay, independent of the horrors of
exilement or the keener terrors of the Vatican.  The
former desire custom to become:Truth; the latter,
Truthl to become custom.  The votaries of custom  are
invariably and universally the mightiest in numbers,
and most always in power.  Hence this party, being in
the majority, universally rule the other portion of mankind; and determine, with an iron scepter, what the
more truth-loving and advanced party shall do and
believe.
The custom-serving mind is certain to oppose all attempts on the part of a truth-loving mind to assert its




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.      13
independence in matters of faith.  Every effort-no
matter how quiet and wise it may be-to break away
from the multifarious restraints, which have held the
church and the world in darkness and degradation for
long centuries, is, by the vast majority, invariably
condemned, precisely as the Pope censured Galileo,as " absurd in itself, false in philosophy, and formally
heretical, because declared and defined as contrary to
Sacred Scripture!"
The Roman church is not the only earthly example
of religious apprehensiveness and sectarian intolerance.
Protestants love to draw  comparisons between the
Roman and the English church-showing, by means
of contrast, the horrid deformity and intolerance of
the one by holding up, before the people, the superior
nature, organization, and liberties of the other. Now
to this Protestant course I make no objection; but,
what I mean to teach is-that the two classes of miznds
alluded to are not necessarily churchmen; they are substantially the citizens of the world-a result, when
philosophically considered, of the imperfections or
rather gradations, consequent upon a universal system
of progressive development in minds and morals.
There must be low and high-intolerance and liberty
-men and angels, stationed along the rectilinear, but
spirally ascending, line of spirituat and material creations.
The car of progress will roll speedily, determinedly
onward; and you, my friends, may feel the utmost
security in taking seats therein, because conservatism
and intolerance are always ready, with their mighty
strength, to press the "brake upon the wheels," and




14           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
prevent the sad, social and religious disasters which
might otherwise occur.
This pushing and pulling, this progression and retrogression, this fearlessness and cautiousness, are manifestly all incorporated with, and developed by, the
universal providence of the Living God. In mechanism
it is a well-known fact, that all motion is created and
maintained by what has been termed a constant destruction of equilibriums. But unless these equilibriums
are properly adjusted, the motion —proceeding from
their successive and alternate disturbance-is defective
and incapable of a useful application. The motion is
good and useful only when the equilibriums are harmoniously arranged and disturbed. So also, the human
race: when agitated by the improper arrangement of
the progressive and conservative characteristics of mind,
it is necessarily very discordant and miserable. But
when, like the wise and skillful mechanic, the enlightened members of humanity shall give a truer form and
better direction to these mental equilibriums, the whole
race will experience more happiness and easier progression. All this is mathematically certain. Now, therefore, as you will perceive, conservatism and even intolerance (in a certain sense) are not to be dogmatically condemned, nor yet progression or mental independence;
but only their wrong development and misapplication.
This is- the matter to study and to determine.
The application of the foregoing will be seen when
I come to tell you, that I am now impressed to review
Dr. BUSHNELL; not on the ground or presumption that
his conservatism is wrong in itself, but that it is exceedingly at fault in its present mode of manifestation. I




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.      15
speak now as mankind's advocate. In conducting this
review, let it be remembered, I am not contending with
the local positions, private opinions, and confidential
statements of an individual; but with an individual
definition of the various positions, doctrines, and principal conclusions, which, unquestionably, are entertained
and inculcated in different forms by the most enlightened members of the Christian sects.
That Dr. BUSHNELL is, in several respects, the Martin
Luther of to-day,-in the church of which he is a recognized orthodox member,-is evident from the resemblance he theologically presents to that early reformer.
Therefore, not as -Dr. ]Bushnell, be it remembered, but
as the leader of a new and more liberal form of conservatism, do I approach the great QUESTION which he
defined and amplified in his recent lecture.
In the lecture-to which I above refer-it was very
clearly, frankly, and ingenuously acknowledged, that
the greatest question of this era is: that which is suggested by the modern "' Rationalistic Theories of Religion as opposed to Supernatural Revelation and
Faith." A more lucid version would render the question in substance this: "Whether Rationalism should
be permitted to supplant Supernaturalism, and preside
henceforth over the minds of the people, and give
direction in all matters pertaining to religious teaching,
discipline, worship, and social organization i" This is
the plain statement of the question as I am impressed
to apprehend it. It is exceedingly simple; but none
the less important. And it is enough to say, by way of
special criticism, that Dr. 3B-   stated this powerful
problem at length; with much clearness, beauty, and




16            THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
force of expression; with much originality of appreciation and method; and, above all, it was almost wholly
free from that presumptuous and dogmatic style, which
most clergymen employ, in describing -the tendencies
of the various innovations and the claims and positions
of the reformers of the day. HIe was frank in his
statements; noble in his realization of the present
colossal proportions of the Progressive Party; and
fraternally disposed toward those who think differently
from himself. And yet, it would not be improper to
remark, that, although his language and method were
free from uncharitableness and every species of church
denunciation, still there was betrayed some severity
toward the Progressive reformers, in the tone and alternating modulations of his voice.
I mention this fact merely to show, that, internally
and privately, he experienced sensations of opposition
to the different forms of social reform and Progress:
from which we may also safely infer, that he desires to
establish a species of infallible Conservatism, or theological immutability, contrary in effect to all free
thought and mental independence. A man may be
very artistic and gcuarded in the choice of language by
which to express his thoughts, and the expression of the
muscles of the face may also be considerably controlled
by the will; but how true it is that the eyes and voice
are the never-failing indexes of the soul's paramount
sensations!
As I am impressed, Dr. B- proposes to reconcile,
by a course of philosophical argumentation, the various
forms of what he terms " Infidelity" with the received
claims of'" Christianity, as a system of salvation or re



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.        17
demption."  He thinks he can, or earnestly prays that
he may be able to, show conclusively " that the miracles, the incarnation of God in Christ, redemption,
special providence, and prayer," are all perfectly consistent with established system and reconcilable with
unchangeable principles. In other words, he thinks he
can demonstrate that there is nothing which can prevent a reasonable reconciliation between "natural and
revealed" religion; between modern Rationalism and
the supernatural system of Revelation and faith.
Now one of two things is certain; either Dr. B1
does not fully realize or comprehend his own position
in the premises, or else, he is not sufficiently singleminded to the demands of truth, and faithful to the
silent convictions of his own soul.  Because, in the
matter of reconciliation, which he has in contemplation,
there is surely nothing intrinsically opposed to the fundamental teachings of Rationalistic Christianity.* The
Harmonial Philosophy-which, be it remembered, includes both ancient and modern spiritualism-has done
this to the perfect satisfaction of its most enlightened students and believers.  Miracles, the Incarnation, Redemption from sin, through the exercise of the Christprinciple, Special Providence through angelic ministrations, and Prayer even, are all embraced by the Harmonial Philosophy, as explainable upon unchangeable
principles, which have proceeded from Deity into and
through the universe. If Dr. B-    designs to assume
this rationalistic method of explaining supernaturalism;
* The reader may not altogether like this name; but I follow my impressions in conforming to the use made of it.




18           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
why then-I ask-does he excite the apprehensions of
his hearers by describing the various forms of ca insinuating and potent "' Infidelity," which loads the mental
atmosphere we unconsciously breathe with pestilential
infections and dangerous skepticism? If he apprehends
no intrinsic antagonism between "'Pantlheism," when
properly interpreted, "Physicalism, Geology, and the
Sciences," and the system of a Supernatural Revelation
and its corresponding teachings; then-I inquire-why
does he, in stating the great question, create' a general
prejudice against these features of modern Rationalism?
Why create a false issue in the premises?.Why not
say frankly, that, in his opinion, the position of the
Harmonial Philosophers and Spiritualists, is substantially correct; but that he would prefer to receive the
new doctrines with some modifications, and to clothe
them, in order to make them his own, in his own peculiar and classical nomenclature?  If he sincerely believes the two forms of faith to be reconcilable, and
not incompatible; then I hesitate not to affirm that Dr.
B —-- has created a useless question of distinction, without a difference, and an issue almost wholly false in the
minds of his people. But if; on the other hand, Dr.
*B-. means by the system of Christianity, that definition of supernaturalism which is generally accepted as
orthodox in all Protestant countries, or among all enlightened sects; then he has undertaken a work destined
to be utterly valueless to the thinking world —because he
would be striving to prove that possibilities and i'mpossibilities are merely twin-brothers in the great rationalistic or supernaturalistic system of the All-wise Creator.
To apprehend Dr. B — as admitting, however re



THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.        19
motely, the general doctrines of rationalistic Christianity, would be, as I am impressed psychometrically to
regard his mind, very clistastefal and disturbing to
him. He would prefer, doubtless, to be apprehended
or interpreted,-(for it seems to me that many of his
statements require  considerable interpretation,) —to
mean this: that he. does not reject any scriptural definition of Christianity, nor any portion of the scheme of
" redemption" therein disclosed. Nay: but at the same
time, he must be understood to be the special architect
of his own theological temple: the rearer and framer
of his own theology and Christianity.  He believes
firmly in the purity and divinity of the Bible-materials.
But with those materials no one can construct or erect
a spiritual ZIoN to meet his wants, except hinzsef!
Hence he differs quite conspicuously from all his brethren; not, however, intrinsically and really, but externatly and apparently.  This fact alone makes him a
modern Luther; a reformer, not in spirit and in truth,
but merely in the FORM or symbols of Christianity. Let
us, then, do Dr. B-  the justice to apprehend aright
what he designedly signifies by Christianity. He means
precisely what any other Bible-believer means. And let
us, also, do him the justice to comprehend his mecning
correctly, when he asserts, in substance, " that Infidelity,
in its many and varied forms, is pervading and permeating the minds of the people."  He means in reality
precisely what any other churchman means by that
term, viz.: any thing opposed to the form of conservatismn which he has erected, or which is now in the process of erection, in his own particular mind.
Again I say, that I feel no inward opposition to the




20           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
lprincilple of conservatism, considered as a law of mental equilibrium; only to its misapplication. And I
repeat, that I am impressed to regard Dr. B-    as
the leader and embodiment of a new and more interesting form of Conservatism than has ever been constructed from the fossil vestiges of oriental theologies. But
this theological superstructure, —which he now contemplates and designs to erect in his own mind, and in
which he supposes he will always find Christianity in
itspurest and Aighlest form,-is happily not yet completed. It is now in the process of formation. And
the hopes of the True Reformer, concerning the future
usefulness of the mental labors of this Martin -Luther to
the world, must be suspended on the mere possibility
(which unfortunately is very slight), that, when he
comes to frame and adjust the superior portions of his
theological temple, he may discover that the compartments are too contracted, and the dome too low, to suit
the real wants of his expanding and aspiring nature!
It is now my impression to examine the introductory
lecture of the course alluded to, on the foundation
which he therein laid before the people, viz.: Ractionalism as opposed to Supernaturalism, —contemplating the
ultimate reconciliation of the two theories. For to apprehend him to mean, by supernaturalism or Christianity, any thing really different from the generally
received opinions on that head, is to impeach the soundness of his judgment regarding his own position in the
premises, —to do which I have no inclination. I rather
desire to believe him to be not fully aware of the deeper
workings and convictions of his mind. I come now to
the closer criticism.




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITE.      21
The lecturer foreshadowed the whole question, and
his future answer thereto, in this comprehensive passage-which he selected from the first chapter and
seventeenth verse of Paul's epistle to the Colossians,"And he is before all things, and by him all things
consist." Of this scriptural assertion he discovered a
parallelism, or correspondential indorsement, in the
third verse of the first chapter of John; where it is
asserted that " All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."  Now
if Dr. B-  really believes that Christianity, " as a
system of redemption," was originally laid in the wisdom of the Infinite Mind before any thing was made;
and if he believes that, when that Mind elaborated the
world, Christianity was incorporated into the very soul
of creation; then why does he allow himself to betray,
or to experience, any FEAR as to the safety of that system which God himself created and sustains? If Dr.
13- believes Christianity to be a PRINCIPLE of Love
and salvation, incorporated in and unfolded out of the
system of the world; then he unquestionably occupies
Rationalistic grounds, in interpreting his theology; and
so there is an end to all cause of difference between us,
on the fundamental points at issue. But he evidently
does not occupy this position; because he manifested
great concern for the welfare and success of Christianity, as a scheme of redemption.
Furthermore, if Dr. B- believes Christianity to
be a SPIRIT, and NOT a form-a  prnciple operating between God and Man; not confined to a mere combination of books called " the Bible;" then he is clearly a
believer in the fundamental teachings of the Harmonial




22            THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
Philosophy; and thus, again, ends all cause of controversy.  But I am impressed not to identify him with
that which he himnse~f did not originate and acknowledge; for evidently he is never insensible to the LUTHER
feeling-the marking out of an independent course to
suit hDis own affections and gifted intellect.
There is no disguising the plain, palpable fact, that
Dr. B   -is not yet emancipated from the customary
or POPULAR FORM of Christianity; that is to say, he
regards the Bible as the precious relic of what occurred
twenty and more centuries ago-the Casket of a "' system of Redemption," whose supposed jewels must not
be examined; except by the EYE of a confiding, unreasoning faith. If he is to be received as the representative or exponent of his own thought; then the.above
statement of Dr. B  —'s present position, is perfectly
accurate. A mind thus trammeled, and thus manacled
by the paper and ink habiliments of the Christian religion, can not adapt itself to the workings of the law of
Progress. He must, alas! close his eyes to the operations of a progressive Christianity; the great law of
human destiny! He must step blindfolded along the
path of error, describe a circuitous and zigzag course in
the fields of humanity and thought; and, whilst the
resplendent beams of an orient sun are lighting up the
highway to social harmony and human happiness, he
must close his eyes, and pretend not to see any " worldsaving truth" in the sublime principles of modern
reformation!
Dr. B  -- is not yet, I repeat, emancipated from the
paper and ink relics of Christianity. The New Testainent is the only orthodox remains thereof; the only




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.      23
SKELETON to remind one of the departed spirit. Alas!
what a "foundation of sand" to build a spiritual Zion
upon. Every wind of doctrine threatens to demolish
the splendid superstructure. The Egyptian pyramids
have, withstood for long centuries the whirlwinds of the
desert; though they approach from "all directions" at
the same time. But this is man's work. Surely, if the
Bible is the pyramid of Christianity which God himself
has erected on the moral desert of this world, then can
Dr. B-  really believe that the " whirlwind of skepticism and infidelity, coming at once from all points of
the compass,' can overthrow the God-made superstructure? To this question I earnestly solicit a reply. I
know that there are watchmen on thie towers of the
modern Zion of ancient construction, whose cry is, 1" It
is a Christian duty to hold reason in subjection to faith 1"
Yet the building is in danger, because, forsooth, TRUTH
alone can withstand the surging billows of TIME, of
independent investigation, and remain forever unmoved
and unchanged.
Let us look at another point. If Dr. B —  sincerely believes the New Testament to be a God-made
book, and that the authority thereof should not be
questioned by an enlightened reason, he surely was
very injudicious, to say the least, to object, in the very
outset, to the defective translation of a portion of the
text which headed his discourse. Nothing can be more
productive of absolute faithlessness-especially in the
youthful mind and rising generation-than the shadow
of a suggestion that a passage of Scripture has been
imperfectly or incorrectly translated by the talented
English scholars. In one part of his discourse, the lec



241          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
turer stated, in a tone of voice somewhat ironical and
sarcastic, that " Rationalists rejoiced and luxuriated in
all good men," and that, when " it suited their convenience, they would even quote passages of Scripture."
Now I object to such essential unfairness, especially
when draped in very respectful and honest-sounding
language. Surely, a reasonable man is always pleased
and at liberty to adopt the words of any author, in or
out of the Bible, should these words express his own
promptings and convictions. As for example: Dr.
B     quoted from Paul a passage which plainly declared his own intellectual pre-conceived convictions;
with the qualification, however, that " had the translation rendered the word'by,''IN,' as it is in the original,
the idea would be much stronger;" and, consequently,
far more suited to the intellectual conception which the
Lecturer had formed of the system of the world, and
the relation of God to it. Here, then, is an orthodox
example of the rationalistic method of quoting Scripture, "when it is convenient," or illustrative of some
particular thought or theme. Again, I can not but
remark upon the injudic:iousness and incautiousness of
that mind, which-while it professes to believe the
Bible to be the pure and unalloyed Word of God —yet
so openly ventures to affirm that a passage therein is
not correctly or infallibly translated. In this instance,
the mistake of the translators is not essential. But
what assurance have we that greater mistakes have not
been made in other passages?
Let us now think of the text. It was asserted that
it imparted a clear " outlined conception" of the system
of the world. Also, that it showed conclusively, that




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.        25
the whole " structure and plan of Christianity " were
contemplated before the world was made; and that it
is, consequently, an institution laid within the constitution of things. To this I am moved again to reply,
that, if Dr. 13B    means, by Christianity, a PRINCIPLE
OF LovE-that redemption from sin is practicable
through a personal and universal exercise of that principle-a principle unfolded in the progressive developments of nature and humanity; then, he is with us,
and we with him, and thus satisfactorily ends the controversy. In this case, his whole question, together
with all his apprehensions about "Infidelity" and
" Christianity," are based upon his own intellectual
misconceptions; the issue is false, and hence unnecessary. But that he does not take this ground has already
been shown from  his method.  By Christianity he
Mzeans precisely what every other Bible believer means
by the term. Hence, in order to be perfectly sound and
reasonable in his conclusions, Dr. IB  must admit that
the Deity actually planned-in the holy labyrinths of his
wisdom, 6" before theworld was made " —the Garden of
Eden; the fall of man; the misery of his offspring; the
deluge; the confusion of tongues; the vicarious atonement; and the unutterable miseries of hell. Does this
category of evils seem like the handiwork of an all-wise
and perfectly good Creator?  But-no matter! It
must be so-that is, if the text under consideratiol is,
in very truth, the Worcd of Gol. For "I-ie is before
all things, and in Him  ALL THINGS (not a portion of
things, remember,  but all things) consist."  If Dr.
B-~ were a rationalistic Christian, the text would
clash with no truth which his affections might feel, or.
2




26            THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
judgment comprehend. But as he is not, his position
is exceedingly painful, inconsistent, and untenable.
Indeed, the conflict which will inevitably be generated
in his mind, by the entertainment of such hostile sentiments, and the attempt to reconcile them, will be
sufficient, it seems to me, to. force him either into
rationalistic doctrines or else into a deeper and more
incurable conviction of the asserted truth of the Persian
tale of total depravity. That he may never find himself confirmed in the latter faith-in the slough of Despair-in company with the giant bearing that name —
is my fervent prayer and hope.
The text in question plainly asserts that, " He is before all thinygs, and by (or IN) him  all things consist."
Now, I ask: How  does Dr. B -            know that this
text foreshadows a truthful conception of the outline or
frame-work of Creation? Does he adopt the rationalistic or eclectic method of quoting Scripture, " when it
is convenient," to body forth the sentiments of his own
mind? Or, does he take Paul's Epistle to the Colossians as divine authority? If the former, then he is a
Christian rationalist-a strict follower and advocate of
the Harmonial Philosophy. If the latter, then he is
standing upon a foundation as impermanent as the
changeful sand. Unless he is very careful and sound
in the assumption and establishment of his premises, the
youthful minds of his congregation, and the rising generation of investigators, will surely find it out. If he
takes St. PAUL for his authority, and believes that the
text is true on that yround, then I must remind him
of a fragment of church history, with which, as a
scholar, he must assuredly be well acquainted.




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.      27
When the pure Ilebrew tongue ceased to be vernacular, and the Jews had returned fromn 13abylon,
there was immediately formed a sacerdotal organization, and a committee of Rabbis was appointed to collect and preserve all the known Hebrew manuscripts.
This was done; and the parchments placed in the
Sacrari-um. It was not, however, until many years
after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity and exilement, that most of the books of the Old
Testament were heterogeneously bound together. This
was, properly speaking, the " Babylonian Canon;" because it was originally made by the Chaldeanic Rabbis.
But many years subsequent to this collection, there
arose some considerable dissatisfaction and discussion
among the younger Rabbis -concerning the heterogeneousness of the first canon. Hence, by permission of
the sacerdotal authorities, they rejected some books,
arranged others in a different order, interpolated a few
passages, and made another Testament.   This is
properly termed the "'Jerusalem  Canon;" because it
was made by the Jews of Palestine. During all this
time,-owing to local' oppressions and tenporcrny emergencies, —booksi by the Jews, containing multifarious
speculations and national prophecies, multiplied very
rapidly. Parties and preferences became numerous,
and began to create dissatisfaction in regard to the
last Canon which was formed; and so, apparently to
keep up with the demands of the times, another Old
Testanent was formed-the " Alexandrian Canon "in Egypt. All these compilations, be it remembered,
were different. At this time the book of DANIEL was
generally regarded as the creation of an eccentric old




28            TI-IE APPROACHING CRISIS.
Jew, who was talented, and a seceder from the regular
priesthood.  Htenee, that interesting part of the present
orthodox Old Testament, was not then universally
received as containing reliable inspiration.
Now I feel moved to inquire: Does Dr. IB
design to take the ground, that the Bible is the
actual and immutable fozundation of religion?  Or,
that the New Testament is the only foundation and
evidence of Christianity a Does he believe that, when
we reject the pape?  and ink clothing of Christianity,
we thereby lose the soul or principle.
Christianity, as it is in fact —and as regarded by all
intelligent rationalistic philosophers —never exerted so
mnuch saving or reforatory power rapon tehurumanmnind
as it did in the first centtery, when there was no such a
th/iny inl existenzce as a WNew Testament. Christianity is
one thing; the New Testament is quite another. In
fact, the New Testamenent is a name which does not signify
a book; but a DISPENSATION. St. Paul did not write his
speculations, concerning faith and redemption, to be
read and adopted by all generations after him. IHis
thoughts and epistles were developed by, and written
for, special and particular occasions.  His epistles-to
the Romans, to the Thessalonians, to the Colossians, &c.
— were especially adapted to the existing wants of those
respective churches, but they are not adapted to the
wants and requirements of the people in this Nineteenth Century. Indeed, the writings of Paul were
twice rejeeted as authority; and at last it was fully
determined by the bench of Bishops, under the Emperor
Constantine, that Paul should be placed in the gallery
of the old theological masters, as an inspired penman.




THE FOUNiDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.       29
iere, then, is the important point to settle before
proceeding further, viz.:  Does Dr. B    quote from
St. Paul a text, axiomatically, as a motto, because it
expresses the impressions of his own mind? If so,
what necessity is there for creating a seetning difference
between our rationalism and his supernaturalism? For
in such a case he manifestly assumes the "' sovereignty
of reason" as superior to Bible revelation. This is the
crime-the only crime-of the so-called infidels. Or, does
he take the New Testament to be the " Word of God,'9
and the text in Colossians as divine and immutable authority?  If so; how will he explain tie human, fornatzio  of the Bible, and the unsatitsfactory translation
of the text?  My impression is, simlply, to solicit the
Lecturer's attention to the solution of these important
considerations in the premises, in order that he may the
more perfectly cure the skepticisml and rationalism existing and developing in this world.'When Dr. B      rolled up the curtain, which permitted us to view the Greek theater, how artistically
did he cause to be enacted the strange drama-almost
the tragedy-of "Speculation and Superstition.   liHe
showed "the ingenuity"' with which the abounding
myths and Egyptian superstitions of still earlier times
were caused to disappear by the Greek philosophers
and sophists. Or, in other language, how the speculatists, having " some regard for the religious feelings of
the people," concluded to resolve the furies and myths
into symbols and presiding deities.  Then the Doctor
showed his audience what the furies, thus symbolized
and classified, did " above ground " and also under the
earth.  And the Greek sophists —said the Lecturer —




30           THE APPROAOHING CRISIS.
finally succeeded in making God and Creation one and.
the same thing; reduced every thing of a religious nature to a common level; and ingeniously demonstrated
all things to be moving in harmony with the "unchangeable laws of an endless cycle."
Now arises a question. Why did Dr. B   - allude
to this piece of Greek history'! Why did he dwell on
tile terms 1"speculatists, philosophers, and sophists,'"
and the reduction of all religious things to " the unchangeable laws of an endless cycle 9?" Surely his text
teaches precisely the same doctrine. " In him all
things consist,' says the text; which is merely a.
synoptical or synthetical method of asserting, that
" Nature is bathed in the Spirit of God-is penetrated
and sustained by him; that all things exist and operate
according to unchangeable law." The talented Doctor.
subsequently considered this doctrine of modern rationalism; acknowledgedl " that HuMre was right in affirming that nothing could possibly occur contrary to
established law and system;" and substantially confessed, also, a belief, in the IIarmonial doctrine, that
there can not be any real conflict between Nature
and Supernaturalism, when the two are properly comprehended. Now why did he-with such a text, with
such convictions, and with such noble concessions-roll
up the Greek curtain, to show to the young minds of his
congregation the "' ingenuity of the Greek Philosophers"
in siftina, rejecting, and symbolizing the RELIGION of
that era; which, he said, they called " Superstition 9"
Was it to give them an idea of history? Was it to
display his ability to trace out and comprehend the
whole origin and scope of Rationalism a Far from it.




THE FOUNDATION OF CRIlSTIANITY.      31
His only design was this: To draw a prejudicial parallelism between the Philosophers of Greece and those
who are to-day denominated philosophers; to make the
people see that the exposition of superstition, by modern
"speculatists," is achieved by " ingenuity," and not by
Truth; to create an impression that that which is
termed Harmonial Philosophy, is merely the revival of
old ideas and long exploded speculations; to prejudice
the people, in a word, against almost every thing of this
century, which bears the general features of a rational
reformation; and yet, the Doctor, it seems to me,
is too highly endowed with a love of truth and benevolence to permit him to draw the parallelism too bold
and rugged, or to enforce too earnestly its acceptation.
The enlightened mind, however, can not but regret any
such attempt on the Lecturer's part; because it shows
conclusively, that his mind has not yet attained that
moral growth which is capable of conducting a perfectly free and impartial investigation. Nevertheless,
he is far superior to the popular species of clerical opposition to new truth; and declares himself "no enemy
to science;" nor yet jealous of the truths uttered by
Pantheists, or Humeites, or Physicalists, or by Phrenologists even, whose " gospel," said the Lecturer, " is
Combe on the Constitution of AMan."  These concessions give promise of something like a religious reformation.
That I have apprehended and interpreted Dr. B~
aright in his parallelism, may be seen from the question
he asked in that department of his discourse-viz.: "Is
Christianity, as a system of faith and redemption, to
meet with the same fate?"  That is: is it to be re



32            THE APPROACHtING CRISIS.
solved by modern speculatists —as the Greek philosophers sifted and resolved the then prevailing superstitions-into symbols and things, moving in harmony
with the unchangeable laws of an endless cycle?
The Doctor thinks the "Infidelity" of to-day, is
hydra-headed; coming  from  all directions-setting
in one strong current against, and threatening to overthrow, the foundations of a supernaturalistic Christianity.
Now, whether a supernaturalistic system of Christianity will be hurled from its foundations, in the opinion
of Dr. B   -, will be decided and determined by what
he defines that foundation to be. If he defines the
foundation or basis of Christianity to be the Bible;
then he may rest assured that supernaturalism, as the
world defines it, will fall ere long to the earth. But,
on the other hand, if he resolves, like the Greek philosophers, the superstitions of Christianity into symbols;
and, like the so-termed Harmonial Philosophers, accepts the foundction of Christianity as resting wholly
upon PRINCIPLE, then he can also rest perfectly assured,
that the ten thousand and one currents may set in
against it, but its power upon the human heart will
surely be all the more augmented.  For assuredly, in
this comprehensive sense, Christianity was eternally
laid in the Wisdom of the Infinite Mind, " in whom
all things consist."
The gospel of "' Combe on the Constitution of Man"
will contain-if the Lecturer comes to this rationalistic position-no injurious or anti-Christian doctrines;
though it proves crime to originate in organization,
"' confuses," according to his assertion, "duty with
penalties and benefits," and leads the reader to social




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.        38
reorganization, as a mneans of redemption from sin and
misery. Surely, Dr. B~  will not desire or attempt
to refute these doctrines.  A little calmn reflection will
certainly convince him that mental organizaction and
social situatzion has much to do in Inol7cding and destinating the individual. If the Lecturer comes to see
truths just as and where they are, he will inevitably
think better of " Socialism" so called; better of "' Revelations about the Spheres," through magnetism; better
of " necromantic conjurations" and spirit-seeing; better
of  Unitarianism," though it does tardily accept the
miracles, believes in a remote Christianity, and rejects
the person of Christ as a A" Redeemer," in the orthodox
signification. But whether he does, or does not, come
to see truths just as and where they are, is a question
which his present course of lectures will eventually determine. I, for one, await the result with no little interest; and I can only breathe for than indwelling
prayer, that he may work out a system of reform.
In conclusion, I again affirm that this criticism is not
a matter between two individuals. It is human freedom and independcence against a new modification of an
old form of conservatism; the m.iso2 pplcation of which,
to the present wants of mankind and the Age, is the
ground of the present controversy.
Dr. B-.  referred to the ingenious manner with
which the Greek philosophers detected and dissipated
the prevailing superstitions.  I would ask, if he remembers the historical statement, that SOCRATES was
condemned to swallow the juice of henmlockc, for teaching the Athenians the existence of a Supreme Being?
-— a doctrine in which I apprehend the Doctor to be a
2*




34           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
firm believer. The inspiration, then, of God-of the
doctrine of the UNITY of God-was extended to the soul
of a Greek philosopher! Even so, as " all scripture is
by inspiration," may not the philosophers of to-dayhaving the wisdom and experience of the past before
them, and receiving the increasing influx of fresher
truths from superior spheres into their souls-bring out
a fairer faith, and a PINaCIPLE of greater saving power,
than the forms and faiths of the present age, which
are the bequeathments of superannuated centuries?  It
seems, according to his expressed declarations, that Dr.
B     is not jealous of science, nor-yet at enrnity with
the general materialistic tendencies of this age. He
seems to contemplate a reconciliation between Nature
and Revelation.  This is possible only on the ground
which I have already defined; which would, of course,
be identical with the one we at present stand upon;
viz., upon Rationalistic Christianity; not upon "Supernaturalistic Revelation," as generally defined as
truly orthodox by the Christian world. But what Dr.
B-    is destined to accomplish, in the capacity of
a modern LUTHER -as a theological reformer-is yet to
be developed to our perceptions and understandings.
We may say to him, however, and with the most fraternal inclinations, too, that Christianity, as received
by the citizens of Hartford, will never prove itself to
be a satisfactory system of redemption. For if he will
philosophically and dispassionately analyze the origin
and nature of man's vices and passions, he will surely
discover, in the ultimate analysis, that the worst manifestations of character are fortified in the strong intrenchments of religious and social institutions. And




THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.      35
the remaining and ordinary evils of mankind, he can
legitimately trace to the improper or ignorant procreation of our species. I respectfully request Dr. B?'s
attention to a calm consideration of the above propositions.
If the high-minded man-who penned that precious
"'gospel on the constitution of man" —was here, he
would speak to us, in his own familiar language, and
say: —The clergyman assails the vices and inordinate
passions of mankind by the denunciations of the Bible;
but as long as society shall be animated by different
principles, and maintain in vigor institutions whose
spirit is diametrically opposite to its doctrines, so long
will it be difficlZt for him to effect the realization of his
frequently urged precepts in practice. Yet it appears
to me, that, by teaching mankind the p]ilosoply of
their own nature and of the world in which they live
-by demonstrating to them the coincidence between
the dictates of this philosophy and true Christian morality, and the inconsistency of their own institutions
with both-they may be induced to supplant their bad
institutions by good ones; thus to intrench and strongly
fortify the moral attributes of man; and then the
trizuiph of virtue and Religion will be more complete
and certain. Those who advocate the exclusive importance of a supernaturalistic religion for the improvement
and redemption of mankind, appear to me to err in
overlooking too much the necessity for complying with
the natural conditions on which all true improvement
depends. I anticipate that, when schools and colleges
shall expound the various branches of this philosophy
as portions of the natural revelations of the Creator —




36             THE APPROACtI-IN-G CRISIS.
when the piepit shall deal with the samie principles,
show their practical application to mlan's duties and
enjoyments —and when the act.ivities of life shall be so
arranged, as to become a field for the pjeeasucvabie practice at once of our philosoplly and our religion; then
will man attain -the position of a rational being, and
Christianity achieve her highest triumph!




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.            37
CHAPTER III.
SECOND  E VIE.
Conflictbetween the affections and understandinig.-The new conservatism exhibited.-The system of Nature versus the system of Godcl.Points of agreement.-The wonders and extent of nature.-A faith
above reason.-Human magnetism.-The Mormons.-Shelley. —The
Vestiges of Creation. —Confusion in nature.-The question of free
agency.-The cramping influence of a false theology.
KNOWLEDGE is progressive; but faith is conservative.
I mean that faith which the mind has been forced or
educated to accept in its early years; a faith which has
attained a high place in the affections, where Reason
is seldom  allowed to enter.  There that conservative
opinion stands, venerable with age, an idol of the mind;
supporting itself by two staffs which it holds in its
hands-one composed of the sanction of Time; the
other, of the aucttority of great names. Now it frequently happens, that when we hear a clear voice
emanating from  the professional preacher, having all
the. common features and semblance of pure- reason,
and causing us to imcg ine, for the time being, that
Reason, " that heaven-lighted lamp in man," is really
the source of what we hear; yet, after all, we discover
that we merely hear the affectionate and conservative
voice of that venerable Idol; whose substance is derived




38           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
from past dogmas and whose life is absorbed from the
weaker elements of the mind.
But then there is a far truer faith; a pure and progressivefaith; one which should be forever enshrined in
the soul's affections —a faith, I mean, which is generated
by appropriate and adequate EVIDENCE; a free-born
child of the understanding! The fair child of reason
is never afraid to expose itself to the inspection of the
world; never shrinks from the thought of displacement,
should another and a better offspring, from the same
parent, seek to occupy its seat in the affections, or to
exert its benignant influence upon the intellect. Now,
the difference between a faith which controls the understanding, and a faith which cheerfully obeys the voice
of an enlightened Reason —as a dutiful child the mind
of its parent-is very conspicuous and unmistakable.
The conservative child-to preserve the analogy, whose
parents are authority and antiquity-always emnploys
the faculties of reason as special advocates and counselors. Let any new discovery appear, and the conservative employs Reason forthwith to use its native wisdom and dignity, in the capacity of an attorney, to
argue against the approaching innovation. Let philosophy teach the plain doctrine that the physical and
moral government of God is founded upon certain great
general laws-teach that obedience to these laws brings
its own happiness and rewards, and disobedience its own
adequate punishments —and you will see conservatism, with all the erudition and talent it can possibly command, fully aroused to a sense of approaching 1" danger"
and the immediate necessity of greater vigilance. Let
Geology arise from the sepulcher of earth and stone,




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.        39
and read in a confident voice the gospel which Nature
has been myriads of centuries in writing upon the broad
tablets of the inner world; and, lo! the child of conservatism is alarmed for the safety of her strong towers,
and seeks the startling words-" deception"-" infidelity" —" innovation" —as expressive of its fear of the
new manifestation.
Not so with the child of the Reason. Having inherited by hereditary transmission of qualities, the
ruling characteristics of its progenitor, the faith of the
understanding is always ready to hear, to investigate,
and to obey.  It feels a religious confidence in the decisions of its progenitor.  And although it changes in
order to suit the increasing demands of progressive
principles, yet it is as fixed and unyielding in its spirit
as Truth is immutable and honesty inexorable. It is,
therefore, an easy thing to decide in what minds the
reason-prineciple is held in subjection to faith, or where
faith exists as an effect of knowledge, based upon the
reason-principle. We must always judge by the external manifestation.
In my review of Dr. B —-'s introductory discourse,
on rationalism  as opposed to s.upernaturalismv, I was
impressed to affirm, that I did not regard his conservatism as wrong in itself-considered as a principle
or characteristic of mind; but that it is exceedingly at
fault in its present mode of manifestation. This tendency to wlongly use a prudential faculty, by a mind
enriched with good native powers and a scholastic education, was very faintly foreshadowed in Dr. B  -'s
first lecture. But in his second discourse, delivered by
him last Sabbath evening, he developed in bold relief




40           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the fact, that he has not yet ccettcaned that harmonious
moral growth which enables the mind to conduct an
honest and impartial investigation.
Of the latter discourse I may in this place briefly
say, that it was not as well conceived and elaborated as
the former; neither did it contain the perspicuity and
beauty of expression, the brocadness of thought, nor
the purity of feeling which characterized the opening
lecture. Nor was he so ingenuous in his allusions to
the positions which the rationalists occupy. On the
former occasion, his language was free from unfairness
and derision; and only betrayed some severity toward
the Progressive party in the modulations of his voice;
but, in the second discourse, his method and words
were more suited to the internal feelings which prompted the anxious and disturbed manner of his delivery.
None of this would emanate from a mind which fully
realizes that TRUTH is immortal and God unchangeable; that all things must have a high and happy
termination; because the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Why the Doctor does not fortify himself in this
conviction, and set about the discharge of his highest
duties with a positive, frank, and calm demeanor, is a
question which he can best answer, and reconcile to
the inexorable principles of truth  and  invincible
honesty.
Dr. B  -  originally avowed the principal object of
his lectures to be centered in this thought —viz.: to effect a reconciliation between N aturalism and Supernaturalism, to the end that the young minds of the community
might be preserved or reclaimed from the vortex of a
manifold infidelity. HIe began very nobly the task be



THE WVONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    41
fore him, and laid the foundation broad and somewhat
logically; but it seems thus far that he builds the house
with no strict reference to the shape and principles of
the primary arrangement.
He does not do himself justice as a theological architect. This can not but be regretted. - For there are
many honest-minded citizens awaiting and watching
the erection of the new Zion; which this LUTHER has
promised to erect on the rock of ages —an impregnable
and indestructible fortress, in which to place the purest
and highest form of Christianity, where it can forever
remain unmoved and unchanged by the march of intelligence and human independence. Upon an octagon
foundation, he builds a three-cornered house.  Upon a
foundation large enough to embrace the whole human
family, he erects a temple scarcely capable of meeting
the internal wants of his own mind.  Such inconsistency, alas, is the common, inevitable result of the pernicious habit of maintaining the reason-principle in a
state of subordination to educational Faith. -
I come now to consider Dr. B —'s second discourse;
with strict reference to its inconsistencies and details.
He opened with his text, selected from that classic
book attributed to Jon, eleventh chapter, ninth verse,
wherein it is asserted that the perfections of the Almighty lie beyond man's limited comprehension. "I The
measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader
than the sea."  In this connection, Dr. B]:- glanced
at the transcendent efforts of the human mind.  How
it searches and explores the earth; calculates its extents
and magnitudes; and mounts on high, to examine the
distant myriad orbs whose light has been ages traveling




42            THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
toward and reaching our planet.  Mind, he said, has
exerted its powers to comprehend the drops in the
great fire-ocean, which constitutes the physical universe.
But failing to achieve its object, the mind comes back
to earth, exhausted and overwhelmed with the contemplation. Still it is not satisfied, and so recovers strength
for a fresh exertion. It mounts again, on the wings of
fancy, and climbs the rugged sides of the material creation, in order to get at or "imagine somethingz" to
meet the soul's demands for the mysterious and the supernatural. Hence it sets its speculative faculties energetically into  play, and "imagines spheres, &c.,
entirely above the comprehension of reason."
From this Dr. B     inferred that Nature could not
be " the system of God;" and that man absolutely demands, in the deeper wants and consciousness of his
nature, a FAITH independent of, and above, reason or
unilluminated judgment.  From this proposition the
Lecturer derived what he termed his essential " definition of Nature in contradistinction to the Supernatural system."  He confessed, that, unless his definition
was understood and accepted by the audience, all his
sub8sequent reasonings would be obscure and almost
valueless.  There-fore, as this " definition " is the main
point or very foundation of all he designs to say, in the
great work of reconciling rationalism  with supernaturalism, it is but just to him that we proceed to analyze
and examine this corner-stone of the supernatural temple. He said, in substance, that the spirit of God must
be "longer than the earth, and broader than the sea;"
that extents and magnitudes "expressed" the deific
spirit, but did not " include " him; that we, in our spec



THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    43
ulations, might expand matter or the material creation
illimitably, but God was more expanded and more illimitable. In a word, that the " system of Nature by itself
is not the system of God. Dr. B-  then defined Nature to be a "system within itself."  In its inherent
laws and material combinations, almost wholly independent of "the supernatural creation, which is particularly the system of God!"  Dr. B-    thinks that
Nature is a " system of cause and effect; but, that the
Supernatural is not subsisting upon, and controlled by,
these mechanical forces or reciprocal principles."  He
thinks, that when miracles are performed, the RESULT is
accomplished, not by violating or suspending any of the
inherent laws of Nature," but by the action of the supernatural kingdom or government of God UPoN Nature
-producing effects and phenomena therein, which could
never otherwise be developed by the unceasing operations of nature's inherent principles. Dr. B's definition, therefore, amounts substantially to this: that
Nature is a system of matter, mechanism, and forces,
operating outside of, and a long way beneath, the real
kingdom and government of God; that the Supernatural system, which is far greater and beyondc the extents
and magnitudes of the system of nature, and is the system of God, " operates upon the world"-and produces
therein efects and miracles, varying very prominently
from the usual progressive developments of unchangeable laws-without disturbing or suspending, in the
least degree, the general processes of natural or causative creation.
Dr. B     was very desirous that the people should
accept this definition, to the end that his fiuture lec



44           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
tures might have the desired effect. Now this is all
exceedingly superficial and unsound. I make no doubt
but that his reasonings and deductions would be very
good and legitimate, in case we cadopt his premises as
fixed and unquestionable truths. But this can not be
allowed him. For his premises, are contradicted by
every thing in existence; as I will presently proceed
to demonstrate.  iHis reasonings and conclusions, I
repeat, would doubtless be sufficiently sound and logical, if we should adcmit the foundation as resting in
immutable truth. So, indeed, would the reasoning of
a man be correct, who should first lay it down as a
fixed fact that HARTFORD was submerged in twenty
feet of water; and, then, proceed to lecture to the
people of New York, stating that none of the houses
could be entered or inhabited except on the second and
third floors; and that the citizens were obliged to do
their trading and visiting by means of boats and
various kinds of vessels. But suppose a skeptic should
doubt, not the premises which the lecturer had assumed
with so much confidence, but the general conclusions
about going only in boats from place to place. Accordingly he would ask —" Are not some houses built
sufficiently firm and tight to keep the water out the
lower stories? Are the people in fact all driven from
their kitchens and stores to the upper floors 2?' " Most
certainly," replies the lecturer, "for this very good and
satisfactory reason: the water is twenty feet high,
above the surface of the earth. If the water is so high
throughout Hartford, your judgment will enable you
to perceive, that it would necessarily flow into the
houses through the lower windows, &c.; and that all




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.        45
the effects named must result as a natural consequence,
from such an inundation."  "True,' replies the skeptic, "the inhabitants of Hartford must be disturbed
and suffering just as you describe. For if there be
twenty feet in height of water in the streets, your
reasoning is all entirely sound and conclusive. But I
would prefer being better satisfied first as to the foundation upon which you predicate the account,-that is,
to ascertain if there be an inundation. Now, this
skeptic comes directly to Hartford, and discovers, to his
great surprise and satisfaction, no water in the streets,
-that no such deluge had taken place, and the inhabitants were undisturbed.  He therefore says to
himself:' the lecturer reasoned very legitimately from
his undemonstrated premises; but now, the whole relation falls to earth, because the foundation is shown to
be a groundless or untenable assumption."
So with  15r. B's definition.  His reasonings
would be perfectly logical and conclusive —indeed, I
may say quite unanswerable —if he first makes it appear satisfactory and certain, that his interpretations
of Nature and Supernaturalism are based and grounded
in the essence of truth. But a true reformer in thought
-a true investigator, one whose faith is an effect of a
preponderance of adequate evidence, and not of theological and superficial education —must have  the
strongest possible historical, chronological, and intuitive demonstration that Nature is not  "the system  of
God," before the conclusions, or superstructure, which
are made to repose upon that proposition, are, in his
opinion, entitled to careful consideration and worthy of
credence.




46           TIHE APPROACHING CRISIS.
His definition of supernaturalism in conttrad8istinction
to Nature, is not essentially different from the common orthodox opinions on that head.   It is slab
stantially identical with the written views of all the
principal Christian scholars. Hence Dr. B   - is not
so truly a reformer in, spirit, but an iconoclast-a refobrmer of the FORM. This fact must be a matter of
sincere regret to all lovers of free thought, of unre
stricted inquiry, and mental progression.
The Lecturer briefly alluded to the 1" confiusion among
rationalists " as to what Nature is, or should be defined
to mean. IHe thought this fact " weakened " the force
of all their arguments against supernaturalism. But
this is evidently a misapprehension.  Rationalistic
arguments may be sound in C'herzistry, in Geology, in
Astronomy, &c.; while their individual definitions of
the general system of Nature may be as heterogeneous
and conflicting as the different learned commentaries
upon the Sacred Scriptures. It is my impression, that
the Lecturer has not given his "definition" of Nature
and of Supernature sufficient reflection. There is an
absence of consistency and congruity in his views-a
result, it appears to me, of his repugnance to seeing
and acknowledging nzew truths in the multiform and
stupendous developments of the present era. Does he
remember the opening text quoted from St. Paul —
"And he is before all things, and IN him all things
consist?" Now, if " Nature is not the system of God,"
or included within that system; how-I inquire-can
the above text be a perfect and infallible utterance of
truth?  If " all things consist" in God —-how  can
Nature be outside or beneath the including spirit?  If




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    47
the supernaturalist means to say, that Nature is the
Material Universe, and that the supernaturalisticrealm
should be understood to mean the Spiritual Universe,
-in which the Spirit of God is manifested more visibly
than in the physical creation; then, he is certainly de
veloping an unreal, and hence wholly unnecessary,
difference between Rationalists and Irrationalists. For
the above is comprehensively our " definition " of the
system of Nature.
Upon this basis, the term "supernature" may be
reasonably employed to signify any thing which is high
and spiritually exalted, yet homogeneous with the
visible and material;-the difference in this interpretation consisting not in the kind and quality, but in the
DEGREE and condition  exclusively. Thus-for examrple-the human body is called the 6' physical man,"
and the human mind the " spiritual man;" yet the two,
being united by the common ligaments and ties of
sympathy and harniony, constitute ONE harmonious
system. Even so-on the soul-exalting principle that
ALL truth is a Unit and intrinsically harmonious-may
we not rationally conclude, that the material creation,
expanding far and wide throughout the illimitable
infinitude, is the "physical universe;" and that the
superior and ultimate departments of the same identical,system-embracing  all the future habitations and
realms of the soul —constitute the "' spiritual universe,"
wherein, more particularly and manifestly, we shall
enjoy "'the Lord of Hosts "-all the more for then
fully realizing the now inconceivably glorious fact, that
in him all things consist?
This is the definition of NATURE which is suggested




48            THWE APPROACHING CRISImS.
by the Harmonial Philosophy.!Now, why does Dr.
B3      refuse to recognize a definition, which may be
considered as the only real rationalistic view of nature
known to the world? For all the scientific and philosophic views ever elsewhere presented —except in
three or four instances of eminent productions —are
mainly fragmentary, speculative, or hypothetical. If
Dr. B    - would accept the Rationalistic method of
reconciling  "'naturalism  with  supernaturalism," he
would most assuredly escape the horrid overwhelming
vortex of theological inconsistencies to which he is now
evidently but unconsciously hastening.  Indeed, he
would then survive the keener and far-reaching analysis
of the rising generations of the earth, and would hold
a sacred place in the reasonable affections of his advancing countrymen, as the leader of a principle of Conservatism, which favored the development of science
and the application of a pure religious philosophy to the
work of human redemption and universal improvement.
But what a low and unsatisfactory estimate did Dr.
B3        make of Nature!i It would seem that he had
gone baclek to Job in order to get a " definition " of the
magnitudes and extents of the system of the worldyea, gone back three thousand years, to a period when
the people had no ships whereby to learn the brecadlh
and wonders of the sea; no systems of measurement to
calculate latitudes and longitudes, and the lengtbh of
the earth; no telescopes, wherewith to ascertain the
extents and immensities of creation-a period, in short,
when the lerritories of Ore7gon would fill the then prevailing conceptions of Nature, and Lake Erie the
general idea of a Sea 




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    49
The wondrous immensities and peaceful harmonies
of the Universe, the unutterable unity and silent operations of all created things, we are too apt to forget or
neglect to properly examine. " What mere assertion
will make any man believe," remarks the celebrated
HERSCHEL, in his Discourse on Natural Philosophy,
"that in one second of time, in one beat of the pendulum of a clock, a ray of light travels over one hundred
and ninety-two thousand miles, and would, therefore,
perform the tour of the world in about the same time
that it requires to wink with our eyelids, and in much
less than a swift runner occupies in taking a single
stride? What mortal can be made to believe, without
demonstration, that the sun is almost a million times
larger than the earth? and that, although so remote
from us that a cannon-ball, shot directly toward it and
maintaining its full speed, would be twenty years in
reaching it, it yet affects the earth, by its attraction, in
an appreciable instant of time? Who would not ask for
demonstration, when told. that a gnat's wing, in its
ordinary flight, beats many hundred times in a second?
or, that there exist animated and regularly organized
beings, many thousands of whose bodies, laid close
together, would not extend an inch. But what are
these to the astonishing truths which modern optical
inquiries have disclosed, which teach us, that every point
of a medium through which a ray of light passes is
affected with a succession of periodical movements,
regularly recurring, at equal intervals, no less than five
hundred millions of millions of times in a single second!
-that it is by such movements, communicated to the
nerves of the eyes, that we see; nay, more, that it is




50           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the difference, in the frequency of their recurrence,
which affects us with the sense of the diversity of color;
that, for instance, in requiring the sense of redness, our
eyes are affected four hundred and eighty-two millions
of millions of tinmes; of yellowness, five hundred and
forty two millions of millions of times; and of violet,
seven hundred and seven millions of millions of times
per second. Do not such things sound more like the
ravings of madmen than the sober conclusions of men
in their waking senses? They are, nevertheless, conclusions to which any one may most certainly arrive,
who will only be at the trouble of examining the chain
of reasoning by which they have been obtained."
The earth was originally believed to be the center
and circumference of all creation; and the vast acrecna
of all the supernatural and capricious miracles of
Omnipotence. According to Job's own testimony, the
Lord was even engaged in afflicting him, who, while he
perpetually-with prayers and complaints-acklnowledged himself to be under the special guidance of the
Almighty Power, and confessed dependence thereon
for existence, diseases, troubles, &c.; yet he prayed for
a commutation of the punishments arbitrarily inflicted
upon him, as if there then existed between Job and the
Ruler of this immeasurable and stupendous JUniverse,
a private amity and confidential correspondence! iNow
if such an instance of supernatural familiarity and presumptive arrogance was stated to Dr. B —  as having
occurred ten days since with a Ilartford citizen, or
with some enthusiast, he would either indignantly repel
the account as supremely absurd-and blasphemous, and
dogmatically set it down to voluntary deception, or else




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    51
to the longings of the soul after something su-pernactulral,
transcendental, and above the powers of the reasonprinciple.
After giving the erroneous impression that NATURE
is but an isolated " system of cause and effect "-of
godless and inert forms and combinations of matter,
the Lecturer then proceeded to show that nothing could
satisfy man's internal wants but "a system of supernaturalism;" that Man'must and will have something
mysterious and miraculous-a faith superior to reason,
argument, or judgment. It is necessary to remember,
my friends, that we are now examining Dr. B.'s
propositions and evidences of the existence of a system
of supernaturalism; which, by acting upon or in the
present world, develops the many and varied EFFECTS
which Nature, by herself considered, could never accomplish by the unceasing operation of her undeviating and abiding forces. These evidences should be
duly examined; and I now proceed to Utter my impressions concerning them.
First: that man's prevailing desire for a mystical
faith-for a faith in something mysterious and super
natural-is a strong presumptive evidence, that sue]
" a system really exists beyond nature."
To this I am impressed to say, that so far is this
desire from being an evidence in favor of, it is more
perfectly a powerful evidence against a system  of
supernaturalism, as disconnected from  Nature.  A
desire for the marvelous is the legitimate chilC  of
Ignorance. Every enlightened mind shrinks froml incomprehensible mysteries. He loves, and desires, and
demands light and knowledge. Miracles do not excite




52            THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
his respect and veneration: they amaze and confound
his understanding. IHe desires new and better developments; but repels every thing that bears the stamp of
the supernatural, unless it promises to yield forth a consistent Truth. If he has a faith, it is a child of his
judgment; the result of preponderating evidences.
Hope, that darling of his affections, draws its highest
nourishments chiefly from the fertile sources of reason.
Ile has a reason for his hope. It is only the uneducated
mind that yearns for the romantic, the absolutely supernatural, and the incomprehensible.
Second: Dr. B      thinks, and openly asserted, that
the mysteries of human magnetism constitute one* evidence that people long for the supernatural; he thinks,
also, that another: inferential proof is derivable from
the strange career of the Mormons. Now this is all
wrong. For the qnysteries of human magnetism are
simply the normal operations of the natural sympathies
of the human body and mind. These operations are
qnysterious and 8upernatcural, only, to those who can not
or dare not make them  a matter of fair and thorough
investigation.  iDr. B's allusion to this subject
betrayed very conspicuously the fact, that he had not
sufficiently familiarized his mind with the great general
natural principles upon which all magnetic phenomena
invariably depend and undeviatingly occur. As to the
Mormons, it is but common justice to say, that, as a peculiar religious people, there is among them no stronger
"desire" than a firm determination to improve, if possible, the social existence and governmental arrangements of mankind upon strictly religious principles.
Becoming satisfied that Christianity, as now inculcated,




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE..53
could -ot accomplish this very desirable improvement,
they resolved unanimously to embrace something, or
any thingy else, which appeared to furnish an adequate
remedy for the prevailing evils, inequalities, and discords of the world. And as to their religious system,
national government, municipal laws, &ec., I do not see
how Dr. B-  can consistently and conscientiously
object; because JosEPH SMITH endeavored to imitate,
so far as it was possible and locally convenient, the
political peculiarities and character of Moses, and the
more prominent habits and military methods of the
religious chieftain, Joshua.*  It was affirmed that
Shelley, the great and gifted bard, "having worked
himself into Atheism," still could not live happily
without the supernatural faith. Hence he-"peopled
the forests, flowers, and trees with mythologic beings
and beautiful elfs."  It is very true, the immortal
Shelley had too great and cultivated a soul to permit
him to believe in the cruel and capricioous God generally worshiped by the Bible Christians. The love of
liberty and humanity, combined with a sacred appreciation of the advantages of Reason, as man's highest
blessing, compelled Shelley to dread the time and land
"where kings first leagued against the rights of man,
and priests first TRADED with the name of God."  And
he had the good fortune to become skeptical in the God
of priests; because he well knew that "human pride
is skillful to invent the most serious names to hide its
ignorance." Nevertheless, the poet did desire, as every
* For further analogies, see the Great Harmonia, Vol. III., Entitled
the "Seer"




54            THE  PPROACEHING CRISIS.
enlightened mind must, some better and more harmonious faith than he could find in the theological world
about him —-solmething more congenial with his cultivated affections and consonant with his best reason —
and, had he known the Harmonial Philosophy of
Nature and Spirituality, it is very probable, nay it is
almost certain, that he would have joyfully accepted
it; because —yea, becazese-it is so entirely divested
of every thing which is uselessly mysterious and supernatural, and because, also, it addresses the cultivated
heart through the expanded understanding.
Thus far, then, the alleged evidences of man's " desires for a faith in the supernatural' are unsound and
fallacious.
But I think it must have surprised his intelligent
hearers, when the Lecturer appealed to the serial creation of vegetables and animals as an "' evidence of the
action of the supernatural system  upon the world."
And in this connection Dr. B     seemed to reject the
whole doctrine of progressive develop2ment in the great
operations and creations of Nature, by alluding to the
discovery of the fossil remains of a perfectly vertebrated
fish in one of the lower stratifications of rock. Here
the Lecturer also alluded to the want of improvement
in the system of nursing the young; and asserted that
the plan was more perfect, if any thing, in the salmon,
which protects its young from the liquid element, during
the first week of its existence, by a soft gelatinous
envelopment, than in the so-called higher animals, including the helpless offspring of man. All this was
evidently adduced to confuse the order of progression
in the development of animals. Indeed, the confusion




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.        55
would be exceedingly difficult to overcome and controvert, were it not for the important fact that no swuch
confusion exists.
Dr. B     set aside the " Vestiges of Creation,') and
all similar productions on Geology, by informing his
audience that he was perfectly aware of the existence
of such a work, and feebler attempts at rationalistic
speculation. Will the earnest, vigorous minds of his
congregation receive this as a conclusive argument
against the progressive theory? Will they henceforth
receive the supernaturalistic theory as proved to a
demonstration? The Doctor disposed of the progressive theory in a most summary and gladiatorial manner,
and then recommended his hearers to read Hugh Miller's recent work, entitled the " Footprints of the Creator." This work is not at all accepted by those who know
any thing of practical geology. For it is merely apleca
of the clergyman in behalf of his theological faith; an
instance of hereditary or eruditional FAITH employing
reason to act as an advocate and special partisan.
I have affirmed that no confusion exists in the order
of creation. True, by the merest accident, a tree may
fall from the hill-top to the valley, and be found centuries afterward, standing in an inverted position, buried
in many feet of stratified earth. But does that circumstance prove that trees do not grow from the root
upward?  So also, suppose a FISH, the creation of a
more recent period, should be found in the rock-formationI of a remoter period: does that simple circumstance
confzuse the universal testimonies of Nature to the contrary a Among all enlightened people, where all jurisprudential proceedings are conducted upon the estab



56           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
lished fact that every case has two sides, and that
verdicts are to be rendered in accordance with the preponderating evidence, I can not but believe that Dr.
113'Is method of demonstrating supernaturalism must
be peremptorily repudiated. Hie brings up the fossil
remains of a single fish, to prove that all the uniform
testimonies of Nature, in favor of progression, are doubtful or valueless. And then, having given himself the
" benefit of the doubt," he turns the case over to supernaturalism; and proceeds to give the impression that
the fish could not have been placed in its stony prison,
except by the supernatural system of God operating
upon the system of Nature! But I have tried to discover the location of that fish-skeleton, and I do not find
such a fact in Nature, although it is mentioned in the'~worlks of three or four authors who have endeavored to
throw doubt and discord over the philosophy of progressive development. The supernaturalist should be
exceedingly careful in the selection of his evidences;
because, not being a practical geologist himself, he
might very easily be imposed upon by so-called facts,
which may have no other foundation than the prejudice
and conservatism of theologians.
But what shall xwe say about the NURsING? Why,
simply this: that it is not true that the plcan does not
acdcvauncs with the progression of the species. Every
advancement in the organization of animals-especially
the mammalial types-is attended with a corresponding
improvement in the care of the young. The more intelligent the animal, the less is the system of nursing a
matter of mechanism  and instinct.  The Salmon is
provided with a natural cradle for its young, because it




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.       O7
has not the intelligence to make one. The Kangaroo
is provided with a pouch in which to carry its young,
because it has not the intelligence to manufacture
blankets and garments to protect the young body from
the atmosphere. Now, will Dr. B-  affirm the human offspring to be less cared for than these lower
organisms, because merely the human mother is not
provided with those imperfect and cumbrous appendages? Surely, the plan of nursing the young is more
and more perfected as creation advances from the lowest saurian to the human type. To affirm contrary to
this, is to impeach the plainest declarations of the universal system.
Thus again, Dr. B -'s evidences of supernaturalism in nature, are shown to be groundless.
But what shall we say about the " acorn" which develops the stalwart oak?  The Lecturer seemed to regard the growth of trees as accomplished by supernatural action! IIe said you might plunge a knife into the
acorn, and examine it in various ways, still it is nothing
but a plain nodule. That is to say, it is a thing in
nature. But place that nodule in the earth, and soon it
comes forth, adding length after length of wood; and,
while the seasons come and depart, this tree stands up
in defiance of the laws of gravitation and chemistry. I
think Dr. B     was very obscure in what he said of
this oak. This obscurity may be regarded, like a bad
hand-writing, as evidence of scholarship, but it certainly
is no indication of clear thinking or that the individual
is naturally and properly a teacher.
If I have exhumed the meaning of the lecturer on
this point, it signifies this-viz.: that the Acorn derived
3*




f58          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
its potency to build the ponderous oak, from the supernatural system of God. That the oak was the type of
other and higher miracles; the prophecy of more spiritual demonstrations of supernaturalism. Now if this
reasoning be correct, there can not possibly be any
uniformz law or rationalistic explanation in nature to
account for the production of trees. But what are the
facts? Why, the growth of trees is a chemical phenomenon. Chemistry has revealed the existence of an
invasriable Power in nature which promotes union between elements and compounds, even though their
apparent natures be strongly opposed. This power is
termed " chemical attraction;" but I can see no reason
why it should not be called the unchangeable will of
God operating in nature, like the flowing of blood in
the human body, an eternal attribute of the one INrDISSOLUBLE SYSTEM. The acorn, or nodule, would not produce an oak, if, instead of placing it in the earth, you
should drop it in the water or among stones. There is
nothing superncat.arc  in the manifestation. Because
the growth of trees depends upon certain favorable
external conditions; whilst, if that result was ever accomplished by the direct action of God on the world,
we should see some variation from  the established
laws.
Dr. B-    almost ridiculed the idea, that Nature by
itself could develop organism endowed with motion,
life, sensation, &c.; but does he not know that flour,
dampened with a little water, will, in a few days or even
hours, be transformed into, moving, living, feeling, organisms  Does he not know that certain kinds of decomposed vegetation in stagnant water, will, if partially




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    59
exposed to the sun, develop worms, lizards, and frogs
incipiently-all, endowed with motion, life, and sensation? If the Lecturer admits this, but attributes the
process of organization to supernatural action upon natrtle, then he virtually acknowledges that Omnitpotence
is itself subjected to man's power; because man can
arrange the materials to produce these animals, or
prevent the phenomena altogether by cleanliness and
civilization. And man can develop rye from oats; or
occ4-trees from a combination of chestnut, pine, and
walnut. If oats are cast in the ground at the proper
season, and kept mowed down during the summer and
autumnal mnonths, and allowed to remain undisturbed
till the succeeding spring, the oats will completely
disappear, and a moderate growth of ryy will appear
at the close of the following summer. Thus, it is by
no means safe for Dr. B      to set bounds to the
achievements of chemistry. As a science, it is yet in
its infancy. But whether by its aid, man will in the
future, be able or not to combine Elements and Compounds so as to develop a wolf, a fox, or a lion, if he
desires it, is a question which time and science will answer much better than any disciple of oriental dogmas.
In conclusion, I will direct your attention to a subject
upon which Dr. B — bestowed the most labor and
manifested the greatest enthusiasm —i. e., the free
agency of the human. In discussing this matter, in
its connections to supernaturalism, the Lecturer referred
frequently to an imayinary portion of his discourse,
which he termed "The Argument."   I say " imaginary," because it was impossible to understand what
he meant by "the argument," unless we adopt the




60           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
hypothesis that he supposed he had one somewhere in
the premises. What else he particularly referred to I
can not discover.
The primary and scriptural defeintion of "Nature,"
be it remembered, was a system of cause and efect-a
means, bringing about ends according to the action of
the supernatural system  upon, or within, its constitution. As NATURE, however, it was to be regarded as a
system by itself; possessing inherent laws and fixed
principles. At this point Dr. B   - started the subject of free agency. He said, in substance, that if he
could bring those inherent laws and principles into
subjection, it would prove that hie was independent of
nzatzure in the same proportion; and would prove, also,
that he was to the same degree supernatural and responsible to a supernatural government for the right
use of his freedom and capabilities.
He said that TNATURE never told falsehoods; never
constructed pistols and powder; never loaded these
weapons and shot men; but he could obtain powder,
put it in a pistol and shoot his neighbor, and be hung
for it. Whereas, he said, if the Rationalistic doctrine
of cause and effect'be true, the powder was as much to
blame for the murder as he —inasmuch as, according to
this naturalistic doctrine, he was merely acting as an
effect; or from the strongest cause or impulse of his
organization.  Dr. B~   concluded that man  was
perfectly free in the volition of his consciousness —and
supernatural in his supremacy to nature; and therefore accountable to, and dependent upon, the supernatural kingdom  of God for his actions and ultimate
redemption from sin.




THE WONDEIRS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    61
Now let us see into this. Dr. B —--- asserts that he
can procure powder, load a pistol, and shoot his neighbor-proving thereby that he is morally free, and
superior to nature; because he can do what nature can
not. Nature, by the way, even when considered in her
lowest departments, does manufacture powder, or explosive compositions, and nature does shoot and kill
human beings by her coal mines and volcanic eruptions. And it is true, that the stones, trees, and inferior animals of NATURE do not build ships, &c.; but
when the system of creation has progressed to the
human species, developing thereby new wants and
powers, then NATURE, through the organization of
man, does build houses and ships, and unfolds results
through the higher instrumentalities of the human in
tellect.
By what Dr. B       says of personal freedom, he
displays almost unpardonable ignorance of the con
struction and nature of the human mind, and seems to
entertain the most confused and contracted view of the
relationship and harmonious dependencies of things.
When the Lecturer viewed himself as connected with
the universe of God by a chain of causes and efects,
and supposed himself to be let down "into a well"
where he could touch nothing but "the link just
above," what a sense of loneliness and abhorrence did
he manifest! But I know nothing in Rationalism socalled to which this graphic comparison is at all applicable; although when I think of popular theology,
with its mechanism of intercession and redemption, I
realize something analogous to Dr. B-e's description
of his own sensations.




62           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
Rationalism, or Harmonial spiritualismn, sees MAN
as a microscope-as a miniature universe; being perpetually visited by innumerable friends from the four
quarters of the firmarnent. Man is not compelled to
touch merely the next link above; but being constitutionally the HEAD of Creation, he can enjoy the countless relationships which exist, most intimately, between
him and external nature; between him and the spiritual universe! Ile thinks he is supernatural and perfectlyfree, because he can raise a book and overcome
the law of gravitation. This he thinks NATURE can not
do, because it is bound by the inexorable principles of
cause and effect. Dr. B   - should remember that a
tornado can also overcome the law of gravitation, accompanied with terrible manifestations of its power;
not only by raising the book, but by raising fifty men
-filled with free agency-at the same time! But Dr.
B —-- informed his congregation, repeatedly, that HE
was A MAS —a free man —a MAN that coould shoot his
neighbor-could do, in a word, any thing he pleased.
Now, believing him to be a man of unimpeachable veracity, I would solicit a few practical illustrations of
his perfect freedom. Will he answer these questions?
Could he, by the exercise of his personal freedom,
procure powder and pistols if these things were not yet
invented?
Can he control, by his will, the conditions of mind
known as belief and disbelief? or, the states known as
love and hate?
Can he voluntarily hate his best neighbor?  Or,
can he for ten minutes love affectionately a person revoltingy to his whole soul?




TEE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    63
Can he, by the exercise of his personal freedom, disbelieve in the existence of a Supreme Being?  Or, believe it at will?
If the Lecturer can not  do these things at the instigation of his will, then he is in bondage to the system
of terrestrial cause and efect. How does he know that
there are objects, lights, shades and colors in nature? I
answer, that he knows these things, through the
medium of bodily vision; without which organs, in
spite of all his personal freedom, he would have in his
possession no certain knowledge of them. So, too, is
he absolutely dependent upon his bodily hearing to
learn ideas of sound; upon his limbs for locomotion;
upon the cheerful action of his tongue to communicate
his ideas to the people. If his tongue were paralyzed
-his armns amputated-his eyes deprived of their appropriate functions-and his brain loaded with blood;
hlow impotent would be his will should he then desire to shoot his neighbour, preach to his congregation,
or impart his thoughts by wielding the pen! If Dr.
13 —. can not do every thing which he may desire,
simply by willing to do so,-a man who felt and declared himself so stperior to all " cause and effect,"then I do not see how he can escape the Rationalistic
thIeory, that all things are bound together in the Universal Spirit of God-" in whom," according to his
original text, " all things consist."
IHow depressing, and how unlike an impartial investigator, was the attempt to ridicule the great Bible
doctrine that God is "without variableness neither
shadow of turning." The Doctor, seemed to have forgotten that this opinion was entertained by the Bible




64           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
authors, and hence ridiculed it as a Rationalistic
Theory. Instead of saying that the Lord "made the
heavens and the earth, and all that in them is, in six
days," and devoted the seventh to rest (as the Bible
expresses it), he ridiculed it as a natur'alistic notion, that
God as a mechanic, had "made and perfected his
MACHINE a long period since, and was now engaged
in turning the crank!" Why Dr. B —-- ridicules
Bible doctrines under the title of Rationalistic Theories,
is a difficult question to solve, unless we charitably
conclude that he has not familiarized his mind with the.
opinions of his antagonists.  He thought the idea
degrading and abhorrent, that the Lord should have
perfected the vast machine of heaven and earth, and
pronounced it " good," a long time ago, and had nothing to expect ouztside of its action!
Surely Dr. B    does not understand the Rationalistic theory; which teaches that God is constantly improving and advancing NATURE. If the object is to
dethrone rationalism, why does not the Lecturer state
its doctrines, and then proceed in a dignified manner to
expose their fallacy? To assert that modern philosophers believe that the Deity perfected his machine
centuries ago, and then assign to the Creator the duty
of turning the crank, is all a false and ignoble representation. This is the doctrine inculcated in Genesis,
but is vastly unlike the rationalistic theory.
The Harmonial Philosophy teaches that Progress is
a Law of Deity; that matter is the receptacle of the
Spirit of God; that every thing is perpetually advancing from bad to better-from motion to mind, from
earth to heaven; that "the machine" can never be




THE WONDERS AND EXTENT OF NATURE.    65
perfected-that the Deity can not be "turning a
crank;" because he is the great Positive.Mind, enlivening and controlling the material and spiritual
universe, with an unerring and unchangeable government.
Dr. B     thought that, should he wish to address
the Deity, through love and gratitude, according to
rationalism, he should be regarded by the Creator as
giving expression merely to the emotions natural to his
organization-a consequence of the machine, like an
island thrown up by volcanic action from the sea. In
this view he thought a man might as well be something else; and IKOSSUTH, so far as responsibility is concerned, might as well be smoke curling from  the
chimney-top! Now I am impressed to object to such
unfairness and inconsistency-it should not emanate
from a reasonable mind-especially not from one who
is somewhat disposed to be a Martin Luther in theology.
Dr. 13    ridicules this system of cause and efectof praying and being righteous on the ground of
personal organization-and yet, he is an advocate for
schools, colleges, chzurches, and systems of education.
He thinks well of temperance societies, &-&c.  But
wherefore?  Because these institutions influence the
human mind to goodness.' Because good morals depend upon good influences and upon good systems of
education. Because, in a word, the human mind, like
the softened clay, can be fashioned and molded into
ANY SHAPE, by the action of external causes upon it.
Thus, while he would, as a Christian scholar, theologically repudiate the doctrine of cause and efect as




66           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
applicable to man, he at the same time virtually acts
upon it in his daily existence and professions. In closing, I will merely remark, that this doctrine of human
freedom is THE PIVOT, upon which Dr. B-'s whole
philosophy of the Incarnation and Redemption depends. This made him sarcastic in his criticisms, and
impatient in his utterance. But he has not yet
answered all the objections which can be urged against
his doctrine; nor manifested any ability to make his
propositions invulnerable. The latter, being an impossibility, he can not be expected to do. His definition of
NATURE and SUPERNATURE, is not to be admitted;
because he has not given us the least evidence why such
a definition should be accepted as resting in truth.
And his statement of the extent of nature, is too
narrow to answer the conceptions of rationalists, who
believe matter to be the external Revelation of Godimmeasurable, infinite, eternal. In a word, his theological opinions are cramping and trammeling his own
mind, as they have, in other forms and modifications,
enslaved hundreds of thousands; and which have prevented the introduction of those more reformatory
theories, that lie at the very foundation of Christianity
and promote the highest civilization.




THE' TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.                67
CHAPTER IV.
THIRD REVIEW.
Retrogression. —The supernatural realm.-A war of words. —Symptoms
of reason.-Simplicity of rationalism. —Things and Powers.-The
origin of evil.-Insurmountable objections.-The lmysterious knockings undignified.-Mental expansion necessary. —A spiritual United
States.-Pulpit exaggerations. —The question of evil biblically considered.-A conversation between God and Adam.-The true origin
of evil.-Knowledge based upon experience. —Moralism and Christianity. —The social causes of evil. —Rationalism and supernaturalism
illustrated.
LAST Sabbath evening, Dr. Bushnell delivered his
third discourse upon the Supernaturalistic system  of
religion. It seems that he has forgotten or neglected
to achieve the promised " reconciliation" between the
naturalistic and the unnaturalistic forms of faith; and
abandoning considerably the philosophical ground, has
proceeded in the old familiar work of constructing a
theological fabric or system  in which to enshrine hi8
scholastic notions of religion and revamped theology.
Conservatism, therefore, of the unprogressive and unrighteous kind, will probably be, or appear to be, promoted to a higher throne in the kingdom of dogmatism,
and receive  another coronation  as the Emperor of
Antiquity and the changeless friend of Oriental Doctrines.
The Lecturer, as you doubtless remember, found a




'68          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
suggestive title to his discourse in the sixth chapter of
Isaiah, fifth verse, in these words-" The Lord of
Hosts "-a form  of expression very frequently employed by all those who were converted from paganism,
or polytheism, to a belief in monotheism and in the
Hebrew God.
In his previous lecture, it will be recollected, Dr.
B      acknowledged that his " future arguments"
could not be fully appreciated, unless his' definition "'
of Nature and Supernature was understood and accepted by his hearers. He therefore expressed the
definition, and proceeded to build his house of theologic
thought accordingly.
For two reasons, I am impressed to regard this
method as quite unrighteous and positively antagonistic
to the cause of progressive Truth. First, because he
introduces, and adopts his pre-arranged definition
without in the least consulting or explaining the Rationalistic positions and definitions on the same head.
Secondly, because he proceeds to argue, and to build
upon, his own theological assumptions and foundation
without demonstrating the said ground-plan to be the
only reasonable and consistent one possible for the
human mind to conceive and adopt.
It is very true, that Dr. B - did present what he
supposed to be satisfactory and demonstrative evidences
of the voluntary action of the supernatural system of
God upon this world of effects and causation. But I
have shown, I think, that no such evidences really exist.
IHence he has nothing left but an imncaginary or hypothetical formation —premises, in other words, which are
derived principally from scholastic sources of theological




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL..          69
speculation, and from  certain scriptural suggestions.
This method, for the reasons already stated, will never
cure the world of skepticism. The natural constitutional instinct or intuition of the soul needs to be
addressed; and the Reason-principle must see, and the
moral sensibilities must feel, the foundations of Truth.
Of the third discourse, which I am now examining,
it msay be truly said: that it manifested considerable
scholastic skill and power of intellectual conception.
It contained several interesting and well-elaborated
passages; indicated the existence of a subdued veneration in the producing mind:; but it: was no less free
from  the unskillful ridicule and unnecessary sarcasm
which characterized the preceding lectures. There are
times and places, undoubtedly, when a moderate expression of satirical thoughts may work a better
temporary result than the soberness of common conversation or description. But in a philosophical dissertation, it seems to me that ridicule and sarcasm
should not be permitted to appear, especially when and
where pure and honest arguments are pre-eminently
required, and earnestly sought by truthful minds. The
latter alone constitute the moral and intellectual pabuIzcn of truth-loving and reasonable persons.
Let us return to the text. The expression-" Lord
of Hosts "-was understood to mean something more
than the God or Spirit of Nature. It referred, it was
asserted, to the supernatural system. It referred to a
spiritual realm; where "exist kingdoms, and thrones,
and powers, and principalities;" where there are every
possible degree of spiritual life, and every conceivable
shade of angelic and phase of seraphic existence. This




70           THE APPiROACHING CRISIS.
realmz was described at considerable length, by the
Lecturer, in contradistinction to the fixed and immutable System of Nature visible about us; as the vast
world, in short, where alone we are certain to find the
throne and supernatural or moral government of God.
Now I am moved to inquire: How does Dr. Bknow that there is any such a realm as he described, in
the universe? Has he seen through the dark and
shadowy valley of death?  IHas a ray of immortal
light, from the supernatural sphere, descended and
awakened his interior understanding?  Or, has some
enlightened dweller of the spiritual realm approached
him in the midnight hour? Did it open his blinded
heart?  Did it lead him out beyond the changing earth,
and point upward to the eternal Mind, that "taketh
knowledge of the falling sparrow 9" and lights the illimitable universe with a kindling glory? If so; why does
he not confess, that, like a new-born man into whose
nostrils has just been breathed the breath of a higher
life, he utters his convictions of the supernatural? If
not; then how does he know, how can he be certain,
that any such a spiritual dominion exists as he described in his last discourse? Or, has he studied the
universal laws of analogy, and the principles of correspondence? Does he base his conclusions upon the
psychological laws and- constitution of man-upon the
spiritual manifestations of this century?  In a word,
has he any new and reliable light by which to see the
truths and principalities, and thrones and powers, of
the celestial realm?
The negative reply is too distinct. He has received
no fresh inspiration, but takes the old and superannu



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         71
ated Hebrew expression as authoritatively suggestive of
the supernatural system; and then amplifies the idea
by using the speculative language of Paul concerning
thrones, dominions, powers, and principalities; which,
if the apostle ever beheld, he must necessarily have seen
by the exercise of the same identical mental power of
clear vision, which is denominated clairvoyance by
modern investigators. Dr. B]~ is manifestly seeing
through the eyes and thoughts of ancient minds. He
does not put sufficient trust in the "ten talents" which
he, in common with all the earth's inhabitants, has inherited from the heavenly Father. He too plainly inters
his capabilities within the sacerdotal tombs of antiquity.
Scholastic education, which is another term for learned
ign/orance, has presided over the funeral, and now prevents a healthy resurrection.
Before inspecting the very few points contained in
the discourse referred to, I will briefly direct your
attention to the fact, that the ancient Hebrew conception of the " Lord of IHosts" is low and cramping to the
benevolence and republican sentiments of the generous
mind-especially, when practically believed. The Jewish God is cruel, capricious, tyrannical. His kingdom
is more despotic, and more contracted in principle, than
the present government of the Russian empire. The
earth's inhabitants, whofirst conceived of such a supernatural being, could not have obtained or entertained
higher views of a Chief Ruler and directing power,
because they were living in the midst of Klings and
Empires. Isaiah could only expand upon the idea of
an earthly king, and upon a terrestrial empire; though
he freed his conception as far as possible of all the in



72           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
iquities and unrighteousness which pertained to earthly
rulers and political governments about him. And so
did all the Hebrews who were converted from the pagan
sects. The birds do not more naturally build their nests,
or tile mole dig into the ground, than does the human
mind, in its unprogressed and unspiritual states, conceive of a King of kings and a Lord of lords, as residing in the mystical or unseen sphere. The Indian has
a Sachem; the patriarch an omniarch; the Hebrew
king a Lord of Hosts; the childlike mind a Heavenly
Father. Now, according to my impressions and the
testimony of history, the Old Testament idea of a
Deity is the outgrowth of the despotic stage of human
mental development. It is the best idea which could
in those times have been entertained:; and I am, with
you, my friends, exceedingly disappointed that, in a
philosophico-theological discourse of to-day, this superannuated monotheistic conception should be appealed
to as a living Truth.
If there be in reality a " spiritual realm"-not existing upon the reciprocal principles of cause and effect,
in which resides the " Lord of Hosts" with a system of
government entirely different from the system of nature-then it is time, it seems to me, that the earth's
inhabitants should receive some substantial and unequivocal demonstration to that effect. That there is a
Spiritual Universe co-eternal and co-extensive with the
material universe, which the finite mind can measure or
comprehend-the two systems being inwrought and
interblended perfectly, and universally harmonious, too,
in their essential natures and governments-is a truth,
which has been fully and satisfactorily demonstrated to




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.           73
the earth-people in various ways since the world began.
This is the sacred conviction of the most enlightened
rationalists. It is evidenced in the psychological laws
of mind; in the laws of universal analogy; in the spiritual disclosures of the present century; and, more particularly, in all the higher sciences and discoveries of
modern times. Every thing evidently is conspiring to
a single point —to demonstcraete, as it were, one infinite
truth-viz.: the stupendous oneness and harmonies of
the entire universe! The best minds of the age begin
to see and acknowledge that there can not possibly exist two independent and antagonistic systems of truth
in one universe. But that harmony must reign co-equal
and co-essential with the great all-animating principle,
which is Deity.
My impression distinctly is, that Dr. B  would be
less unfavorably inclined toward harmonial Rationalism, if his judgment was better acquainted with its
fundamental positions and elevating teachings.  His
last lecture contained a few points of difference; but
there was more antagonism, or positive conflict, in the
terms employed than in the ideas. Indeed, the most of
it was a species of literary bombardment-a war of
words-requiring, merely, al honest and dispassionate
comparison of ideas to soothe and restore every antagonistic feeling to peace. For example: the idea of
human progression throughout the spiritual universe
was clearly enough set forth in the words-" thrones,
dominions, powers, and principalities "-which correspond, measurably, to the different shades and degrees
of circles, societies, &c., which the IlHarmonial Philosophy contemplates in the spirally ascending spheres of
4




47A_         THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the spiritual universe.  Again: the Lecturer's assertion, that all spirits, and angels, and seraphcs were once
subjected to the discipline, trials, temptations, and vicissitudes of the material world, is perfectly in accordance
with the rationalistic theory on that head. Hence, I
repeat, that the pending war is, in several respects, altogether confined to language, which a little calm investigation on the Lecturer's part would soon change to
the furtherance of truth and religious reformation.
Dr. B     declared his third lecture to be merely
"interposed" to bridge the channel between his previous definitions of nature and supernature-to amplify
and describe, in other words, the vast dominion of the
spiritual realm, and consider it in relation to external
nature and to man. It was very plain that he was
laboring to open a place to be hereafter filled by the
supernatural system of redemption. He labored to
harmonize his scholastic education and religious convictions with the known laws and constitution of nature.
But he could not and can not succeed; for it is only
the truth that can be made to appear harmonious and
consistent.
It is now my impression to examine Dr. B -'s
classification of what he termed-" Things and Powers."
It was asserted that " things" are created absolutely
perfect at once; that they are incapable of further improvement or alteration; and are bound together by
the fixed laws of cause and effect. "Powers," on the
contrary, are created with self-subsisting and self-directing force-susceptible to eternal change and advancement; and confined to the action of no laws in particular,
but responsible alone to the supernatural government




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          75
anhdimoral systeni of God. "Things are under law;
powers are above law."  "Things belong to nature;
powers, to the spiritual realm."  " Things are in bondage to the system of nature; powers, are self-determining and free agents." The foregoing are substantially
the positions assumed by Dr. B. But how obscure
is all this! How unlike the universal testimonies of
creation!
Where is the line of demarkation —I ask —between
the empire of things and the Hosts of powers? Where
do the "perfect" and law-serving "things" cease to
exist? And where commences the universe of imperfect
and disloyal "powers?" Surely, plants and trees can
be and are daily improved; minerals can be greatly
perfected; and brutes considerably educated. There is
no evidence that a plant is more perfect than a man.
The one may be a higher development than the other;
but each creation may be perfect of its kind —alike,
capable of being changed, deformed, or improved by
the energetic play of external circumstances upon them.
We want, therefore, the plain truth. We demand a
clear definition of "things and powers "-not a theological and romantic classification; but a psychological,
philosophical, and rational one, which shall be so truthful and so simple, that he who runs may read.
Dr. B — alluded to his grand and soul-satisfying
conception of the spiritual kingdom, in comparison with
the simple and low doctrine of rationalism; which
teaches that all things and powers are subsisting upon,
and controlled by, the unchangeable laws of cause and
effect. Indeed? " Simple!' Does he admire the plain,
unadorned teachings of Jesus?  Surely the simplicity




76           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
of the Christian precepts and doctrines constitutes their
principal charm and beauty. Truth, it appears to me,
is always simple. Undeveloped minds invariably entertain mysterious and incomprehensible notions of almost
every thing.  But the comprehensive mind sees the
unity and simplicity of Truth. Manifestly, it is quite
unrighteous to generate prejudice, in the minds of
the people, toward a matter of which they have no
very definite  knowledge; by comrrparis8os,  which
amount in principle to mere ridicule, as based upon
educational pride and repugnance to seeing new light
in the developments of the current age. It is because
iRationalism is so self-evident and reasonable that the
human mind can easily comprehend and love its disclosures. As honesty clothes the good man, modesty the
virtuous, and meekness the man of wisdom; so is truth
robed in simLplicity; and, like the shining sun, its rays
dissolve the mysterious clouds which obscure the
heavens from our vision, and by its power the unity of
the whole is distinctly revealed.
Evidently Dr. B  -'s definition of things and powers
was derived from the Bible and from his own mental
abstractions. Had he contemplated the vast panorama
of external nature, and then turned his eye in upon
himself, and upon the psychological constitution of man,
he would have obtained more truth and a better definition. As the matter now stands, I have nothing to
comment upon in this department of his discourse.
The classification of " things and powers" was wholly
fictitious, and superinduced, in order to fix a foundation
upon which to rest the doctrine of absolute " free
agency" and the scriptural or supernatural system of




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          77
redemption. As he did not appeal to nature and to
human experience to support his definition, I, therefore,
have nothing to examine or to analyze; because, I repeat, the whole matter was conceived and procreated
in the fertile womb of superstition.
Again: Dr. B3 —  revived the question of free
agency. He asserted that all created'powers'" are
endowed with the ability to act from choice, consent,
or will; and then proceeded to consider the various
spiritual relations which are supposed to subsist between man and the Lord of Hosts. He thought man's
wtll-power was perfectly unrestrained; and nothing
was permitted to prevent the "powers" from  exercising their freedom, and receiving the consequences
thereof, both here and hereafter. He thought a different view —the Rationalistic doctrine of universal
dependencies and sympathetic relationships-would
convert society, government, all laws, penalties, benefits, and the marriage relation, into unmeaning institutions. IHe said that these institutions were constructed
on the universally admittedfcact of man's moral freedom.
And yet, Dr. B~ conceived the divine government
to be acting just above the will. The Divine Will,
with its inexorable principles of justice, "overlaid"
the mental faculties of choice; and thus the Lecturer
introduced or created a demand for the medicine of
"redemption" as a remedy for the soul's voluntary sins
and iniquity.
In this elaborating conception, it must be acknowledged Dr. B       manifested some  originality  of
thought. Indeed, he exceeded the wisdom and assumptions of the Bible on this subject; and may,




'8            THE APPROACHINIG CRISIS.
therefore, henceforth be denominated an " infidel "at least to the views of the timid, good, and rigid orthodox members of the Connecticut Association. As the
question of man's freedom was the principal point of
his last discourse, I will proceed presently to briefly
consider it.
I come now to another point —viz.: the Lecturer's
idea of the origin of evil. It should, however, be constantly remembered that Dr. B     did not begin his
inquiries in a state of mental freedom. This fact obscured his intellectual vision; and caused him to give
a false coloring to nearly all the thoughts he presented.
He is trammeled, according to my impression, like an
artist whose mind can not operate independently of the'" Old Masters." He does not start on, his voyage of
discovery like the intrepid Columbus, seeking truth
only, in some heretofore undiscovered continent. Far
from it. He sets out, like an engaged attorney, to
argue the partial and particular case of his client. Ile
must not see truth onr the opposite side. He does not
set forth with the noble resolution to follow truth
wherever it may lead. But he has two things to
accomplish-first, to fnd a place for a supernatural
system, which he determines shall have a place somewhere: secondly, he must and will -discover an intellectual method whereby to reconcile the plan of Christian redemption with personal wants, with the logical
deductions, and sinful condition of the race of man.
That is to say, he will argue his side of the question
exclusively as the side of trutfh. i He must, thereforein order to be judiciously Conservative, and sufficiently
orthodox to pass current among the people-paint and




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.            79
tint his pictures in accordance with the great general
plan pursued by the old theological writers and masters.
This, alas, is not particularly and exclusively his besetting sin. The majority of men are thus sinful.
The Lecturer's philosophical idea of the origin of sin
was truly a supernatural, or rather an  u~nnatural, conception. IHe seemed to think that there was no particular danger in creating " things;" but that the
creation of "powers" was attended with the awful
"possibility of evil;" that sin was a necessary concomitant of this branch of God's creation!  Indeed,
he thought that Omnipotence itself was "environed
by the possibility of evil " before the world began; and
that the divine Mind could not have created free moral
agents or " independent powers" without bringing into
existence, or without being under the necessity of tolerating, the blight known as sin. Sin, it was asserted,
is a necessary, or rather a "possible," consequence of
such creations as men, spirits, angels, and seraphs.
Thus, sin or evil is sucpernatrally derived and originated! Hence, it requires a supernaturally instituted
plan to overcorne the consequences of sin; and also to
neutralize, as far as the system of "'free moral"') creations will permit, the terrible "possibility of evil"
which environed the Divine Being even before the
creation of the world. Here, then, in the most scriptural and ingenious manner, Dr. B-~  opened a place
in the affairs of men for the introduction, and for the
indispensability, of the Christian plan of redemption.
He derived all his fundamental suggestions from the
Bible; but it is most evident, that in the subsequent conception and elaboration of this redemptional scheme,




80           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the Lecturer again out-generaled the wisdom  of the
Sacred Scriptures.  The Bible does not so clearly
assert, that God was ever environed by the possibility
of evil in creating man. Nor that sin is supernatural
-except, so far as Adam's transgression was a violation
of an eternal command or law, to which was mysteriously attached eternal penalties. And even this doctrine of evil is principally the work of clergymen, as I
shall demonstrate in the sequel. The Bible furnishes
mythologic suggestions; and, then, the professional
preacher-the 1" D. D."-that is, the man who doctors
divinity-takes up "a the wondrous tale," and skillfully
manufactures or compounds a system of sin, a system
of redemption, and the absolute necessity for a system.
atic and regularly organized priesthood, in order to
guide mankind from hell to the state of heaven. low
much better would an organization of all kinds of industry be for the world!
But let us think of the idea. If God was under the
nzecessity of making free powers, or human beings, at a
tremendous risk of involving his moral universe in interminable trouble-if he could not have created man
without being " environed with the possibility of evil"
-then, I inquire, where is the alleged Omnipotence of
*Jehovah?
Or, if he could have made man, and could have prohibited even the. "possibility" of sin, had he desired
it-then, I inquire, where is the unutterable Goodness
of Jehovah?
Or, if he would have made man invulnerable to evil,
had there been any possibility of so doing, consistently
and compatibly with the moral state of free agency



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         81
then, I ask, where is the wisdom or the eternal and
universal Omniscienee of Jehovah?
You may say that I have no right to question the
Creator's wisdom or designs on these points; but should
accept whatever he has done as the very perfection of
wisdom and equity. Nay, not so. Because I am, in
common with all my earthly brethren, made with the
faculties for seeking and finding, I'have reasons for
believing that, by asking for truth, I shall find it in
due time.  Besides, I am  truly impressed that the
Bible is a compilation of the thoughts, traditions, and
opinions of imperfect and fallible men. The doctrine
of sin, and the system of redemption, as conceived and
elaborated by Dr. B —, was developed, not with the
real Lord of Hosts, not with the real Divine Principle
which enlivens and controls this immeasurable and harmonious universe; but I can see, by history and otherwise, that it originated with human beings. -Ience, I
have a right, a heaven-born right, to question the origin
and consistency of the scheme; and to expose its horrid
and soul-harassing incongruities, too; because the development of republicanism and of mental happiness
among men, depends very much upon the absence of
these dogmatic compilations or fossil relics of an old
Hebrew and Chaldean theology. They retard the car
of progress, and trammel the higher faculties of thought.
I will, therefore, presently proceed to explain the true
origin and nature of evil.
But let us now think of demonism. Dr. B ——, it
seems, has ventured to improve, to a considerable extent, upon the old Zoroasterian doctrine of a personal
devil; which doctrine is frequently alluded to, or
4*




82           THE APPROAICHING CRISIS.
quoted, by the evangelists and other New Testament
writers. IHe thinks the true idea of a devil is the
generalization or combination of evil. All sins combined, organized, and then personified by the term
" Devil."  This sensible reformation of theology is
praiseworthy.  It is the Rationalistic method.  But
Dr. B - does not seem quite so far advanced as the
Persian author of the doctrine of a personal devil.
Zoroaster said that the devil-called Arhiman —would,
in the fullness of the dispensations of time, be completely transformed and converted, together with all
his multitudinous subordinates, into perfect friends
of the God of Goodness, Ormuzd. I think that, if the
Lecturer embraces one portion of this doctrine, he certainly should the other.
In the Scriptures we are told that if we "knock, it
shall be opened." All learned divines, so-called, concur
in the opinion, I believe, that this language has an interior, spiritual, or correspondential signification of
unusual scope and latitude. It means, evidently, that
whenever and wherever the honest and truth-loving
mind finds a door, which promises to open upon a
new territory or region of truth, it will certainly be
" opened " unto him, if he will but " knock" thereon,
with the simple-mindedness of a child, and with the
meekness and lucidity of wisdom. But Dr. B    ~ declared or affirmed that he would never consent to
"knock," when he became a disembodied spirit; because, forsooth, it was not sufficiently dignified and
noble! When Jesus compelled the devils to flee into
the herd of swine, it seems that the swine,-belonging
probably to some laboring man,-ran off the precipice,




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          83
and were entirely destroyed. Now here was a real
and absolute "destruction of property," owing, not
exclusively to the devils, but to the power which caused
the devils to accomplish the named supernatural result.
But Dr. B  - thought that the devils had "come
out" of the swine again, and were nowadays "knocking
upon tables, chairs, writing upon turnips," &c.; a matter exceedingly repulsive to his feelings and scholastic
notions. He did not, however, undertake to deny that
spirits do or can communicate in various ways with
the earth's inhabitants. Now, it seems to me, and I
express it with due deference to him, that Dr. Bwould be a wiser and happier man, if he possessed
more of that simple spirit so pre-eminently characteristic of Jesus; who told his followers-" seek, and
ye shall find; KNOCK, and it shall be opened unto
yOu."
It is quite essential, my friends, that we keep definitely in our mental view, the precise and avowed object
which this champion of supernaturalism has energetically set out to accomplish. It may be summed up in
the well-known language of nearly all Christian scholars,
commencing-somewhat conspicuously, with the celebrated Pollok, who, although he did not live to execute
the extraordinary classical projection, yet conceived
" A Review of Literature in all Ages, designed to show
that literature must stand or fall in proportion as it
harmon,izes with Scripture Revelation."  Dr. B  -—'s
present effort is substantially the same in effect, only
differently stated and developed. It is still the scholastic and church idea of "harmonizing Nature with
Revelation "-that is, possibilities with prodigious im



84-          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
possibilities; essential truths with the most overwhelming and mind-deforming inconsistencies.
Let us also bear in mind, that the present discussion
is not pending between two individuals; whose education and opinions chance to be openly manifested and
antagonistic. It is Humanity and mental Independence
against a new form of dogmatic Conservatism. The
latter has recently obtained an utterance through the
mind and mouth of'Dr. B   -; and the former, in the
capacity of an independent spectator and thinker, has
appeared in the various criticisms of the reviewer. I
pray you, therefobre, to elevate your thoughts above the
local imperfections of the mere indivitduals engaged,
to the end that you may scan, with a more clear and
comprehensive vision, the merits and demerits-the
propriunm ingerium —of the grecat principles involved
and unfolded il the discussion.
As you probably remember, the theological Luther
of to-day, in developing his philosophical idea of unphilosophical things-I mean, in giving his reasons for
the supernatural origin of sin and discord-said, that,
although he was not designing, or at liberty, to discuss
whether the race began with one man or with many
types, yet lie would take Adam  as an illustration.
Accordingly, the first masn was marshaled out on the
theological ground; and then and there was viewed in
the capacity of a pure, immaculate, but undisciplined
and uneducated mind.  " The experiment of life was
now to commence." Adam was a " free power;" not
subject to the reciprocal principles of cause and effect;
neither to " mere mechanical force," as " things " manifestly are, in the domain of nature. He could not




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          85,have known sin, said Dr. B; for he was as yet
quite inexperienced. Consequently, although the law
of Right was sounding in his soul with all its original
symphonies; yet he sinned-transgressed the law of
God-and there he stood, looking at himself in the' mirror of the law "-descanting on his own moral deformity-"' and would not even look away," —so conscious was he of blamable wrong. Thus, the tremendous "possibility of evil which surrounded the Deity
in creating the powers," was originated and c actualized,
so to express it, on the footstool. This was Dr. B's
philosophical explanation of the origin of evil.
Disconnected and devoid of pure moral intuition and
philosophy, as this explantion is, yet there appears
enough to show the scientific and faithful historian,
that the Lecturer listens more to the voice of oriental
traditions than to the heaven-attuned music of immortal Truth. Oh, that his vision could be expanded, from
the individual, to a comprehensive idea of the solidarity of humanity! He is painfully distracted by the
annoyances of isolated thought. The grand soul and
sources of the human heart are measurably overlooked
by the habit of gazing too particularly and constantly
at minor points of character. He may ascend the
highest eminence to view the surrounding landscape;
but the ineffable beauty and towering grandeur of the
whole is lost, to the eye that sees only spears of grass
and points of pins. Dr. B — is a man of peculiar
genius; suffering from certain internal fluctuations of
feeling-a conflict, between the vigorous play of his
moral sensibilities and his intellectual perception of
truth and reason-causing him to draw a strange line




86           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
of demarkation between Nature and Supernature; and
to depreciate humanity in the honest effort to.urge a
misinterpreted Christianity upon the rationalistic philosopher. Assisted by his genius, he occasionally mounts
the heights of Thought, and employs a grotesque eloquence in speaking of man's strength and willingness
to " pass through burning worlds" to maintain the Law
of Right; nevertheless, just when a higher view of humanity is about to break forth from the quivering
tongue, the eye reverts back to some local annoyance or
imperfection arising from weak individual man, and,
lo! the sentence is turned to a theological saying that
" the heart of man is desperately wicked, and there is
no good in him." Instead of this circumscribed estimate, how liberated would the mind become,: should it
believe, from a comprehensive survey of, and affiliation
with, the whole, that- 
" If rightly trained and bred,
Humanity is humble,-finds no spot
zHer heaven-guided feet refuse to tread."
On this occasion, I am impressed to examine the
church or Conservative philosophy of the origin of
evil-with a view to show the impossibility of philosophically convicting the race of voluntary sin on the
Bible basis.
A question of great magnitude and importance can
not be analyzed and fully elucidated in a brief discourse. It is not only the great general subject itself
which requires careful dissection and illustration; but
also the particular phases of the manifold thoughts
that flow up from the principal consideration as its con



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.           87
stitutional constituents. One thing, however, is manifestly -favorable to a successful explanation, in one
lecture, of the question before us. I allude to the fact,
which is a source of no little gratification to me, that I
am about to address an assemblage of thinking, truthloving men and women-a class of citizens that have
ventured away from the old paths in thoughts and
creeds. While the majority of mankind are wending
their way along the shore —fearing to lose sight of the
old moorings and landmarks-you put out to sea,
taking the compass of Thought to determine your latitudes and longitudes, and the North Star as the nevervarying Truth shining over your pathway; and, like
the persevering Columbus, the voyage of discovery,
which you have thus enterprisingly undertaken, will,
while it subjects you to the various vicissitudes and
whirlwinds of public opinion, ultimately result in the
organization of a Spiritual United States-differing as
much from  the present system  as the efulgent soul
differs from the material body.
The origin of evil, or sin, is a question that has suggested itself to the mind of almost every person.
Everybody is made sensible, from the hour of birth to
the moment of physical death, of something out of
order and out of harmony in this world. No one is
entirely happy. Disturbances either physical or moral,
are experienced by all breathing beings, to a greater or
less extent. Physical disorders, pains and sickness;
social discords, wars and inequalities; mental disturbances, anxiety, disappointment, unhappiness, and
despair. These are the prominent symptoms of some
chronic disease in the world. The question is, How




88           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
did this disease or these endless symptoms and incongruities, originate?.When and where did they begin,
to be? This interrogatory comes home to every one.
The selfish mind wishes to know how to escape these
discords, from motives of mere personal comfort and
consideration; the ph9/~ilanthropist prays to know how
they originate, in order to apply the appropriate remedies; thus to emancipate mankind from the bondage of
corruption, and from the dominion of unhappiness and
despair. As I have already said, a question of such
magnitude and innumerable complications, can not be
thoroughly and minutely elucidated in one lecture, nor
yet in ten carefully prepared discourses; but the generalizations and philosophy on this head can be given
in a concise form; with many things left for your more
private and particular examination.
The church assumptions on the primary development of evil, are probably familiar to you all. Learned
divines-erroneously so called-have concentrated their
time, capital, and talent upon this question. They
have laid the foundation deep in the ignorance of the
people; they have erected a mighty sacriun  thereon;
and all the theological relics of olden times are very
carefully labeled, the prices marked up, and carefully
laid away upon the sacred shelves,-ready for purchasers. Evil has received all the honors of deification.
It has been gazed at by clergymen through the magnifying lens of the vicarious atonement; and, in order
to harmonize effects with causes-to make the stupendous and so-called merciful scheme of Redemyption
correspond measurably with the thing which suggested
and required it —they have, with much honest motive




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.             89
and inevitable cupidity, promoted sin, or evil to a high
primeval position in the realm of the Godhood and the
supernatural.  The writers of the New Testament are
not wholly exempt from this charge of the unnatural
and unrighteous exaggeration, of sin.  They have made
it a matter of more importance than the subject properly requires or deserves. And the priesthood have
followed up the method; they have finally succeeded
in wrapping
"Nonsense'round
With pomp and darkness till it seems profound;
while reason, like a grave-faced mummy stands,'With its arms swathed in hieroglyphic bands."
And now, with the subject or question of evil so
entombed in theological imaginations and church dogmas, how can we divest our minds of the infectious
absurdities sufficiently to once more dispassionately inquire into, and correctly ascertain, the origin and nature
of'discord or sin?  Let us strive to do so, and begin
by glancing at the Bible doctrine on this head. Let
us commence at the foundation, with the Mosaic account, and see whether clergymen have, or have not,
sufficient ground for their views and hyperbolical representations of the " original sin," and its eternal consequences.
You have all, doubtless, read the relations in Genesis
very frequently. I am now moved to examine those accounts briefly, for motives soon to be developed. The
following quotation is derived from the second chapter
of Genesis, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth verses, as
you may see by careful reference:"Every plant of the field was in the earth, and every




90           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
herb of the field grew; for the Lord God had not
caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a
man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from
the earth, and watered the face of the ground. And
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. And the Lord God planted
a garden eastward in Eden; and there he pput the zmana
whom he had formed."
Now this account is truly simnple-in more significations than one. It is not only unartificial and unexaggerated, but it is likewise exceedingly defcient in
describing the exceeding great, momentous, and multiform relations, which are theologically asserted to have
been established between God and man at the moment
of his creation. It is deficient, I mean, only when the
church is regarded as correct in its doctrinal suppositions. Christian scholars universally agree that sin is
either a voluntary depearture of a free moral agent from
a recognized principle of rectitude; or else, a manifest
neglect to discharge known duties and divine commandments. Sin, therefore, when viewed in this light, is
certainly a tremendous reality —a supernatural transaction-the creature against the Creator! If sin is this
terrific thing-is the peace-destroying and heaven-subverting power which the church represents it to bethen, most assuredly, He who "made man," or the
sinning-substance, being All-wise, must necessarily
have known the unutterable awfulness and the prospective endless consequences thereof.
But let us askI-Did the Lord God make Adam
acquainted with the church theory of sin? Nay. For




TIHE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.        91
"the Lord God planted a garden,"  * X   *   "and
took the man and PUT him into the garden of Eden to
dress it and to keep it."  From this it appears, that
Adam did not commence life a free moral agent. His
feelings and attractions were not at all consulted. The
Lord God did not even ask him whether he would
willingly and voluntarily go into the beautiful Eden;
but the Lord "put him in it," as a master would his
serf. Nor was Adam questioned as to his willingness
to choose horticulture as an occupation, or to be a
gardener; which liberty of choice is alone compatible
or reconcilable with the church theory of man's moral
freedom; but, on the contrary, " the Lord God took the
man whom he had formed, and put himv into the garden
of Eden to dress it and to keep it."
We are gradually approaching the origin of evil, as
developed in Genesis.
Freedom is not consistent with slavery. A free mind
is its own commander. Coercion or constraint, of any
description, can not be consonant with the unlimited
scope and principles of freedom. According to this
self-evident conception or definition of liberty, it appears that man was not made in the beginning a free
moral agent. The question of "free agency" I an not
now discussing. I am examining the Mosaic account
of the original sin, and comparing the relation thereof
with the church theory; which holds that sin is a willful transgression of divine law-a voluntary apostacy
of man from the known rules of rectitude or duty.
Now, I ask, what are the Bible statements on this
head?  Why, simply, that the Lord God put Adam
into the garden, and constrained him to labor. Did




92           THE APPROACHIlG' CRISIS.
the Maker consult the moral freedom of the creature?
Here is the answer. "The Lord God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shat' not eat of it; for in the
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."  Here
is a plain implication that the Lord God had planted
good and evil in the world, before the creation of man.
This idea was quite prevalent in the early stages of the
world. Persian and Chaldean myths are nearly all
based upon this superstitious belief. But we let that
pass, and inquire: Did the Lord treat Adam as a free
moral agent? Was the free-born mind consulted as to
choice? Far from it. For " the Lord God commanded
the man," &c.; which implies the servitude of the
creature to the power that formed it; the power of the
potter over the moistened clay.
If sin is the tremendous reality it is alleged to be, and
if the All-wise Lord had a prevision and pre-realization
of sin's terrific consequences upon man and the world;
why did he not describe to Adam-in characters of
fire, and in a voice so accordant, full, and penetrating,
that nothing could ever silence the sound thereof in the
soul that once had heard it-the intense and neverending consequences, the discords, the abortions, and
eternal agonies, which would inevitably flow from the
Jirst transgression? Instead of this, the account says,
the Lord simply told Adam, that if he ate of " the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil," the consequence
would be death. Now this is all very obscure and ambiguous. The rnature of the tree and the kind of death
are neither described nor treated with any marked im



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         93
portance. The tree and the deacth are left to the fertile
imagination of commentators and ambitious clergymen.
The world is to-day replete with sectarian animosities
and jargon, mainly owing to the ambiguous and unsatisfactory relation of this so-called supernatural and infallible account. One sect is decided that the " death
is spiritual;" another, that the apple, or the first sin,
introduced " the phenomenon of death into the world."
Others are very positive, that "death, temporal and
spiritual"-external and eternal —resulted from Adam's
voluntary transgression of the divine command. We
can, therefore, trace the origin of much sectarianism
and mental discord to the ignorance of the world in
regard to this biblical relation.  For differences of
opinion people will sacrifice the friendship of friends,
and yield themselves to the dominion of local hatreds
and cruel persecutions-all, because the world does not
yet know that the Mosaic record of creation is nothing
but a compilation of Persian and Chaldean cosmological
myths and theologic speculations.
Do you ever think, my friends, how replete the
Scriptures are with absurdities and contradictions.
Your clergyman has probably concealed them from the
popular gaze, with the imposing livery of Dr. Somebody's commentary, and by the constant pronunciation
of a classical eulogium upon the best and brightest
truths that decorate the sacred pages. But you should
look with your own eyes; and use thle talents which
God has given you. The lNew Testament exhorts us
to become " perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfeet." This is a glorious and ennobling motive for
spiritual advancement. I love and accept it as a high




94          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
exhortation. But do you remember what the Lord God
is alleged to have -said after Adam had sinned? Do
you recollect the consequence of eating the apple?
" And the Lord God said, Behold, the MAN IS BECOME
AS ONE OF US, to know good and evil; and now, lest he
put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and
eat, and live forever; therefore [that is, because man
had become like the heavenly Sovereigns], the Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the
ground from which he was taken." It seems also that
man's moral freedom to take hold of the tree of eternal
life, was peremptorily denied. Now comes the moment
for serious, fervent inquiry. Did the Lord of Heaven
-the Eternal Spirit —the Almighty Mind-the God of
Truth-act toward the first man, and magnanilnously
consult his mental attractions, as he should have, on the
church supposition that man is a free, self-determining,
and self-acting power!:Nay. Man was made without
his consent —forced up from the quiet solitudes of matter, without having his voluntary powers consulted as
to the wondrous and hazardous undertaking. And
when he became a living soul, how unceremoniously
and peremptorily was he "put into the garden," to work
it and keep it clean! It might possibly have been
decided by Adam, had he been properly cobbferred
with 2prior to his earthly existence, that he would not
be created at all especially, had he been duly informed by the Lord, as a free moral power should
have been, of the tremendous "possibility of evil"
which inevitably presided over " the creation of powers" from the beginning. Inexpressible thought! The
religious world does not-I fear, it can not-realize tne




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         95
wondrous inconsistencies involved in its cardinal teach
ings.
The Lord God, who is believed to be the " beginning
and the end" of all things-" in whom all things consist"-who, being perfectly omrniscient, must see all
things as and where they are, just as and where they
are eventually destined to be, should, in order to
escape the eternal condemnation of being unloving and
inexpressibly unmerciful, have illuminated Adam's
mind, before his creation, and acquainted him of the
eternal evils which would certainly flow from his simple eating of the forbidden fruit. According to the
popular supposition, the creation of Adam was the beginning of an eternity of the most disnal evils and of
wondrous wretchedness, which no man can imagine or
pencil illustrate. Surely, the omniscient Creator must
have known the end from the beginning. There is no
escaping this conclusion. To assert that the Lord made
man to be his own eternal master, and left the ft?ure
consequences altogether to his decisions and acts, is
manifestly the utterance of imbecility. It would do to
impute such recklessness and absence of wisdom and
goodness to some mythologic Being. But to associate
such a thought with the Eternal Mind of this beautiful
and magnificent universe, is, to my mind, more blasphemous than the oft-repeated oaths of the thoughtless
man. The Lord, according to Moses, gave Adami no
adequate and influential reason why the apple should
not have been eaten. He says, " in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Now, how could
that inexperienced and unilluminated mind under



96           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
stand wllat were the horrors and convulsions of death
— temporal or spiritual? —physical or eternal?
The serpent " was more subtile than any beast of the
field."  According to the myth, the serpent contradicted every thing which the lZord had communicated
to Adam. "Ye shall not surely die," said the loquacious serpent.:Now it appears from the account, that
the womran had never had any conversation with the
Lord on the subject of sin, nor received any commandment from  him, except, perhaps, at second-hand,
through her husband; and hence, she, seeing that the
tree was good [not Evn;, remember, but good] for food,
and that it was pleascant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired [not for mere physical grattication and selfish
luxury, but] to make ONE WISE, took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband," &c.,
* * * * "and the eyes of both were opened."  It is
honestly supposed by many that the " serpent" was the
"devil," tempting Eve to violate a known commandment or law of rectitude. But let me ask, Who created
that wicked and subtile being?. Where did he get his
power to deceive? Did the "supernatural sin," in its
enormous strength and subtile windings throughout the
domain of unfolding beings, develop that creeping, deceiving, venomous monster? Far from it. The Mosaic
myth is sufficiently explicit on this head; and I am
not a little surprised that Christian scholars, and honorable men in the church, do not confess to the literal
truth.
Adam and Eve were the last or final creations.
Every thing else in the heavens above and in the earth
beneath-" every  creeping  thinlg "-was  completed




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         97
before the introduction of man. "And God saw every
thing that he had made, and, behold, it was vERY
GOOD " and satisfactory. Now, what does the account say
concerning the beguiling serpent? In the beginning
of the third chapter of Genesis, it is distinctly affirmed,
that " the se'(pent was more subtile than any beast of
the field which [not the supernatural sin, but which]
the Lord God had made!" The serpent was subtile;
but the Lord had made him so! And why the poor,
unfortunate beast-not being created in the category
of so-called free moral "powers"-was subsequently
" cursed" with such an almighty determination, and
condemned to a life of wretchedness in the mud
and dust of creation; is a question which some biblical
commentator, more versed in Greek and Hebrew than
in science or philosophical intelligence, can best answer
to the perfect satisfaction of those who have not yet
learned the art of independent thinking.
But to the important question. Did the irst human
pair violate a known law of duty and rectitude? According to the superficial and unexaggerated letter of the
Mosaic account, I affirm that they did not. They were
not mentally illuminated. The education, which a
proper amount of experience can alone stamp upon the
human intellect, they had not yet acquired. They had
no certain data from which to infer cand thing definitely
as to what sin is, or would eventually result in; for no
person had yet died either a physical or mloral death.
Consequently, when the Lord gave them their so-called'm noral freedom," associated with a powerful temptation to influence them to mnisuse it, and also the penalty
of inevitable " death " as a sequence of the latter result;
5




98          THIE APPROACHING CRISIS.
he gave them a matter which they could not have understood, in all its theological lengths and breadths;
and the supposed effects of the original sin are now
towering far above the world as a frowning and everlasting rebuke to that Power, which, without consulting man's freedom in the first instance, did not exercise sufficiently the attributes of goodness and wisdom
in creating the human world. According to this oriental myth, I say, the first pair did not do that which
would constitute a theological definition of the supernatural sin. They did not transgress any kcnown law
of God. The woman had not received any inspiration
as to her duty. The first conversation which, according
to the account, Eve indulged in after her creation was
with the " subtile serpent " which the Lord God himself had made. What shall we say, then, to the world's
theology?  Whence came it?  I reply. We must
charge it mainly to the learned ignorance and to the
honest cntpidity-if I may so use the expressive paradoxes-of the popes, and priests, and sacerdotal orders
of men, who have elaborated the present system of
theology. They suppose they find a wondrous system
of Redemption in the world. This is designed, they
think, to do away with something equally as wondrous.
Accordingly, the "original sin" must be magnifyied
and exaggerated to conform, with a certain amount of
philosophical proportion, to the stupendous scheme
which is designed to achieve the great universal regeneration. Thus, clergymen have filled the world with
soul-cramping theories and systems of ethics, and the
people have become so thoroughly " salivated" with it,
as the allopathic physician salivates his patients with




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         99
calomel, that nothing but years of obedience to the
laws of Nature and reason can effectually accomplish
the perfect eradication.
The theological method of convicting the world of
supernatural sin, to be consistent, the system should
assert that Adam's advent upon the earth was a matter
of previous personal consent; that the l;ord actually
opened his understanding as to the exact principles of
Right, causing him internally to know them; and then
depicted the eternal and horrible consequences certain
to follow thefirst transgression. According to the true
conceptions of justice to man in the premises, with
which my mind is now impressed, I will briefly describe the conference which the Lord God should have
had with Adam prior to his introduction on the earth.I mean, on the su pposition that the church doctrines of
moral freedom and voluntary sin are unequivocally
true. It is not inconsistent that the Lord should converse, on the hypothesis that Moses is a faithful historian; for his "voice was heard" by the citizens of
Eden, while " walking in the garden in the cool of the
day," &c.-implying that the Lord, as a man, is capable
of walking and conversing with mortals face to face. I
am now to describe, I repeat, the conversation which
the Lord should have held with Adamn, in order to leave
the Divine character unimpeached, and man at liberty
to do, or not to do, the will of God.
Among all the innumerable " Hosts of powers" in the
supernatural realm, it may be supposed that the Lord
God had, after completing the creation of the heavens
and the earth, selected a spirit, named Adam, to go
upon the earth and commence the generation of mortals.




100          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
Calling this spirit to his side, the Lord may be imagined
to have addressed him, according to the inculcations of
popular theology, in the following language:-"l Adam,
in the dim and shadowy immensity, I have just completed a world with fields, seas, hills, valleys, and mountains. It is lighted by a sun, by countless stars, and a
moon. The fields are clothed with herbs; the beasts
roam among the hills; the fish sport in the liquid element; the air is pierced and transpierced by birds of
song; the viper crawls in the dust; and a beauteous
luxuriance emanates from every thing which I have
made; and I have pronounced the whole creation to be'very good.' But, Adam, there is not A MAN to till the
ground. It requires attention, and the earth needs to
be subdued. Now, I have a proposition to express. I
desire that you should consent to go to the earth, and
take your position as Lord of the creation. But you are
a free son of God. You are a free moral, self-determining power; not subject to mechanical force, nor to
the earthly system of cause and effect.  You are at
liberty to go, or not, as you may desire. You may
remain in this heavenly country to all eternity, or you
may go to earth. If you'consent' to accept my proposition, and become the Lord and sole proprietor of the
earth, and of all its possessions, you should do so understandingly. I see the' end from the beginning'-and,
that you may be fully enlightened as to the nature and
consequence of the enterprise, I will relate what will
inevitably occur in the rolling away of centuries.
"If you go to earth, remember, you go on your own
personal responsibility; for, being a free moral power,
I have no right to restrict your individual movements.




TEE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         101.
In the best place thereon, I will plant a beautiful
garden. I desire you to dress and clean it; but you
are at liberty not to do it if you so desire the contrary.
"In that garden I will plant a tree, which will bear
a beautiful fruit. This frait I shall put there as a
strong temptation to your disposition. I shall alsoforim
for you a female companion, and bless you both. Then
I shall leave the rest to you and your wife.
"Now, hearken, while I relate what will surely
result from your undertaking. You will eat the fruit,
which, as I now inform you, will result in the total depravity of the myriads of generations which shall
succeed you.  The human Race' will surely die,' both
physically and spiritUally, in my estimation.  But, in
order to maintain justice cand show mbercy, I shall send
to earth my only begotten Son. He will suffer every
thing. He will take upon himself the sins of the world;
and his righteousness will be imputed to the sinner.
But, Adam, notwithstanding all this, you will inevitably
destroy the beautiful order of the physical creation, and
be the primnary cause of the eternal and unutterable
wretchedness of countless multitudes."
Adam, overwhelmed with the perils and mountainous
evils which would attend or succeed the adventure,
begins to grow feeble in his heart, and almost resolves
not to be " formed" on earth. And yet, not realizing
the truthfulness of the relation which the Lord had
just pronounced, it may now be supposed that Adam
replied thus:"My eternal Lord, I acknowledge the perfect freedom of my soul to accept or reject your proposition;
although it is hard for me to realize, in view of all this




102          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
rolling ocean of eternal Love whereon Wisdom shines
with such ineffable majesty, how it can be possible for
Omnipotence to be so oppressed and circumscribed in its
strength and operation as to permit a single free power,
like myself, to disconcert the earth, and fill the future
realms of darkness with unutterable wretchedness and
woe."
"Concerning this, I will enlighten your understand —
ing," says the Lord.
"' It is within my power, Adam, to prevent all the
evils and atrocious crimes, which will result from your
transport to earth; but I am, in the deep, sober comprehensiveness of my 7isdonz, constrained to obey certain laws of consistency among the'Hosts' of selfcausing powers. Although I most fully comprehend
the prodigious calamities consequent upon your going
to the earth, and eating the fruit which I shall deny
to you; nevertheless, to be consistent with your mzoral
freedom, I must proceed to people the earth without
seezinzg to know the end from the beginning, or interfering with your consents and choice. I say this, that
you may adopt my proposition in the light of your own
freedom and reason."
Adam replies: "The latter I can now understand.
But the former, my Lord, the eternal consequences of
eating of that simple fruit-this is still beyond my
comprehension. It is presumption to think that a
spirit's minute and feeble faculties, wrapped around
with the dim and shadowy clouds of finite things, can
comprehend at once the mighty scheme, and all the
results thereof. Lest, therefore, I may be led astray
by false reason, or captivated by ten thousand deceitful




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         103
things, and fail to live the just life, I pray you my
finite vision to unscale, and, through the interminable
avenue of coming centuries, let me behold the Terrors
which have cast their hideous shapes upon thy all-seeing
mind."
We may now imagine that the Lord God touched
Adam's mind, and gave it the power to view the scenes
of his future course.
Adam gazed. He beheld the earth in its primeval
beauty, all as it had been told him. The luxurious
garden all ready for the final preparation to accommodate his presence. He saw the irresistible tree of good
and evil. Its fruit sparkled in the shining sun; and
when his companion gave him it, he did eat. Now,
there spread a deepening gloom over the world. IIe
had fallen, in the love and estimation of his heavenly
sovereign. Eternal Justice was offended; and all things
began to bear thorns and thistles, or to wither and to
decay.
Still he gazed. And in the distant time, he beheld
the wars, cruelties, and abomirnations of man. IHe saw
the deluge; the confusion of tongues; the scattering
of the nations; the line of seers and prophets; the
Incarnation of the Only Son; his life of trial and
wretchedness; and his death upon the huge cross.
The vision was sickening to his soul, and fatal to his
resolution. But further on he saw, reflected in the
literature of the world, the horrid realities of the
bottomless gulf. And soon, he beheld the abyss itself'
in all its Y7aning terror. The mountainous wall of
burning adamant struck a sickness to Adam's soul, and
he found no words to express the consequences of his




104              THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
first transgression.   His heart turned within  upon
itself; and he could only adopt the weak language of
POLLOel in relating what he beheld: —
"Upon that burning Wall,
In horrible emblazonry, were limned
All shapes, all forms, all modes of wretchedness,
And agony, and grief, and desperate woe."
*  *  *  "Wide was the place,
And deep as wide, and ruinous as deep.
Beneath he saw a lake of burning fire,
With tempest tossed perpetually, and still
The waves of fiery darkness'gainst the rocks
Of dark damnation broke, and music made
Of melancholy sort; and overhead,
And all around, wind warred with wind; storm howled
To storm, and lightning forked lightning crossed,
And thunder answered thunder, muttering sound
Of sullen wrath; and far as sight could pierce,
Or down descend in caves of hopeless depth,
Through all that dungeon of unfading fire,
He saw most miserable beings wallk,
Burning continually, yet unconsumed;
Forever wasting, yet enduring still;
Dying perpetually, yet never dead!"
You involuntarily shrink, my friends, from  this horrid
picture; but you should remember, that it was origiznadly pcainterl by a talented clergyman.  What an  expenditure of mind and thought!  What an  abuse of
imagination!  But let us, for the  present purpose,
imacgine the  foregoing  to  have been  Adam's vision
previous to his approach to our earth. Surely, if he
had "consented " to take the earth for his habitation,
after having viewed, thus prospectively, the disastrous
and overwhelming consequences thereof; then, indeed,




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          105
would there exist some rationalistic ground for the
theological scheme which has obtained a footing in this
lower world. But does Moses furnish any such premises for the original sin? Was Adam, according to that
account, consulted and treated in the commencement,
as a free moral power should have been, in view of all
the perils of his enterprise-? Nay. The Lord God
forced man into this existence; breathede into his nostrils the breath of life; put him into the garden to
dress it; and then commanded him n ot to eat the fruit
for the fear of incurring a mystical penalty, of which
his inexperienced and unilluminated mind could not
form the least reasonable conception! Therefore I
affirm, that, granting the Mosaic account to be perfectly true to the letter, there is no foundcation for the
vast theological superstructure of "original sin" and
" Redemption" as claimed by the entire clergy of
Christendom.
The first part of my discourse on this subject is now
nearly completed. I have shown you that we must
seek for the " origin of evil " outside of any scriptural
statement, and separate from all modern theological
speculations, if we would arrive at the plain, unvarnished truth. The Bible account of creation is a
very interesting myth-mainly a plagiarism, from the
early traditions and cosmological doctrines of the
ancient Persians and Chaldeans. But to regard the
first chapters of Genesis as a divine revelation of truth,
is to press to your hearts a pagan relic, which should no
more command your serious respect than the ancient
doctrines of Fetichism. This assertion is susceptible
of the fullest confirmation; not only by the high au5*




106          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
thority of an enlightened reason, but also by -the
philosophical spirit of history.
The eternal Deity, my friends, amply demonstrates
to us the character of his Religion! His creed is written all over the firmament. It is expressed in the
order, beauty, and loveliness of Nature. It flows up
from  the depths of the pure soul. All indications
testify fully, that the true religion is Justice, and joy,
and peace, and beauty.  If we would study this creed,
let us go forth and meditate in the open fields-let us
look up, and contemplate the works and ways of
Nature's God. We are never so free and happy as
when we bring our spirits into direct sympathy with
the forms and flowers of nature.
It is evident that the decorations of the earth and
the heavens were not unfolded in vain. They must
subserve some useful and elevating purpose. They
must be the manifestations of some universal Spirit or
Principle of Beauty and Truth. Chance is not such a
skillful builder! No! the Divine Mind is the fountain source —who, in his universally published creed, is
certainly no gloomy Orthodox, or Quaker. For instead
of causing Creation uniformly to wear a drccab dress, or
a dismal expression foreboding evil, he has bedecked
the hills and dales with ineffable loveliness, and placed
a shining crystal on the breast of the granite mountain!
[Nor are the Birds monotonozus either in their dress or
song. The sturdy oaks, too, put forth their boughs in
diverse ways, and spread out the foliage of gladness
and youth. Surely, there is a principle of Beauty in
Nature! And its perpetual breathings prove that a
Perfect Deity is both its Author and Friend. It -ap



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.        107
pears, I repeat, that the Deity is the GRAND SOURCE of
all beauty and loveliness. But why is it so? Certainly,
he can not be what is generally termed, an Orthodox
in his Religion. He can not be eternally conscious of
the existence of a pandemonium just beyond the boundaries of his glorious dominion! He can not see the
eternal " destruction " of the wicked, and yet send forth
a principle of love, truth, and beauty into this worldcausing the birds to sing the songs of gladness, and the
fields, to teem  with blushing loveliness!  No; the
thought is impossible! For if there were a hell in
the neighborhood of heaven, as asserted by mis-impressed and wrongly-educated clergymen; and if that
abyss contained but one-just one-lost soul; we know,
granting the Lord to be unable to save, that the angels
in heaven-our departed brothers and sisters-would
weep tears enough to extinguish the fires of hell; and,
upon the swelling bosom of an ocean t/hus formed, that
once lost soul would ride triumphantly into the courts
of heaven!
Supernaturalism, as scripturally derived and philosophically explained by clergymen, utterly fails to account for the origin of evil, on the supposition that
every human being is a free moral and self-determining power. Adam did not absolutely know, by any
personal experience or spiritual prevision, the entire
laws of eternal justice and rectitude; and hence, when
he began to put into practice the normal liberties and
voluntary powers of his nature, he did so experimentally; just as we first taste of food to ascertain its
flavor, or smell the growing plant in order to learn the
nature of its fragrance. If doing that which we know




108          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
to be wrong, is sin, then, as knowledge is based upon
absolute experience and foresight, Adam does not come
under the condemnation. Adam was told not to eat
the fruit under penalty of inevitable death. The account asserts the information, or positive commandment, to have been openly communicated by the Lord
God unto the man whom he had formed.  The external
authority, therefore, was of the very highest order.
But did the man, with his mind wholly undeveloped
and inexperienced, know that the Lord had told him the
perfect truth? You  may reply, that the Lord caused
Adam internally to feel the truth and the importance
of the commandment. But this is going beyond the
primary assertions of the foundation of supernaturalism
-the Bible; and so, in a discussion of this particular
and exceedingly momentous character, no such reply
is in any way admissible.
In a very obscure and mystical method, Adam was
informed that the efect of eating the forbidden fruit,
was certcain death, and that is all! Nothing is said
about the asserted consequences of that sin, to be experienced by all subsequent generations, and throughout the interminable centuries of eternity. The latter
information might have strengthened Adam's mind,
and energized his soul to the everlasting obedience of
what he might have supposed to be the laws of supernal
justice and right. But according to the account, the
first man had no such inducements to be righteous:
neither any mental enlightenment as to the true principles of rectitude, the laws of existence, or the ways of
happiness. The penalty of certain death, as a logical
sequence of eating a beautiful and inviting fruit, was




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         109
"all Greek" to both Adam  and Eve.  It is like
seriously informing cGa new-born babe, that the fire will
burn; or the desert Arab, that thunder issues from
the concussion of surcharged clouds.
Rationalism, as opposedc to supernaturalistic revelations and faith, is, therefore, obliged to supplant all
mythological theories of evil and redemption, and shed
its light over the rugged, ascending pathway of mankind's progression. The sins and evils in the world
must first be rationally explained, as to their origin,
before the world can rationally set about the work of
extermination and human deliverance. For eighteen
long, dark,.wearisome, eventful centuries, the Bible, or
the church medicine, has been administered to the sinsick soul. But the "disease" still prevails; and the
"Doctors " —of divinity, I mean-continue to feel the
public pulse, and to prescribe the old nostrums.
While science and philosophy-those darling offspring
of the human mind-have, by the invention of printing, by the science of navigation, by the discovery of
steam, &c.., civilized and advanced this portion of the
earth; Christianity, as now understood and interpreted,
on the contrary, has been, in the hands of its champions, the great Conservative power in the world, —
retarding the march of freedom, and vilifying every
member of humanity who has successfully out-rode the
storms of the church, and who now ventures to, apply
new remedies to existing disorders among men. -Without further premising, I will proceed to utter my impressions concerning the true origin and nature of evil.
In order to give an intelligent and decisive solution
to this question, your minds should first recognize a few




110           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
philosophical preliminaries, respecting the subordinate
system of Nature, especially as unfolded in the earth.
A permanent foundation for all true and enlightened
reasoning may be easily discovered somewhere in the
vast world or systems about ias; but, unless we are certain as to the basis or premises, we are not likely long
to retain and cherish the superstructure as a temple of
truth and reason.
The earth, in its primeval condition, was a mere
combination of liquid elements-a blazing comet, rolling upon its axis and flying eccentrically about the Sun
from which it originally was eliminated. For many
-ages our earth was in this state. If any one of you
could then have gazed this way, from the beautiful
planet Saturn, which was then peopled, you would have
seen a conglobated combination of fire-mist, sending
off, in all directions, glowing emanations of light as
from a blazing substance. You need no longer fear
that this world will in the future be consumed by the
dissolving flame. For it hasacassed that point, and the
principle' of progress never permits an actual retrogression in any thing existing.  This description of the
origin of our earth you may consider wholly destitute
of adequate proof. But I assure you to the contrary,
and  affirm, that all astronomical discoveries-the
physical constitution of the sun, the immense territories of luminous nebulcw in space, the eccentric comets,
&c., combined with all the geological discoveries of
this era-demonstrate conclusively, or as far as an
external method of research can bring forth reliable
deductions from well-ascertained data, that the earth
was originally a vast globe of flaming elements!




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          111
In accordance with the laws of progress and development, the heated, flowing substances gradually began
to lose their ignigenoas properties, and the process
of cooling and stratification imperceptibly commenced.
It would be very interesting to notice in detail all the
extensive and wondrous changes which resulted from
the process of primary stratification of the earth's surface, but this would not subserve our present purposes.
We must pass rapidly over very many ages, and contemplate the earth subsequent to the hardening of its
circumference.
There was nothing orderly or symmetrical. One
portion of the planet was covered with water; another,
pierced the upper air with towering mountains. Every
thing was angular-full of grotesque forms of matterirregular and unequal as the thoughts of the inebriate.
This was the primary condition of the earth —a stage,
when properly denominated, of wildness and universal
eccentricity.
But soon the beautiful process of crystallization cominenced. The earth, however, contained no rounded
and symmetrically shaped particles of matter; and so,
as a natural consequence, the minerals and crystals
which were formed —by the chemical action of existillg gases in connection with the pervading heat and
the sun's influence -were all replete with angles and
sharp projections. The first forms were necessarily
irregular and almost indescribably fantastical.  In
proportion, however, to the modifications in the atmosphere, the refinements in the mineral kingdom, and
the improvements in the general physical conditions in
nature; in the sanzmeproportion did the productions of




112          THE APPROACtHING 0GBISIS.
Nature assume a more orderly and harmonious appearance.  When atoms of matter became intrinsically
improved, the result was forthwith manifested in the
development of kiyher forms in the fields of creation.
The highest crystallization or mineralization of particles
merged into the lowest form of vegetable life. If you
compare the physical construction of a mineral body
with any species of plants or vegetation, the coatings
and fibers of the latter will appear distinctly, though
incipiently, in the former. How like the leaves and
fibers of plants do the crystallizations of frost appear on
the window-glass! But you never see mineral bodies
so distinctly exhibiting animal organizations. Because,
in the order of progress, the mineral kingdom  immediately precedes the vegetable kingdom; and the
latter, the animal creation; which, in a vast variety
of particulars, indicates its parentage and ancestral
relationship.
In the plant and animal are exhibited many points
of likeness. The rouLnded limb; the external surface
and the narrow; the circulation of fluids and gases
through the body; the drawing of nourishment from
the earth, and the absorption of the surrounding atmosphere-these are the most conspicuous features of
similarity. But a closer anatomical inspection would
reveal certain analogous physiological processes and
habits, so to express it, which clearly demonstrate the
nearness of the relationship between the two kingdoms.
Now you perceive how gradually the principles of
progress and development elaborate higher and better
productions, from the primary particles which were exceedingly gross and grotesque. But at a point where




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.        113
the animal kingdom ceases to go on, there the htuman
kingdom commences its eternal march of being. WVhat
a moment —what an epoch-was this, when the mortal
put on immortality! The animal became the human;
and the new creation asserted its supremacy! You
may not now-at this late day of creation-see the
exact point at which the animal glided into the human
type; because the transitionz species have become nearly
extinct; but even yet, when you contrast the lowest
types of humanity with the highest animal organizations in nature, you will be greatly astonished at the
brotherly likeness presented. The same anatomy and
physiology are exhibited; also analogous attractions
and habits. I will not now present any particular
elucidations on this head; but proceed directly to assure you that there is a utnity, and a progressive
harmony, in the System of Nature.
By the foregoing sketch, you can not but recognize
the progressive development of all things from  the
lowest grossness in the primary condition of the earth
to the highzest refinement in the human creation. But
you ask-what has all this to do with the origin of
evil? Be patient with me, and I will fully manifest
the application. Gross and angular particles of matter
make mineral organizations. When the atoms become
more symmetrical, they pass into the formation of
plants. The vegetable kingdom achieves an alteration
and improvement in the shape and condition of the
particles, and then the latter ascend the scale of being,
and unfold the animal. From this point of atomic refinement, the human kingdom commences; and this
connects the material and the spiritual-the mortal




114          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
with immortality! iNow the human Race has gone, or
is now passing through a similar system of progression..All development goes by cycles; the links in the endless, spirally ascending scale of progress. All things
throughout the immeasurable domain of terrestrial and
celestial existence —with their forces, laws, movements, and developments —are reciprocally related to,
and inseparably connected with, each other; and so
there is formed or constituted a magnificent, unzitary
system of existence and causation, of which the Divine
Being is the great positive Life-principle and regulating Power.
In the subordinate departments of nature, the order
of the system stands thus: Earth, Minerals, Vegetables,
Animals, Man. The same identical system of cycles
has been, or is being, manifested by the progressions
of mankind. The order stands historically and absolutely, thus: Savagism, Barbarism, Patriarchalism,
Civilism, Republicanism.  The same system is exhibited
in the normal life of every individual, thus: Infancy,
Youth, Adolescence, Manhood, Maturity.  The analogy is none the less perfect in the development and
association of moving principles, thus: Motion, Life,
Sensation, Organization, Intelligence.
I am impressed to present these analogies in order
to impart a clear conception of the system of the world;
in contradistinction to the supernatural theory of specific creation of perfect things, and subsequent discord
by the workings of sin. When the individual is yet
in the Infant stage of growth, how arngul/car and grote.sque are the external manifestations of character!
lnconsiderate, impatient, impetuous, reckless. Thought



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         115
lessly, the inexperienced mind tastes or grasps the first
thing presented. It would drink milk or vitriol, so far
as its knowledge goes, with an equal degree of readiness. The milk would nourish; but the vitriol would
impair or destroy life. Behold, in this simple illustration, the whole mystery and philosophy of evil's origin.
The child plays with the viper as unconsciously of
danger as with a beautifiil ribbon. The undisciplined
hand reaches forth to grasp the flacme of the taper as
willingly as " the burnt child " studiously avoids the
contact. If the mouth should receive only the milk,
the organic laws of the physical economy would then
be obeyed; but the vitriol, although drank with the
same degree of willingness, would possibly subvert,
temporarily, the organic harmonies, or terminate the
bodily existence. If you should command the child
not to drink the vitriol under the penalty of certain
death, and still leave the inexperienced mind to act
from  its voluntary impulses; the child not knowing
any thing definitely about the nature of vitriol or the
phenomenon of death, would be very likely to drink
thle forbidden beverage, should it be the most attractive
to all external appearances. As the progress of the
Race is typified in the individual; so is the origin of
evil, or disease and discord, with mankind, manifested
in the acts and impulses of the uneducated child. If
the child impairs its constitution by various transgressions of the physical and organic laws of its being, then
the generations succeeding it will surely receive the
results of the disturbance, through the laws of hereditary descent or transmission.
You ask-" How did evil originate."  What do you




116          TTHE APPROACHING CRISIS.
mean by " evil'?"  Do you mean the diseases, the wars,
the cruelties, the discords in the world? If so, then I
reply, in accordance with my impressions, that they
are the consequences of a regular system of progressive
development in Nature-just as acnguldar crystals, sharp
and craggy rocks, irregulcar vegetation, cumbrous plants
with thorns, /huge anigmals, and imperfect cdevelopments
of the human species, are the steps of a transcending
law of progress, in its majestic march from the deepest
recesses of grossness and materiality to the highest
eminences of refinement and spirituality. I will presently elucidate this point more particularly. The human- race, in its passage from savagism to civilization,
has been subjected to the laws of experience as the only
source of absolute knowledge.  The civilized nations, as
they are termed, manifest still the consequences of their
journey; they show, in their laws and institutions, certain predispositions of character which remind us of
the early stages of man.  Savagism is the gr~eat great
grandfather of Civilization.  The offspring bears distinct traces of its parentage!  The laws of national
hereditary transmission of qualities are immutable.
The evils, or rather the numerous misdirections, of
savagism, are now nearly extinct among civilized nations; but the features of Patriarchalism are still discoverable in the religious and political organizations
of the most advanced inhabitants of the earth.  One
Era sits in judgment against the preceding, as the
youth judges his father.  The angalarities, or mnisdircctions, of savagism are condemned by those persons
who outgrow them  in the order of progress.  The
American Nation-if it can be termed a nation-to



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         117
day sits in judgment against all the nations of the
earth-rebuking them  for their evils, their discords,
wars, and tyrannical institutions. But America is also
condemned by still more liberty-loving spirits for her
slavery and local disorders. We do not know what
wrong or misdirection is, until we outgrow it in our
minds and morals. The doctrine of evil, therefore, is
a local and arbitrary matter, which the succeeding
generation will alter to suit the standard of another
construction.
Surely, you see the truth of this statement. How
do you know that milk is better than vitriol for babes?"
"By experience," you reply. Do you know by personal experience?2 "No."  How, then, do you know?
"By the experience and well-authorized attestations
of others."  Yes, this is almost knowledge; because it
is based on the experience of the race to which you
belong, and in which you unconsciously confide. So,
you learn that slavery is wrong by a knowledge of
liberty and of its blissful concomitants. Again, I affirm
that evil is altogether an arbitrary term, which men
apply to those inequalities and misdirections which
they have themselves, morally as well as intellectually,
outgrown, but which others far less developed may
still continue to perpetuate. There is a vast difference
between perceiving a wrong by the intellect, and resistiny that wrong by an exercise of the moral sensibilities.
One person may be morally and intellectually above
the act of theft. In such a case, the mind has nothing
to resist; for the act is held by the individual as beneath the dignity of his inward nature. Another person may equally know that thleft is wrong, according to




118. THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the laws of the land; but, when the opportunity presents, he finds his moral feelings not very strongly
opposed to the -act-in.aect, he does not consider the
deed beneath his dignity at all.
Clergymen, knowing almost nothing of man's spiritual
character, in connection with the laws of progress and
development, are very sanguine as to the correctness of
the Bible-idea of sin: and the people are compelled to
labor under gospel vituperations and clerical denunciations of every description, without knowing how, or
daring to obtain a better idea of the sins complained of
by their shepherds. It is now my impression to relate,
briefly, the real origin of what is termed evil-commencing, as the clergymen do, with the beginning of
the human species. What has been said, thus far, is
concerning the philosophy of sin or discord as developed
in the system of Nature.
The doctrine, that the race began from a single pair
of originally pure and heavenly beings, is vastly far
from the real truth. You, who have intellectual discernment and comprehension adequate, should not
allow your minds to misread Nature, which is the book
of deific origin. Creation shows, very explicitly, that
the commencement of any thing is gross and imperfect.
Nothing begins existence with prominent spiritual
characteristics, and terminates in the depths of grossness
and materiality. I speak now of the great universal
system of Nature. The first trees, the first animals,
the first men, were quite imperfectly formed and as unrefined. The same is true of every thing invented by
man. The first agricultural implements, the first steamboats, the first locomotive, &c., were exceedingly de



THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.        119
fective and cumbersome.  Progression proves that
"'that is not first which is spiritual, but nctural, and
afterward the spiritual."  Accordingly, I discover the
first types of the human family to have been dwarfed
or unadvanced in mental development; but gigantic
and powerful in their physical structure and organic
constitutions. They were giants in every respect, except in mind.  They were to the present race of men
what the megatherium, the missourium, and the mammoth were to the present existing types of animals.
Progression in mind brings _physical refinement; thus,
the animal-man becomes extinct in proportion as the
spiritual-man obtains the ascendency. All this I have
shown you in considering the unity of the system of
Nature.
Asia, as all mythologic traditions and history truly indicate, cradled the-first born of the human species. By
the first born, I do not mean any-special creations by a
deific hand; but the first type of the mammiferous
animals which approached sufficiently near the human
type, to be properly denominated the " first born" of the
race to which we belong.  There were two distinct
molds or forms of the mammiferae organization that ascended at the same time rapidly toward the human
organism. One tribe existed in Eastern, the other in
Western Asia. They did not discover each other until
a long period after they had established independent
nations or tribes. One race was more effeminate than
the other. And when, like the race of modern Gipsies,
the former tribe traveled over the fertile country of
Asia, and discovered the stronger race, an immediate
union was formed; and thus the two types, combined,




120          TIlE APPROACHING CRISIS.
commenced the production of the different nations that
subsequently peopled the earth. Still they were savage
in habit and ferocious in disposition. They were far
more animal than human; the spiritual was as yet undeveloped, and the material greatly preponderated.
They lived peacefully and harmoniously so long as the
various wants of their physical constitutions were plentifully supplied. When these material conditions were
not fully complied with, they would like the beasts of
the forests, or, perhaps, more as the inhabitants of the
Cannibal Islands, manifest the unrefined and savage
custom of quarreling and warring with each other and
with nature for what they considered to be their rights.
But I must hasten away over several centuries; during which period the youthful types of man employed the natural, or rather rudimrental language-such
as motions, gesticulations, configurations of the countenanlce, &c.; which, by not involving much complicity, they contrived to use, without any distinct modification or trouble, until they discovered their ability
to make a vast variety of vocal sounds. This discovery
was at first hailed with delight. - Accordingly, they
very rapidly abandoned their primitive habit and form
of expression; and forthwith began to communicate
their thoughts by vocal effort. And now, behold, what
a great- fire a little matter kindleth!
When the early inhabitants used only gesticulations,
assisted by a crude form of hieroglyphical language, as
means of individual communication, the simplicity and
fixedness of the agents employed, prevented all nisunderstanding as to the real import of each other's
thoughts.  Vegetables, animals, birds, mud-images,




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         121
objects worked out of soft stone,-such were their
books, their history, their creeds and schools. But
with vocal expression came also misunderstanding!
Their minds were not yet sufficiently developed to
establish grammatical order and intelligent sounds;
and it was soon discovered that different persons would
make different oral sounds to signify the same thing.
Not properly understanding each other's natures, each
held the other responsible for intentionally, and with
premeditation, varying the sound of the voice when
referring to any specific thing. Many of the youthful
nation soon became impatient-honestly supposing that
the vocal expressions were breeding falsehoods and
deception. They rapidly became displeased with each
other; and socially miserable and antagonistic. They
became envious, cruel, and deceptive; because their
intellectual endowments were not enough developed to
account for, and properly prevent the abounding misunderstandings. However, there was a chieftain in
their midst who declared that they were possessed by a
strange and wicked being, who floated in the invisible
shades of night in the air, breathing a malignant
element into their minds. This piece of mystical speenlation the chieftain taught them by using their cast-off
hieroglyphical images.  Thus commenced a discord
which caused the youthful family to separate and
wander abroad over the earth. One tribe blamed and
denounced the other as tMe cause of the discord; and
thus was formed the first theory in this world of the
origin of evil. The separated tribes soon mulltiplied
and established small nations, each developing a diferent
language in order to escape the hypothetical evil of the
6..




122           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
first vocal sounds employed; and so originated the
different nations and the early discords among the
human species. All this is demonstrable by the history
of races and language.
The facts herein disclosed and set forth, concerning
the origin of the first discords among the foundationprogenitors of mankind, can be, I am impressed to say,
substantiated by reference to various sources of outward or external information. All ethnological researches into the derivation and distribution of the
different races and families of men; all archaeological
investigations into the mysteries and science of antiquities; all philological discoveries concerning the
origin, science, and affinities of the different languages;
all geological disclosures, and the science of comparative anatomy, each and all stand as so many unexpected
and unsought sources of demonstration, that the foregoing statements respecting evil are grounded in historical Truth. Indeed the science of the origin of
language, of the different races of men, of the diverse
religions and mythologies in the world, essentially
require, in common reason, something like the above
substrakctuz of /istoriccat proecognitac or ascertained datca
from which to commence a train of logical inferences
and deductions.
Furthermore, how intrinsically probable is this revealment of the origin of discord when compared to any
theory now received. The Old Testament asserts the
different languages and races of men to have originated, subsequent to a universal deluge, by a supernatural "confusion of tongues" and scattering of the
tribes engaged in building the Babel-tower. Geology,




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.               123
be it distinctly remembered, unfolds evidences against
the possibility of a universal inundation; and besides,
the atmosphere could not have sustained watery vapor
in sufficient quantity to cover the whole earth on the
event of condensation.' On the score, therefore, of
mere natural reasonable probability, the account, which
I have been impressed to relate, must stand pre-eminently recommended to your understanding and credence. Because, moreover, it appears in the line of all
archaeological and geological discoveries with which
this age is so exceedingly enriched-a powerful presumptive evidence of its truth, which should not be
overlooked by impartial minds.
In offering these historic suggestions, as so many conspiring evidences of the verity of this philological revealment, I design not to trouble the reader of this work
with the many argumentations which appear adducible.
There are, however, a few  passages, bearing directly
and favorably on this question, which I quote from  an
admirably written and rationally disposed work,* entitled " God in Christ," opening with a very valuable
dissertation concerning the natural origin and spiritual
significancy of human language. In speaking of the
origin of vocal sounds, the author says: "' It is undoubtedly true, as many have asserted, that human language
* A friend first called my attention to this work, because its author,
Dr. BUSHNELL, has expressed, in the initial chapter, corresponding ideas
respecting the disputes and differences which arise from the arbitrary
nature and indeterminate use of vocal expression. From the representations, given, I can not see how he can refuse to acknowledge the tractability and probability of the foregoing statement in regard to the origin
and establishment of the different languages.




124:          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
is a gift of God to the race, though not, I think, in the
sense often contended for. It is by no means asserted,
in the Scriptures to which they refer, that God himself
pronounced the sounds, or vocal names, by which the
objects of the world were represented, nor that He
framed these names into a grammar."
Again, in alluding to the instinct of language ill the
first man being developed by having his mind directed
to objects around him, the writer says: "He was,
himself, in this view, the occasional cause of the
naming process; and, considering the nature of the
first man to have been originally framed for language,
he was the creative cause; still the man himself, in his
own freedom, is the immediate, operative cause; the
language produced is as truly a human, as a divine
product. It is not onlyfo1r the race, but it is also of
the race-a human development, as truly as knowledge, or virtue, or the forms of the social state."
The writer is truly aware of the troubles among
philological investigators concerning the parentage of
vocal expression; and thinks " the fact, that there are
living languages, between which no real affinity can be
discovered, still exists in its integrity " —forcing us to
" either admit the existence of races originally distinct,
or else we must refer these languages to the Scripture
solution of a miracle." This conclusion the writer, like
a truly philosophic rationalist and thinker, manifests
no particular proclivity to accept; but considers no
mystery in the idea that the " different languages are
so many free developments of the race." On this head,
he remarks: " Nor is there any so great impossibility
or mystery in this mlatter of originating a language, as




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          125
many seem to suppose. I hope it will not offend the
romantic or marveling propensity of my readers, if I
affirm that a new language has been created and has
perished in Connecticut, within the present century."
Still further on he says: " Nor is there any reason to
doubt that incipient and rudimental efforts of nature,
in this direction, are often made, though in cases and
modes that escape attention. Indeed, to believe that
any two human beings, shut up wholly to each other,
to live together until they are of a mature age, would
not construct a language, is equivalent, in my estimation, to a denial of their proper humanity." All this,
as the reader perceives, favors the rationalistic solution
of the question.
As to the tendency of vocal expression, to produce discord and unintentional derangements among men, the
writer remarks: "men are so different, even good and
true men, in their personal temperament, their modes
of feeling, reasoning, and judging, that moral bitterness, il its generic sense, will not be a state or exercise
of the same precise quality in their minds. Some persons will take as bitterness in general, what others will
only look upon as faithfulness, or just indignation.
And, then, in the particular case to which the word is
to be applied, different views and judgments will be
formed of the man, his provocations, circumstances,
duties, and the real import of his words and actions."
"Words," continues the author, "are legitimately used
as the signs of thoughts to be expressed. They do not
literally convey, or pass over a thought out of one mind
into another, as-we commonly speak of doing. They
are only hints, or images, held up before the mind of




126          THE APPRO-AHING CORISIS.
another, to put him on generating or reproducing the
same thought; which he can do only as he has the same
personal contents, or the generative power out of which
to bring the thought required. Hence,, there will be different measures of understanding or miscnderstacndziny
according to the capacity or incapacity, the ingenuousness or moral obliquity of the receiving party-even if
the communicating party offers only truth, in the best
and freshest forms of expression the language provides."
From the foregoing paragraphs it is reasonable to infe,,
that Dr. B     has ratioaclly meditated upon the causes
of "the interminable disputes of the theologians;" and
has seen, no doubt, several insurmountable difficulties,
which he has labored not to see, standing in the way, preventing the reconciliation of an infallible revelation with
the arbitrary and indeterminate nature of the language
in which that revelation is clothed and forced upon the
vast contrariety of intellects that compose the human
world.
Analogous troubles are often generated, by similar
trivial causes, among children who just begin to use vocal
expression whereby to communicate their thoughts.
You will see them playing together, delighted with
each other's society, until something is suggested to be
attempted in their gambols, which they have not the
words or the power to clearly express and define. In
their haste and impetuosity, they misunderstand each
other's intentions, and the disturbance quickly embroils
and embitters the whole party. Each feels the other to
be clearly at fault; and so, the little angers change their
peace into a domestic war. Thus were commenced the
first troubles among mankind.




TME TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          127
The church theory of evil, on the contrary, attributes
or involves a defect in the divine goodness, or in the
divine power. One creed represents God allowing evil
to appear in the creature-man in order to openly display his own prowess and sovereignty. Another creed
represents God as designing to make man morally good,
but had not the powe.r-to do so consistently with the creature's moral freedom. Consequently, evil walks into the
creation in spite of the Creator; being, according to the
supposition, a counterpart or necessary result of the
good he would create.
My present impressions can not be more intelligibly
or practically worded than they have already been by
an independent thinker and vigorous writer of this century, * and as set forth in the following extract: "Thus
moralism is the parent of fetishism, or superstitious worship, the parent of all sensual and degrading ideas of
God, the parent of all cruel and unclean and abominable worship. Leading me as it does to regard my inward self as corrupt, to distrust my heart's affections as
the deadliest enmity to God, it logically prompts the
crucifixion of those affections as' especially well pleasing
to Him, and bids me therefore offer my child to the
flames, clothe mny body in sackcloth and ashes, lacerate my skin, renounce the comforts and refinements of
life, turn hermit or monk, forswear marriage, wear
lugubrious and hideous dresses that insult God's daylight, and make myself, in short, under the guise of a
voluntary and mendacious humility, perfectly ulcerous
$ See "1 Moralism and Christianity; or, Man's Experience and Destiny."
By HExNRP JAMES. pp. 160, 161, et seq.




128           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
with spiritual pride, a mass of living purulence and
putridity.
It is, I repeat, simply inevitable that moralism, or
the doctrine of man's subjection to society, should produce these effects, should enormously inflame the pride
of one class of its subjects, and as enormously depress that of another class. For if I, being a morally
good man, that is, conscientiously abstaining from all
injustice or injury to my neighbor, come to regard that
character as constituting a distinction for me in the
sight of God, as giving me a distinction there above
some poor devil of an opposite character, it is easy to
see I must become as inwardly full of conceit and inhumanity as a nut is full of meat. How can it be
otherwise!  If the All-seeing behold in me any superiority to the most leprous wretch that defiles your
streets, then clearly I have the highest sanction for
esteeming myself above that wretch, and treating him
not with fellow-feeling, but with condescension and
scorn.
I know  the unctuous cant, the shabby sophistry,
which prevails upon this subject. I know it will be
replied that I i" ought not " forsooth! to do thus, that it
" would be wrong " forsooth! for me to exalt myself
above this poor wretch on the ground of my superior
morality. But wherefore wrong?  If that morality
really distinguish me before God, if it constitute a su
perior claim to the divine favor, then it were flat inconsistency in me, it were flat treason to God, not to
acknowledge it in my practice. Can God's judgment
be unrighteous?  Wherefore then should I hesitate in
any case to conform my conduct to it?




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EvIL.         129
"Ah!" replies some one, "but yot do not see as
God sees. If you saw all the temptations that have
beset that poor wretch, if you could see in the first
place, the superior intensity of his passions to yours,
his comparative intellectual disadvantages, his depraved
circumstances from infancy up, and so forth, you would
possibly regard your difference as small, and abate
somewhat the tone of your triumph." This is all true.
This is exactly what I myself say. But then if the
circumstances here alleged should affect my judgment
of my poor friend, much more should they affect lIis
judgment to whom they are so much better known!
If I cease on these grounds to exalt myself over my
fellow, how much more must God cease to exalt me!
But if this be so, what becomes of your moral distinctions in His sight?  If He have no higher esteem for
me, a morally good man, than he has for you, a morally evil man, then it is clear that the moral life is not
the life HIe confers, the life of which He is chiefly
solicitious.
You perceive that you are here in a dilemma.
Either God esteems nme a virtuous man above you a
vicious man, or He does not. If He does, then inasmuch as all His judgments are right, and designed for
our instruction, I should instantly learn to esteem myself above you, that is, to withhold from you sympathy
or fellowship, in which case I become inhuman by
virtue of a direct divine influence. If, on the other
hand, IIe does not esteem me a virtuous man above
you a vicious man, then you deny the moral life to be
God's life in man.
How will you extricate yourself from this dilemma?
6*




130           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
There is but one way. You will say that it was
not your intention to represent God as holding one
man intrinsically superior, or superior in himself, to
another, but relatively or socially superior only; superior, that is, with reference to the purposes of society.
There is consequentlyno further quarrel between us.
Moral distinctions belong purely to our earthly genesis and- history.  They do not attach to us as the
creatures of God. As the creature of society, I am
either good or evil. I am good as keeping my natural
gratification within the limits of social prescription, or
evil as allowing it to transcend those limits. But as
the creature of God, or in my most vital and final
selfhood, I am positively good; good without any oppugnancy of evil; good, not by any stinted angelic
mediation, but by the direct and unstinted indwelling
of the Godhead.
I have now expressed my thought with more detail
than befits a popular Lecture.  But as I conceive the
subject to be of especial interest to all thoughtful
minds, I am anxious to commend it to your perfect
apprehension. With this view, let me still further ask
your indulgent attention, while I discuss an objection
which may possibly arise in the minds of some of my
audience.
It was alleged, on the delivery of the preceding
Lecture, that I deny moral distinctions.  The allegation is-vaguely worded, but it is doubtless worthy of
respectful investigation. If it mean, then, that I deny
any difference between good and evil actions; that I
call murder, adultery, theft, and so forth, good actions,
of course'the charge is silly, and not worth refuting.




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         131
In this sense no man ever denied moral distinctions.
No man —not even the unfortunate subject of themever justified adultery, theft, murder, or falsehood. No
man ever did one of these things spontaneously, or at
the instance of his taste. I have indeed heard of persons who had a nanria for theft; who, frohn some exceptional cerebral organization, could omit no opportunity to enrich themselves at the expense of others.
But these cases are regarded, of course, as exceptions
to the ordinary tenor of human nature, and as putting
the subject beyond the pale of responsibility. Because,
if there be a constitutional aptitude to this offense in
the party, you manifestly acquit the party himself of
it. You would no more hold him personally responsible, under these circumstances, than you would hold
him personally liable for a hare-lip or any other morbid
development.  No man, then, I repeat, ever injured
another from taste or- spontaneity. Hence no man
ever justified a moral delinquency, ever supposed himself acting worthily in taking his neighbor's life, prop-:erty, or good name, or in seducing the affections of his
wife.
The objector-consequently does not mean to say that
I confound good and evil actions, since the constitution
of the human mind makes that impossible.
He means, then, doubtless, that I do not regard the
man who does good actions as intrinsically better than
the man who does - evil actions. -He means, doubtless,
that I do not regard the morally good man as possessing any superior claims upon the divine favor to the
morally evil man, but view them both as heirs -of the
same eventual and glorious destiny. If the objector




132          THE APPROACHNIG CRISIS.
means this by his charge, then let me suggest an
amendment of its form.  Let him say to me: you
deny, not the existence or importance of moral distin<:tions among men, but simply their divinity.  You
deny that God is in any measure privy to these distinctions. ~To the charge, thus amended, I freely plead
guilty. I am persuaded that God's eyes, however universal their empire, have never yet been astounded
by the appearance of evil in His creatures. Whence
should that evil come  It can not come from Himself,
who is essentially good. Whence, then, should it have
come?  For tile supposition, you perceive, makes it a
phenomenon of God's creation; it is the possibility of
evil in God's creature that we are discussing. How
could evil be possible in that creature? You may say
that it came from the Devil. Very well; let that answer stand.
If evil came from the Devil, then the Devil, in
infusing evil into God's creature, acted either with
God's consent, or without it. If he acted with it, then
of course God saw that it would not injure the creature,
since IHe had methods of turning it all to the creature's
superior profit, and so proving the Devil a fool for his
pains. If he acted without God's consent, then of
course you give the Devil not only a superior power to
God, but a superior power over God's own work, or in
the sphere of God's own activity. That is to say, you
make the absolute creature of infinite Good confess
himself the offspring of a deeper paternity-the paternity of infinite Evil.
But take either branch you choose of this hideous
dilemma, you manifestly absolve the creature himself'




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         133
of all defilement. For whether the Devil infuse evil
into him with or without the consent of Deity, it is
clearly an operation under which the creature himself
is passive, and I fancy that even the Devil is too good a
logician to hold one responsible for his passions, but
only for his actions. Any child might otherwise refute
him. My passional nature means my various suseeptibility of enjoyment and suffering from nature and man;
my passions are merely the concrete forms of this various susceptibility. You would not therefore hold me
responsible for my passions, unless you at the same
time ascribed to me the paternity of nature and manunless you at the same time held me to have created
this universal frame of nature and society, to which
these passions owe all their existence.
Thus the Devil turns out an unprofitable hypothesis.
He is an infinite lie. No one can trust in him without
being confounded. He looms portentously large in all
infant cosmologies-in all those theories of creation
which are constructed by the sensuous imagination of
the race; but you have only to prick him with the
smallest pin of science, and he fairly roars you a confession of egregious imbecility.
The entire traditional doctrine of the origin of evil is
irrational and abhorrent.  In one phase it asperses the
divine goodness; in another the divine power. One
hypothesis represents God as allowing evil to appear in
the creature only that He might display His sovereignty,
not in reconciling it with good, and so affording a basis
for His own manifestation in nature, but in afflicting it
with ceaseless torments. Surely this is a puerile conception of God which makes him capable of ostentation,




134          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
capable of enjoying a mere empty parade of his power.
The conception converts Him, in fact, into an aggravated bully, intent upon the display of his physical
prowess. It is groveling and disgusting beyond every
other product of our sensuous imagination. It degrades Deity below the brute even. For the tiger
makes no sacrifice to ostentation. He inflicts no suffering in demonstration of his power and the consequent
gratification of his vanity, but only in satisfaction of an
honest natural appetite. If accordingly, this hypothesis of creation were just, moral distinctions would be
seen to claim a basis in God's want of love, in his
inferiority to tigers.
The other hypothesis attributes evil to a defect, not
of the divine goodness, but of the divine power. It
represents God as designing to make man morally
good. But as moral good is in its very nature finite or
conditional, as it is conditioned upon the inseparable
co-existence of moral evil, so God, however much tIe
may desire it, is practically -unable to keep evil out of
the universe. From the nature of the case, from the
nature of the good He designs to bestow, He can not
make one man good without making another evil.
I{ence you perceive that evil  stalks into creation in
spite.of God, being involved in the good He would
create. The only way, consequently, in which He
might exclude it, would be to forego His creative design
altogether. For His. design being to create moral good,
and moral good standing in the inseparable antagonism
of moral evil, in effect or practically His design is to
create the one as much as the other.
We may, indeed, repres-ent the evil man as so much




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.        135
inevitable chips, or waste material; but we gain nothing
by this notion. For is not he always esteemed an imperfect workman who leaves chips behind him, who
can not work without a shocking waste of material?
Our divines see fit, indeed, to blink all these monstrous
contradictions, and doubtless they have a reward. But
is it not gratuitous in them to go further than this, and
represent the Deity not merely as making chips, but
also as vindictively bestowing an everlasting vitality
on these chips in order to their never-ending combustion?
According to this hypothesis, then, you perceive that
moral distinctions among men grow out of a defect in
the divine power.  The former hypothesis attributes
them to a defect of God's goodness, or an inferiority of
HIis internal endowments. The latter attributes them
to a defect of his power, or an inferiority of his external
endowments. Each proceeds upon an implication of
His imperfection, and hence they are both alike intrinsically absurd and blasphemous."
You ask, "If this doctrine of evil does not also imply
some dfeceet in the original plan?". Does it not involve
the attributes of the Creator?  Could lie not have
made creation perfect at once, and set man on the path
of happiness, preventing all the misery and trouble in
the world?  These questions, my friends, are wholly
unanswerable on the church theory of God and his
method of creating. But the Harmonial Philosophy
finds no inconsistence or perplexity in these questions;
because it does not admit any such a thing as " creation "
in the popular definition of the term. The Deity, considered in the creative capacity, is a divine- HEART in




136          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the universe; two PRWnCIPLFS of love and wisdom, which
arle immutable and invariable. I:Ie is himself controlled
by those principles which spontaneously flow from his
inexhaustible being into and through infinitude. He
does not create worlds, and then day by day labor with
his hands, or by a prodigious exercise of spiritual volition, make trees, birds, animals, and man; but, on the
contrary, just as the blood flows through the human
body, forming bone and muscle in the system at all
points and extremities, so the unchangeable principles
of Association, Progression, and Development flow forth
from the deifc I{EART of the Universe, unfolding worlds,
like flowers, and progressively developing the various
forms which animate their surfaces.
If the All-pervading Spirit were merely a sovereign,
somewhere outside of the material and spiritual universe, then it would become a troublesome question to
reconcile imperfection with perfection, as all Christian
scholars invariably discover and acknowledge.
But when we come to see, by investigating the works
and ways of the Actuating Principle, that Progress is a
law of existence, and that development follows it as a
natural sequence, then we easily recognize that the
Moving Spirit is as much under the regulations of
certain principles as the brain, the organ of man's
mind, and even the mind itself, are controlled by laws
that are " without variableness, neither shadow of
turning."
But you ask me another question: "If the All-pervadnig Spirit is intrinsically good and perfect, how
became man, the effect, so inclined to create and perpetuate evil 2"  The reply is manifestly very simple




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.        137
and self-evident. Evil is not substance; it is Ignorance.
What is termed' evil" disappears in proportion as
knowledge increases. Barbarism is supplanted by civilization.  Wild animals become extinct as humanity
spreads its wings over the territories of nature.  I
deny, therefore, that positive "evil" exists anywhere
in the universe.  A  good thing, through ignorancce,
may be improperly used. The law of combustion, by
which fire is produced, is a source of great comfort and
immense advantages to the human family. But the
first man who came in contact with the element W6as
burned, and thus he cursed and vilified the fire; because, merely, he was ignorant of the organic laws of
his being, and ignorant also of the science of controlling
and converting fire into a useful agent.
Suppose, to continue illustrating, an engineer should
construct a machine for some wise and beneficial
purpose. If judiciously managed, it will produce exceedingly good results. But an ignorant man, not
comprehending the nature and use of the mechanism,
sets it in motion, gets involved in the wheels, and is
sadly wounded or crushed to death.'What shall we
say?  Shall we condemn the invention? Shall we execrate the engineer, and hold him morally responsible?
Shall we blame any thing or anybody? God forbid.
If we are reasonable, we must say, It was owing to the
ignoranccrce of the man which caused the good mechanism to do a disastrous work.
Now, the laws which control the moral world are just
as perfect and positive as the laws of the physical
world. Truth, love, friendship, ambition, &c., are each
capable, under wrong development and management,




138           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
of developing discords of various kinds and degrees,*
Each man carries in his heart the elements of an angel;
these life-principles are intrinsically good and perfect;
but we see the vicious habitudes thereof only when,
from ignorance or causes growing directly or indirectly
out of ignorance and defective moral sensibilities, those
indwelling principles are subverted and misdirected in
their manifestation upon relative personalities and contiguousinterests. Anger, cupidity, malice, revenge, licentiousness, hypocrisy, &6., are not immanent or residing
in the constitution of mind. They are the wrong development, the wrong management and exercise'of intrinsically good and, ultimately to be, angelic principles.
Look at intemperance. It would not require much
insight to trace the origin of this evil. It frequently
occurs that a working-man, chained from day to day to
a repugnant and monotonous labor, seeks distraction
and alleviation in various ways. Lest his life should be
a continuous burden and punishment, he seeks alcohol;
because he finds in drunkenness a temporary relief from
his cares, accompanied with an agreeable excitement.
Soon it becomes his master, and he has no individual
power to resist the temptation. A different social construction, making, as a general principle, every man's
life happy, his future certain, his labors agreeable and
various, would successfully sweep intemperance and
licentiousness from the earth.
Every man, as I read the human heart, has an indwelling disposition toward ease and -lxuiry; which,
when the individual is on the sensuous plane of exist* See chapter on:Moral Cultivation, in Great Hatmonia, vol. II.




TIHE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.        139
once-having perhaps n6ucA knowing power or intelleet, but little restraining power or moral sensibilities
-is almost certain, in this transitional state of civilization, to manifest itself in theft or burglary. Betrayed
love begets or originates jealousy, which may lead to
mnurder; disappointed' ambition and love of power
originate war; a wounded feeling originates anger.
The origin of evil, my friends, is not an historical
and theological question; but a present and practical
problem to solve, with an eye to its successful prevention.
Hark! Do you hear that multitude of voices? Do
you see those prayers ascending.? There are arising,
from no less than thirty thousand American pulpits,
these words-or words which imply their signification:
" Our Father, who art in heaven-thy kingdom come:
thy will be done on earth/ as it is in heaven!" Now does
the Church do any thing toward establishing this kingdom on earth? Does it institute practical  ecasures to
bring happiness among men?  Does it do any thing
conspicuously toward the banishment of oppression and
crime? No! But it sends forth wordy invocations to
heaven-long and loud prayers to God, that his harmonious kingdom might come on earth.
What was it that refreshed all New York City?
What saved the inhabitants from fearful fevers and
epidemics a What introduced the greatest blessings
into and through that extensive city? Was it prayers?
Was it invocations to the living God? It was thle
energy, and enterprise, and' intelligence of her citizens8
that " smote the desert rock," and caused to flow, into
the darkest recesses and loftiest dwellings, the pure and




140          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
healthy WATER. So likewise, this human world will
come to see that praying and sermonizing will never
refresh and cleanse the moral condition of man, and
unfold the " kingdom of heaven' on earth; but it will
come to be seen that all this, and more than this, will
be yet accomplished through the progressive development and well-directed energy of the human soul.
The Church, I repeat, is constantly praying for the
will of God to be "done on earth as it is in heaven' —
that is to say, that the laws of God be as much obeyed
in this sphere as they are in the spheres above. But,
friends, I am impressed to say that we should come
here to organize ourselves into a form, or body, which
shall tend to develop this harmonious condition in ourselves and in human society. We should come here to
develop into form and order the great fundamental and
essential principles of Christianity-to make every man
a law unto himself, and a doer of righteous deeds. By
a living fact, as an illustration, the reader will obtain
the import of this personal doing of good.
In an obscure street in the city of B —, there lives
an honest, simple-hearted mechanic. He belongs to no
organization, no moral reform association, or temperance society.  HIe has no President to " call him to
order,'" no Secretary to " record his movements," no
Treasurer to'" collect and preserve" his funds; and yet
that one man has alone and mainly unassisted, defended,
bailed out of prison, and procured healthy employment for about seven hundred criminals and licentious
men and women. I have'met this unpretending man
on his mission of love to the haunts of vice-to the
cell of the prisoner, and have asked him, " Who sends




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.             141
you, my friend, on this blessed mission? who directs
you how to proceed? who supplies you with the necessary means to accomplish all this good?"  Said he:
"Something here (pointing to his breast) tells me when
to go and what to do; and when I need money, I ask
the first apparently rich man I meet for it-and then
another, and another, and so on; and I soon get all I
need." -
Now, this is the divine principle upon which we should
come together-the principle which should actuate and
control all our thoughts, our deeds, and movements.
Think of it!  SEVEN HUNDRED vicious and criminal
individuals saved from a life of bondage and personal
degradation, and furnished with useful and healthy
employment-all by one poor, honest-hearted mechanic.
And I have heard this man say, that, in all his familiarity with these so-called "depraved characters," he
has not yet met with one single instance of absolute
ingratitude, or positive indisposition to personal reformation.  This is very significant.  What, think you, is
this man's opinion of the human heart?  What view
does he entertain of man? My friends, I have heard
him say, in substance, that he believed the human heart
to be pure, and man to be capable of endless development in goodness! Who, then, believes in "total depravity?"  The answer is too plain! It is believed and
* My impressions now embrace two individuals in the city of Boston,
veritable brothers in the field of human suffering-John M. Spear and
John Augustus —who, in their efforts to be and to do good, are truly
examples of what I mean by being a' law unto ourselves. In this relation Mr. Pease of the "Five Points Mission," New York, should be
remembered.




142          THE APPROACHING,CRISIS.
inculcated by the multitude of clergymen —by those
who never make it their business to bail out of prison,
and procure employment for, seven hundred criminals.
Most of the evils that afflict the world to-day did not
originate in the fabled garden of Eden; nor yet among
the youthful types of mankind; but they spring out of
ignorance, out of defective social and religious institutions. For example: one evil in this world, is disease.
How did it originate   Shall we go to Genesis to inquire? Shall we seek the information from the pulpit?
Nay; because we find the origin of ttis evil in our
very midst. Ignorance leads the individual to violate
-the laws of his being, by the injudicious use of food,
of sleep, of air, of occupations, &c.; or, in this state of
social isolation and unorganized industry, many persons
are constrained to engage in labors which daily violate
nature and generate disease. Licentiousness, or inconstancy, is another evil in present society. How does it
originate?  Is it a supernatural sin?.  Is it an evil?
According to my impressions, the domestic discords,
arising from this cause, could-and in the future willall be prevented by congenial marriage relations. But
why not prevent the evil which grows out of these relations to-day? Do you hesitate because you are all totally depraved?  Far from it. Every man who has
progressed to the moral scale of feeling, yearns to eradieate it at once. But ignorance of human natureignorance of the principles and attractions of the human
mind —stand between you and the institution of a
proper marriage.  But inconstancy, or loveof change,
when properly and philosophically understood, does
not'at all apply to the institution of marriage, or to the




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          143
conjugal affections; in this sphere it is seen in its subversive or misdirected attitude-giving results, like the
wrongly used mechanism, which seem evil and disastrous to human happiness. Every man has a disposition to alternate the exercise of his physical and mental faculties.  This is a wise and good inclination; because it maintains health and a proper equilibrium in
both body and mind; and this is the proper sphere for
the manifestation of inconstancy by alternating employments. Hence the evil of licentiousness is easily
traced to its origin. To my mind all excesses are vicious-that is, injurious and hurtful to man and society
— whether in individuals or institutions. It is an easy
thing to sit in judgment upon our neighbors, as clergymen presumptuously preach against and vilify mankind; but it is quite another thing to be on the throze
of wisdom, and to judge with a righteous judgmentnot from appearances, but from truths!
You ask: -'" Does not this philosophy of evil relieve
the individual of moral responsibility "' Mankind, I
reply, are as a family, in which diverse inclinations and
opinions are constantly manifested —-one against the
other. All discords are traceable to society; because,
without association, there could not be any war, any
theft, or cuzidity, as now evidently flow from the contact of relative tastes and situations. If association is
the cause of individual disturbances, association must
furnish the cure.  The individual finds himself, after
attaining to the years or period of discretion (?) placed
between two antagonistic forces: the discordant laws
of society, and the harmoniously imperative Laws of
Nature! The former constrain him; the latter yield




144:         THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
him liberty, ease, and happiness. As to the extent to
which the individual should be held morally responsible
by society for his deeds, is an arbitrary question, which
the highest wisdom and benevolence of every Age will
and must decide for its own special regulation or government. Our duty surely is to study man. This is
the commencement of wisdom, and the vestibule of a
temple of truth, whose vast interior and divine possessions may occupy your spirits for countless ages.
The more we study man, the more certain will it become that there is no p2ositive evil in existence; only
the local disturbances and social imperfections which
are consequent upon a progressive system of human
development in minds and morals. " Then," you inquire, "if this be true, how shall we rebuke evils and
remove misdirections."  Plainly; you who have outgrown the causes of discord should teach others how to
follow your example, and help them to do so. This
effort to remove evil, however, when confined to the
individual power of accomplishment, will not work out
one-tenth of the good which would be an easy result
of organization. One individual can not vote influentially unless he belongs to a combination. Hence,
on this principle, all merely individual efforts to cure
great evils will be little; while an associative movement, or a combination of individual forces, is certain
to achieve greater and more permanent results. These
are common-place aphorisms; but clergymen, in their
sermons, generally neglect them, and denounce the indclvidual as willfully sinful and degenerate!
Those who have progressed above the present semicivilized and transitional stage of human society —




Jkiit'VtlUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.      145
which y0-td,',s   or nurishes the flngutls productions,
termed e rthotdox the olog y and supernaturalistic Christianity- -rhould openly avow the new truths manifested
to their vision, and teach the people also how to ascend
the glorious eminence of religious and spiritual freedom. Among the numerous reasons why we are moved
to free our minds of the existing forms and institutions
of supernaturalistic theology,  at, the following:It assumes to be-or to possea within its organization and cardinal doctrines-the mediuma or totality of
inspiration; and arrogantly proclaims itself to be the
supreme and sovereign authority. It arbitrarily determines what book, or what peculiar combination of
books, we shall revere as the  "Word of God;'" and
then denies to us the right of exercising the same
amount of intellectual, moral, and religious liberty. It
describes the circle in which we shall move, and think,
and reason; and then authoritatively and dogmatically
denies to us the moral and religious freedom to advance
beyond it. It thus imposes what we conceive to be improper and demoralizing restrictions upon our thoughts
and investigations-trammels the progressive development of our minds, and peremptorily denies to us the
divine privilege of free discussion and a free expression
of our inward sentiments.
It unites with society in its unphilosophical and
unbrotherly treatment of the criminal, and of the unfortunate victim of crime; and it (that is, popular Theology) sanctions the old barbarian or Mosaic law of
Capital Punishment.
It justifies society in the perpetuation of personal and
national animosities and antagonisms. It permits war
7




146           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
confiscation of property, and carnage; and it assists to
promote successful military chieftains-without regard
either to merit or demerit-to the responsible position
of emperors and governors.
It sanctions the monarchical despotism of monopolies.
It smiles, with silent approbation, upon the conflict between Labor and Capital. It permits the present unjust
remuneration of the toiling millions.* It permits them
to live from day to day without the least guaranty of a
1wome in case of pecuniary adversity or ill health; and,
more than all, it openly and emphatically sanctions, by
Scripture arguments, the dark and fearful sin of humanct,
slacvery!
It deforms and enslaves, but it does not reform and
emancipate the human mind, from the confinements and
mournful influences of Sectarianism.  Its influence is
not positive and reformatory; but it is merely negatively restraining.  It opposes almost every measure or
movement which originates with the people. It engenders melancholy and erroneous conceptions of the nature
and destiny of man.  It keeps up a perpetual warfare
between the head and the heart. It encourages a gladiatorial struggle against liberty of speech and freedom
of action. It even opposes temperance reformation, unless it originates in the church; and uniformly exerts
its multiform  influences, to restrain the progress of
social and prison reforms, upon identical grounds.
It generates cupidity and hypocrisy, by teaching our
clhildren to regard certain doctrines as truths, which
* These charges apply to no particular section of this country, but,
generally, to all Christendom.




rTHE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.       147
(because those doctrines are not true) can not be felt;
but which, nevertheless, are frequently manifested with
all the show of confidence in their validity. This leads
directly to practical dissimulation and deceit. Many
persons are in the constant practice of ex/i biting piety,
who, at the same time, do hot (because they can not)
feel such piety to be sacred truth; and this apparently
willful hypocrisy on the part of some individuals, leads
directly to the theological assumption-an assumption
which has retarded human progress for ages-that the
heart of man is desperately wicked and depraved by
nature.
It instills dark and unwholesome thoughts into the
minds of our children. It teaches them to believe in
the most soul-revolting doctrines. They are educated
to consider themselves as " totally depraved "-and as
being under the " curse" of the living God. It teaches
them to regard themselves as evil, and "sinners" by
nature; and as incapable of being good and heavenworthy, independent of the Bible and the Church.
They are taught to believe in a " God of Love," who,
at the same time, encourages hate; and in a " God of
Heaven," who, at the same time, permits the everlasting duration of Hell! Thus our youth become intellectually contaminated by the existing methods of religious
education; and, when they advance in years, and become men and women, either they become bigots and
sectarians, or else skeptics and misanthropes. A sadness and gloom are consequently thrown over our
minds; and we deprive ourselves and our children of a
large proportion of that enjoyment and progressive
happiness which are the inalienable rights of man!




148          T1IE APPROACHING CRISIS.
It asserts this whole world of human beings to be
under an Adamic curse or condemnation. It has most
dogmatically pronounced, and still continues to assert
it, that all the sorrows, and perplexities, and vicissitudes,
and trials, and discords, and diseases, and all the afflictions of this mundane state, are expressly sent by the
living God to punish man for his alleged manifold
transgressions!  And it has openly opposed every
medical reform, every social improvement, every benevolent design, upon the fabulous ground that such
mortal attempts were wicked, and would prove unavailing, because they were in opposition to the "' will" and
punishment of God. It trammels the progress and
advancement of mankind, by teaching our children and
our communities to believe the erroneous and baneful
doctrine, that no improvement or reformation can be
permanently accomplished, except through the socalled "divine" instrumentalities and multifarious restrictions and principles of the established Church.
It strives to awaken in our minds what vwe consider
to be imaginary compunctions of conscience. It imposes what we conceive to be unnecessary and deforming "trials" upon us; and causes us to "crucify"
ourselves, and " bear crosses" that are wholly unnatural
and wrong. We therefore feel that it has defrauded
us, and, the generations that are gone, of two-thirds of
the real happiness and mental consolations which we
solemnly believe to be ours, according to the laws of
the human constitution and the universal Providence
of God!
It dogmatically asserts Nature, and Reason, and
Conscience even, to be s8ziborclinate to ecclesiastical




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          149
authority! It inculcates the baneful doctrine that our
very heart-impulses are naturally sinful and opposed to
the' will of God."  Here again it creates a false issue
between the heart and the head; and thus it has been
tile sole cause of impelling many minds into sad and
hopeless insanity. It sheds a melancholy, dismal gloom
over our families, our homes, and the nations of the
civilized world. It renders this life a dark, and toilsome, and uncertain gift of God; and, with its clouds
of ignorance and superstition, it darkens our thoughts
and anticipations of the other life. When our friends
resign their material forms to the grave, then this supernaturalistic Theology fills our hearts with sadness, and
our minds with distressing doubts, concerning their
future welfare and eternal happiness. And thus it
spreads gloom, and disconsolation, and suicidal melancholy, and insane despair, and mental misery, where
joy, and cheerfulness, and righteousness, and happiness,
should and might exist in abundance.
I have affirmed that there is no Positive Evil in
existence.  Now, what evidence Ihave we that this
statement is true? The evidence, I reply, is universal.
There is more harmony than discord; more heat than
cold; more light than darkness; more peace than war;
more order than confusion. Of this I shall speak hereafter. But the fact, that there is nothing absolutely
devoid of goodiness-that every thing is overruled for
good in the end-stands as a pyramidal demonstration
of the negational or temporary nature of what we
term sin or evil. According to the light which I receive
on these questions, every thing that ever occurred has
accomplished some good end —yea, always mnore good




150          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
than evil. Death is a terrible visitation, that is, to all
external appearance; but the individual is truly born
again. Just above a sharp thorn, the bud bursts open,
and a flower unfolds. So every sorrow embosoms a
joy-every grief is accompanied by some beneficent
provision to mitigate its intensity, and secure a good
result. Wars have at last turned in favor of human
freedom. Family or local troubles have been greatly
diminished by the art of war. But now, these vestiges
of a protracted night of barbarian ignorance and patriarchal error, are, one by one, melting, like the ice that
fetters the spring-time rivulets, and all will soon be
converted into a mighty ocean of never-ebbing peace.
The morning sun shines out over the kindling skies of
the horizon; the millennial era is imperceptibly stealing
over the world. The night has been eventful. Men
have groped their way in darkness. Horrid dreams
have flitted across the sleeper's mind; and moral shepherds have hailed them as the reflections of some disturbed and offended Divinity. But the chilliness and
darkness of the night gradually subside, and a new
dispensatio~n sheds its celestial rays, kindling with richness and wisdom, over the slumbering millions; and,
lo! as the spring day dissipates the mists and gloom of
winter, so " old things pass away, and all things become
NEW."  Errors, like the shadows of escaping clouds,
will disappear when the " Sun of Righteousness "-of
wisdom, truth, and brotherly love-shall send its allsearching light and healing warmth into their midst.
Will you not, then, take a higher position in the moral
grades of the spiritual universe? I know you will.
Like the eccentric comets, men primarily pursue strange




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.         151
paths in their revolutions around the Central Source of
Right. But all truth is analogous —all principles immutable. Therefore, just as certain as the comet finally
becomes a beautiful planet, and rolls harmoniously in
the orbit of order; so certainly will humanity eventually glide into the sphere of harmony and into the
paths of eternal rectitude.
HIumanity may be viewed from two positions: one
affords pleasure, the other confusion; one yields us a
true estimate of the whole human family; the other,
distracts our sympathies and seems to substantiate the
theological theory of man's fallen nature.
The best Christian scholars obtain their worst impressions of man by constantly viewing him from unfavorable
positions and in the most incongruous lights; while
the rationalistic philosophers, having obtained more
expanded and reasonable conceptions of things, contemplate the human family with increasing satisfaction.
It may be illustrated by supposing two individuals
going forth to examine a landscape.  One takes his
position at a point of observation from which the eye
can survey the entire combination of objects, trees,
rocks, flowers, mounds, mountains, lights, and shades,
which serve to constitute the most captivating exhibition of beautiful scenery. The other places himself
in immediate contact with the constituents of the scene.
WVe may now suppose that these individuals enter into
conversation, through the agency of speaking trumpets,
and commence describing what each actually observes
and enjoys. The man from the distance, hailing the
other who is in direct connection with the scene, asks:' What do you see?"  He replies, " Oh, such discord




.152         TIHE APPROACHMNG CRISIS.
and trouble! I wish myself away!"  " What, from
that charming prospect.?" exclaims the man in the
distance.' ndeed, I do," responds theother. "I can
not advance a single step without wounding my limbs
and lacerating my feet. Insurmountable rocks present
themselves; and the narrow pass is overgrown with
poisonous weeds and thorny vines. Rough and angular shapes are visible all around.  When I look up, I
can scarcely see the sunlight —so dense and gloomy is
the foliage. Even the birds have forsaken this dismal
retreat. And the ravines seem so dark and miry, I
thiink the serpents brood therein."
The other observer, not appreciating the troubles his
friend thus enumerates, asks: " Do you not see any
beautiful flowers growing along the path, and musical
streamlets leaping through the thicket 2"' Oh, now that you speak of them, I confess I do,"
responds the friiend; "but I canll not enjoy any thingmy flesh is wounded, and my spirit is fatigued and repelled, by the constant effort to surmount craggy acclivities and thorny promontories. I will seat myself
in this gloomy place-though I much tremble to remain
— while you describe this repulsive scene as it appears
to you from your stand-point.":We may now suppose the man in the distance replying thus: "' Taking, as I do, a free and comprehensive
view of the whole —made up, as it undoubtedly is, of
the pcrts which you have just described —I must confess that I never beheld a more perfect exhibition of
harmonious beauty. The.parts may be exceedingly
ouwghly hewn; but, to the over-seeing eye, the whole
displays design, order, proportion, and variety. The




THE TRUE ORIGIN OF EVIL.          153
dense foliage seems like swelling waves of green, about
to burst from surplus life. The craggy rocks lend a
variation and strength to the scene; while the topmost
boughs of the stalwart oaks, just catching the rays of
the rising sun, shed forth a subdued light over the surrounding objefts, which no pencil can impart to canvas, or language describe. Do not-I pray thee-do
not condemn the parts when they are so manifestly
essential to the final development of an harmonious
Whole i"
So the case stands to-day between rationalists and
supernaturalists.  The former view humanity from a
position which enables them to tolerate, to love, to protect, yea, to admire, the parts or the I}idividuals, for
the sake of the variety and grandeur of the whole;
while the latter-the clergymen of Christendom and
their followers-knowing comparatively nothing of the
grand scheme of existence, devote themselves to the
defamation and classical execration of the minor particulars as the only method of alterinq the entire body
to suit the expression they think it should wear. What
would you think of an intelligent merchant tailor who
had come to the popular clerical conclusion, that one
pattern was truly orthodox; and insists that everybody
should wear the established size and shaped garynentand no other? What would you say?  Would you
alter your body to suit the pattern a Or, the pattern to
suit your body? " The latter, of course," you reply.
Now, the supernaturalists say, that all should and shall
wear their 2pattern. And all the trouble there is, between the pulpit and the people, arises from the theological cutting and carving of individuals in order to
7*




154           THE: APPROACHING CRISIS.
make the one orthodox _patlern suit all degrees and
shades of mind.
But Humanity is a Tree. Its roots begin far down
in the constitution of Nature, where the Germ, was
originally deposited. It commenced its upward growth
many ages since. It grew onward in straight lines, until
the period arrived for the putting forth of diverse
branches. The lowest limbs were gigantic, replete with
thorny projections, reaching far out into the air, casting
deep shades on the earth. But the branches become
smaller, and more beautiful, as the progression of
refinement increases. The tree is not yet fully developed. But already the birds of heaven alight on its
highest boughs, and the beams of the rising Sun-the
bright herald of the approaching crisis-illuminate those
tiny leaves which tremblingly unfold their receptive
vessels and lay their faces against the firmament.




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.           155
CHAPTER V.
FOURTH  REVIEW.
The theological fabric.-Liberties with an infallible Word.-The paradoxical compound. — Points of agreement with Swedenborg.-The
devil improved.-Things and Powers.-Evidences of the existence of
sin.-No Law of Right established. -Propositions analyzed.-The
doctrine of blaming.-Governments; their object.-The false issues
of theology.
IN the present discussion, it is deemed proper to
define the position which I at present occupy respecting
it.  My posture is that of a reviewer and spectator.
A master-builder is now engaged in constructing a theological fabric.  My business is to observe the process;
to see whether any new-principles of ethnological architecture are truly developed; to observe the timbers of
thought as they are one by one adjusted; to see whether
the materials are sound and skillfully prepared; and
to ascertain what the structure is good for when completed.  You will, therefore, perceive that I am  not
now at liberty to turn away, as my soul truly yearns to
do, and unfold, to your mental vision and appreciation,
the " house not made with hands," wherein reside the
immortal truths and eternal revelations of the living
God.  But I must, as in the capacity of humanity's
advocate, devote my present moments to a critical inspection of the somewhat new form  of Conservatism




156           THIE APPROACHING CRISIS.
which Dr. Bushnell is now giving birth to-or the new
theologic fabric which 3he is now erecting-on the old
supernatural foundation.
"Know thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man."
On the broad, democratic, and rationalistic principle
that "all scripture is given by inspiration," I am moved
to select the foregoing passage according to the inspiration of Alexander Pope.
This text requires no expounding; only a practical
application. It comies to me, on this occasion, as being
highly applicable to you all in general, and to the
champions of Supernaturalism in particular. It is not
necessary for me to undertake to convince you of the
immense value of personal knowledge; to persuade you
that moral and intellectual powers are proportionate to
education; or, that iy/noralce is the parent of what
men term "' sin" and misery. These are familiar facts;
requiring no argument; suggesting no controversy.  I
will, therefore, proceed presently to show why this text
is particularly applicable to supernaturalists.
The fourth lecture of the course, on supernaturalism,
as opposed to naturalism, was delivered by Dr. 13
on last Sabbath evening. His text was taken from the
twentieth verse of the eighth chapter of Romans-as
follows: "For the creature was made subject to vanity,
not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope."
The Lecturer considered this passage, when taken in
connection with the brace of verses on either side of it,
to embody the whole 8stcternent of man's relations and




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.         157
abandonment to the various kinds and degrees of sin,
and also to the supernatural system of redemption,
which God had introduced into this world for man's
especial benefit and salvation.
The Lecturer shows himself to be quite at home in
his profession acs -Doctor of Diviiity.  Because, on
announcing the text, he referred to the fact, that the
passage had puzzled nearly all the English commentators as to its true signification.  In his opinion, the
three or four verses in that department of Paul's epistle
to the Romans, had not as yet been properly apprehended or rendered. Consequently, although he presumed not to give the true interior and infallible
import, yet he doctored the passages to suit his own
preconceived impressions of truth, and made them read
as follows.*
For mutual meditation and enlightenment, I  am
again moved to solicit your attention to an inconsistency.  Inconsistencies or contradictions should be studiously avoided as evils that injure the tone and health
of the understanding. I allude to the strange idea
that fallible texts, or imperfect rendering of texts, can
be found to exist in a book which is recommended, and
dogmatically forced upon us, as an infallible revelation.
I must repeat, and pray for an answer. to, these questions: If the Bible is the perfect Word of God, how
came the above text to be imnperfectly translated?  Or,
if it be admitted that Dr. Bbus/nell rendered the
passage for the first time correctly, then, I ask, How'It is regarded as non-essential to an understanding of what
succeeds, as the sequel develops the Lecturer's meaning.




158          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
can we place our faith, our hopes, and eternal destiny
upon the statements of a book which is proved thus
to have been giving mankind wrong impressions for
eighteen centuries?
The alteration of meaning is very important. The
positive or imperative tense, "' shall," is removed by a
single sweep of the pen, and the mere word " may " is
substituted, which so exceedingly weakens the possibility of man's final redemption from sin, that hundreds
of human souls-who have been long sustained by the
supposed positive promnise of God that sin shall be
ultimately subdued and destroyed-have now nothing
left to think of but disappointment and moral despair?
Again, I ask, can a fallible translation of a text be
consistent with an infallible WVord?
By way of criticism, I am compelled by truth to
pronounce Dr. B's last discourse a splendid tirade
against, and a learned defamation or vilification of, the
human character. It portrayed the supposed iniquities
of the heart of the creature-man; and emitted, at
several junctions, multitudes of dark, dismal, and
denunciatory thoughts. The Lecturer is truly a bold
advocate of theological horrors and dogmatism. He
thinks man is endowed with the will-power to be an
eternal enemy (if he so desires and determines) to the
living God, and to his moral government. Man, he
affirms, is super nattbral, because he can overcome
mechanical force, and act outside of, or superior to, the
natural system of cause and effect. From the mythologic eminence of supernaturalism, he vociferated the
church cries against those who dare openly prefer the
authoritative promptings of NATURE to the dicta of




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.           159
dogmatic creeds.  It is now manifest what description
of conservatism this modern LUTHER is at present destined to generate, and possibly to establish.  It is
composed of the following ingredients: Calvinism and
Arminianism in equal parts; a small portion of the
conciliatory system of Richard B]axter, who had the
celebrated Drs. WVATTS and DODDRIDGE for disciples; a
very little originality of thought; a slight proportion
of Swedenborgianism; and about the same quantity of
Rationalism, which, being literally interpreted, signifies
an understanding of things as they are.
The paradoxical character of this compound renders
some explanation necessary. Although it is truly believed, that when the various forms and shades of
human credulity, in supernatural mysteries are carefully weighed, contrasted, and compared, the existing
differences between popular creeds will greatly recede
from view; the principal troubles and disputes among
the clergy, concerning what creed, or particular shade
of faith, is the most orthodox and infallible, will then
appear as confounding and astounding only to those
who can not readily comprehend the undeviating
action of psychological principles upon human beings.*
The resemblance of Dr. B- -'s philosophico-supernaturalism  to the chief doctrines of Calvinism  and
Arminianism, is visible only in the original modification of the old church formnlas, which is occasionally
attempted at various points of the discussion. Very
* The subject here alluded to, receives very particular, attention in the
Great Harmonia, vol. IIT., entitled " The Seer," uniform with this work.
See the chapters, showing the action of psychological laws among
religious chieftains.




160          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
many Protestants will find their condition typified by
the mental exhibitions of the mind under present review. He indicates a strange independence. Socinus,
himself; never attempted the reformation of church
dogmas with more ardor, or never so conspicuously
failed to accomplish a reconciliation of differences
among his own people. He evidently has tasted of
the fruit of the knowledge-tree, and feels disposed to
reject the cardinal mysteries of- the Christian faith, as
held by other denominations; but he places new incomprehensibilities before the people, in his rationalistic
effort to manifest the doctrine, that the mission of
Christ was designed only to introduce a new moral law,
distinguished from all preceding laws by its superior
sanctity and perfection. There is all the time a manifest proclivity to trace out some hypothetical coincidence between the dictations of Reason and the dogmas
of supernaturalism. Now the mind, thus striving to
act natural and unnatural at the same time, one moment affirms its determination to subject all religious
doctrines to the test of Nature and judgment; but,
even before the sentence, containing this affirmation, is
concliuded, there comes forth the confounding ideal
statement, that in Jesus dwelt the fullness of the
Father-enjoying universal power of the Church in
heaven and in earth; that, with logical propriety, the
Incarnation being thus perfect, may be termed "'God
in Christ;" and yet, a mental reaction succeeds this, and
a peculiar combination of words changes all the foregoing into something like the doctrines of Unitarianism
— implying, that Jesus was a certain modified impersonation of the divine spirit of love and energy —which




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.      161
considers a similitude or assimilation of the human
character to that unfolded by Jesus as equivalent to
the all-important Salvation, which other denominations
hold to, but with far more startling interpretations attached to the term.
The desire to develop a reasonable basis for the everlasting support of supernaturalistic doctrines, urged
Dr. B13- somewhat unconsciously, I think, into the
Swedenborgian method of interpreting the Word.
The spiritual relations of Christ to God and to man,
appear also slightly tinged by the New Church Doctrines. On this point the New Jerusalem creed, article
second, is explicit. It states that —" Jehovah God himself descended from Heaven, as Divine Truth, which
is the Word, and took upon him Human Nature for
the purpose of removing from man the powers of hell,
and restoring to order all things in the spiritual world,
and all things in the church: that he removed from
man the powers of hell, by combats against and victories over them; in which consisted the great work of
Redemption: that by the same acts, which were his
temptations, the last of which was the passion of the
cross, he united, in his Humanity, Divine Truth to
Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom to Divine Love, and
so returned into his Divinity in which he was from
eternity, together with, and in, his Glorified Humanity; whence he forever keeps the infernal powers in
subjection to himself: and that all who believe in him,
with the understanding, from the heart, and live accord
ingly, will be saved."
The affirmations of the Lecturer concerning the possibility of evil, as incident to the creation of man, and




162          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
as beyond the power of God to prevent in a realm of
free moral powers, may be found, differently stated, ill
the following Swedenborgian article of faith: " That
the government of the Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom
is the Divine Providence; which is universal, exercised
according to certain fixed laws of Order, and extending
to the minutest particulars of the life of all men, both
of the good and of the evil: that in all its operations it
has respect to what is infinite and eternal, and makes
no account of things transitory, but as they are subservient to eternal ends; thus that it mainly consists,.
with man, in the connection of things temporal with
things eternal; for that the continual aim of the Lord,
by his Divine Providence, is to join man to himself
and himself to man, that he may be able to give him
the felicities of eternal life: and that the laws of permission are also laws of the Divine Providence; since
evil can not be prevented without destroying the nature of man as an accountable agent; and because,
also, it can not be removed unless it be known, and can
not be known unless it appear; thus that no evil is permitted but to prevent a greater; and all is overruled,
by the Lord's Divine Providence, for the greatest possible good."
The resemblance of Dr. B's assertions, respecting
the visitation of good and evil spirits to man, is very
well established in Swedenborg's affirmations, "that
man, during his abode in the world, is, as to his spirit,
in the midst between heaven and hell, acted upon by
influences from both; and thus is kept in a state of
spiritual equilibrium between good and evil; in consequence of which he enjoys free will, or freedom of




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.        163
choice, in spiritual things as well as in natural, and
possesses the capacity of either turning himself to the
Lord and his kingdom, or turning himself away from
the Lord, and connecting himself with the kingdom of
darkness; and that, unless man had such freedom of
choice, the Word would be of no use, the church would
be a mere name, man would possess nothing by virtue
of which he could be enjoined to the Lord, and the
cause of evil would be chargeable on God himself."
Nor does the similitude cease here.  Swedenborg
also generalized the evils of the world-all the sins
against God and all the infernal spirits; which, when
combined and estimated in the aggregate, he termed
"the devil."  This, as we have seen, is Dr. B- -'s
latest improvement in this oriental myth.  But the
doctrine is capable of still further amendment.
On another head, as to the future good and evil consequences of the character, which men establish for
themselves in this life, Dr. B, in substance, stated
the Swedenborgian doctrine, " that immediately after
death, which is only a putting off of the material body,
never to be resumed, man rises again in a spiritual or
substantial body, in which he continues to live to eternity; in heaven, if his ruling affections, and thence his
life, have been good; and in hell, if his ruling affections, and thence his life, have been evil."
The similar appearance of the quantity of Rationalism, referred to as entering into his conservatism, is
discoverable only in the very equivocal use which Dr.
B     makes of the faculty of Reason, as a power
through which to obtain and establish a philosophical
basis upon which to rest the doctrines of supernatural



164          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
ism, Such are the signs of the times. The waters are
disturbed, and the storm is hovering nigh. The old
church is dying-dying from the internal convulsions
accompanying the approaching crisis of a chronic disorder, slumbering in the vitals of ecclesiasticism —a
disease which I am impressed to term "Error!"  The
result is certain as the approach of spring.
That Dr. B     has a perfect right to alter and transpose passages of Scripture to suit the foregone conclusions of his own mind, is indisputable. All reasonable
and educated persons-that is to say, all Naturalists
and skeptics, so-called-take the same dignified liberties with the Bible. But what we object to is this:
that such liberties should be taken by clergymen with
a Book, which is universally believed and recommended
by them to be the perfect acnd znalterable Revelation
of God's will and promises. The Lecturer paraphrased
the already specified text, and then proceeded to say,
that in his " previous discourse he had drawn out or
sketched the supernatural system of God; which was
shown to be a realm of powers not governed by mere
cause and effect, not by mechanical force, but by the
free will and consent of the inhabitants of that realm."
He thought that that lecture was a proper steppingstone to the general subject of "evil" or "sin," as
bodied forth in the present comprehensive text. His
last discourse, therefore, was devoted principally to a
demonstration of the positive existence of sin; to prove
that man, by the exercise of his supernatural power, is
the chief source of its origin.
Now, availing myself of the example and conceded
liberty-of paraphrasing a text of Scripture, in order to




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.        165
render the meaning more transparent, I will transfer
the passage in Paul to an expression of Dr. B's
extraordinary theory.
God, in creating "powers," or free moral agents, was
environed, not willingly, but as a necessary incident to
man's creation, with the tremendous "possibility" of
evil. Therefore, although God did not will or desire
it, yet he was compelled, by the exigencies of the case,
to subject all mankind to vanity and to the disciplining
vicissitudes of evil. This possibility of having trouble
in his moral government God could not prevent, and
at the same time secure to man the uncontrolled exercise of his will or moral freedom. Consequently, the
Deity unwillingly submitted the whole human family to
the trials and temptations of sin, indumlging the forlorn
" khope" the while that man would see fit to exercise
his supernatural will-power in the right direction; and
thus be ultimately delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of
God! Behold! how emphatically and demonstratively
the revelations of St. Paul prove that Dr. B    is a
true exponent of the great doctrine of supernaturalism!
The Lecturer said it might appear unnecessary to
undertake to prove the existence of evil; but he deemed
it indispensable to his argument to demonstrate that sin
is really in the world. Rationalists, he -said, generally
denied the existence of sin; and, therefore, as this subject was an open question, he would proceed to prove
that sin is a tremendous and fearful reality.
In this connection it may be remarked, that the Lecturer did not 2prove-which he logically and historically
endeavored to do-the positive existence of evil. Nor




166          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
did he give any very definite or understandable explanation of the nature of sin, as a thing in the world; except
this oft-repeated assertion, that sin is a supernatural
cand tremendous reality. You will observe, my friends,
that there is a vast difference between an assertion and
a demonstration; a difference between stating a proposition and proving its utter truthfulness.  In justice to the Lecturer, however, it should be remarked,
that he did undertake to prove the existence of sin by
mere negatives; by inferences and implication.  As
this effort was the vital principle of his whole discourse,
I will proceed to examine his several positions, which
may be summed up as follows: He asserted that sin
exists-first, because we Blame; second, because we
Forgive; third, because we have Government; fourth,
because we use Sarcasm; fifth, because men write and
love Tragedy. That is to say, men instinctively acknowledge the existence of sin by blaming, forgiving,
and governing. These things, Dr. B  -..  thought, sufficiently proved the tremendous reality of sin. The
prison, the rack, the gallows, the laws, the municipal
regulation of societies, and cities, &c., he regarded as
so many lofty and invulnerable demonstrations of the
universal existence of the reality of supernatural evil.
We blame, he said, because there is something which
we know deserves to be blamed; we forgive because
there is wrong which needs forgiveness; we govern the
family and society because individuals are disposed to
do wrong from their nature; all government proves, he
said, that mankind instinctively confess to the existence
of a law of right and a tremendous wrong in the world.
These were the positions assumed by the Lecturer. To




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.      167
a brief examination of these theologic propositions, in
addition to what I have already said, I now solicit your
particular attention.
Question.-" Is sin a supernaturac l reality?" What
a thought is this! Dogmatism never suggested a more
dismal idea; neither mythology a more pernicious doctrine! How came such a thought in the world? Was
it introduced by the friends and students of humanity?
Is it the faith of the noble, the creed of the generous,
the theory of the wise.?  Nay!  Dr. B11    quoted
Theodore Parker, Fourier, Dr. Strauss, the author of
Festus, and Alexander Pope, as so many rationalistic
voices in favor of a more benevolent and generous doctrine-not a more generous doctrine to Dr. B-'s
definitions. Far from it. He denounced it as sophistry
— as the foolishness of rationalism; while his faicth he
esteemed as given of God and worthy of all acceptation!
Where, then, did Dr. B   - obtain this idea of sinl 
From a careful analysis of man's nature and motives?
Did he draw it from the deep wells of human experience? The reply is negative. iHe obtained it all
from. a book; from the dicta of old writers; from the
Egyptian darkness of the old theology!  He talks
learnedly of what God could and could not do; how
the Divine Mind was environed with the "poss1iibity
of evil" before the world began; how God wills, hopes,
and executes; but, of human nature, the Lecturer manifested the general ignorance which is characteristic
of the clergy everywhere. Surely, upon the walls of
the modern Zion, an angel should be permitted to
stand; there to proclaim to the clergy of Christendom
the text which I have selected from Pope.




168          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
The Lecturer obtained his extraordinary notions of
sin from the decaying catacombs of oriental theology;
and, having systematized the suggestions, he labors
diligently to bend, to force, and interpret Nature into
confirmatory proof of his marvelous assertions. This is
his method, as it now appears, of accomplishing the
promised reconciliation between supernaturalism  and
rationalistic theories of religion!  He says, "'sin is
supernatural."  We ask for demonstration.  He replies, because man, the free-power, can act indeperdendent
of all cause and effect —superior to all mechanical force.
Again, we ask for proof. tIe says, Nature is bound by
the laws of necessity. All Things, he asserts, are compelled to exist according to the mechanism of cause
and effect, and must, therefore, move as they are acted
upon or instigated; while the Powers-wbhich are human beings, endowed with a free-will or self-determining force —are capable of acting superior to or against
the laws of nature, and are, therefore, legitimately
supernatural. Again-I ask, what can man do contrary to the unchangeable laws of Nature? He replies,
man can build ships, procure powder, load a pistol, and
shoot his neighbor; also, he can overcome the law of
gravitation by raising a book, &c., all of which phenomena are supernatural. Here, then, on this foundation, Dr. B-  rests his ideas of the supernaturalness
of sin.
But in the second review, I adduced several illustrations from Nature, showing that volcanoes and coalmines sometimes do shoot and destroy people; showing,
also, that nature, through the instrumentality and mediation of man's mind, plans and constructs ships; and




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.        169
that a tornadoC in its mighty strength, overcomes the
law of gravitation more extensively and perfectly than
any human being, notwithstanding the doctrine of free
agency. What, then, is sin?  Dr. B    replies: M/[an
can lie, and cheat, and steal, and murder; but Nature,
which is bound by laws of cause and effect, can not do
any thing of this kind. To this I answer, that Nature,
according to this definition, does nmurder through her
animals and volcanoes. And it seems that in8tane or irresponsible and irrational men will lie, and cheat, and
steal at times, by following out certain mental caprices
and hereditary proclivities. Now, I ask: Are these human beings commiting supernatural sin?  "No, " replies
Dr. B —, " the supernatural sin is committed only when
a human being acts, knowingly, against the law of Right,
or contrary to the moral law of God, as was illustrated in
the voluntary transgression of the first man."  lIeres
then, is the point to settle: —Does man voluntarily,
from the perversity of his own nature and will, without
any sufficient extraneous cause, violate the transparent
and known law of Right?  I assert that no man does or
can do this; for which assertion I am moved to assign
the following potential reasons:There is no universally recognized law of God-no
universally received standard of measurement by which
to determine right from wrong. This is an imortccant
fact, which 1Dr. B     has utterly overlooked in the
pending discussion. It is because the race has not yet
grown to the discovery of this universal law, that the
world is so exceedingly unsettled and discordant as to
what Right is. IMan, I am impressed to say, does not
hate the law of Right. He feels its silent workings in
8




170          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
his undeveloped being, without knowing how to interpret and apply it to his life. This universal fact, that
all men have, or desire to possess, some fixed system of
Right, is a living protest against the doctrine of total
lepravity, and the Lecturer's definition of sin. The
heathen nations have moral codes which they hold
sacred as the laws of God, although these laws may be
unjust and barbarous in the extreme.
Before the champion of supernaturalism proves the
whole race of man to be subjected to vanity and sin, it
is first absolutely necessary to prove? beyond all controversy, that all mankind have a fixed standard of RIGHT
— a true law of God, by which to measure the nature
and extent of sin-and by which, also, every man shall
in his conscience, in all states and circumstances, unerringly KNOW that he is doing either right or wrong.
But I ask, Is there any universal knowledge as to
Right and Wrong? Moses says-" an eye for an eye."
This he recommends as the law of right. But Jesus
preaches quite a different doctrine, and teaches us, as
the law of right, c" to love one another."
Now, both Moses and Jesus have faithful, conscientious followers, whose honest convictions of rigyt are
thus antagonistic. In this case-although the disciple
might, by the exercise of his will-power, violate the
moral law laid down by the master, —I ask, Where is
the sin? In a case of jealousy and revenge, the involved disciple of Jesus might violate the law of love;
but he would, at the same time, if he mnrdered hkis enemy, be acting in harmony with the moral -law of
Moses!  Thus, according to the Bible standard of
right, the man who might violate the law of God at




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY        171
one end, would in the same proportion, be obeying it at
the -other.  Now, Where is his sin? Dr. B  -  would
replyj doubtless, that the old law of God is now repealed; that the present law of right, under which sin
is punishable, is divulged in the Christian dispensation.
If this position be assumed, then-I ask, How can we
know perfectly, that, when we violate the lcaw of love,
we are doing something positively against the law of
God? How can we be perfectly certain that the New
Testament is the word of God? Surely, the doctors of
divinity openly confess it to be sick, out of order, and
wrongly translated in places! Under this new dispensation, Dr. B-   says, that murder is contrary to the
moral government of God. HIence, on man's part,
when committed, it is a supernatural sin. But here let
me inquire: Is it a sin when a man acts from the conviction that he is doing right?  Certainly not. Why?
Because, if it were in all cases a supernatural and punishable sin to commit murder, how many clerggymezn,
according to this rule, would suffer the eternal consequences thereof for the deliberate method, which they
almost everywhere sanction and adopt, of nmrclering
the crimirnal, immediately after prayers, by the barbarous process of strangulation! Do they forgive their
enemies?  Do, they, when the assassin's knife enters
the heart, breathe forth-" Father, forgive him?"  If
one man murders another, with the presiding conviction that he is doing right; then, in this instance,-I
ask, Is the murderer knowingly acting against the
moral law of God? Nay; because he would be acting from the motive or love of riyht at the moment;
although the deed, in fact, may be unequivocally and




172          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
manifestly wrong.  I urge these points in order to
demonstrate the fact, which has been confessed, that
mankind can not be universally subjected in sin or
wrong because there exists no universally recognized
principle of right whereby to judge the world.
Dr. B    affirms mankind to be naturally prone to go
against the law of right. Now, on the ground of educational bias-on the presumption that he is theologically
prejudiced and darkened as to the real nature and
psychological organization of man —we may let this
defamation of humanity pass, with the exhortation, uttered in all deference, that he forthwith sets to the music
of practice the text quoted from Pope. Because, to say
that man ~naturally exerts his will-power against the
moral law of God, is to assert that which all the race
proves to be exceedingly erroneous and pernicious.
One man thinks it is right to hold slaves; another, that
it is wrong. One feels justified in hanging the criminal; another, only when he opposes the custom with
all his might.  One thinks the Sabbath to be a divine
institution, which must be devoted exclusively to
church-going purposes; another, conscientiously, does
not believe any thing of the kind. The Jew is as conscientious in selling merchandise, when Christians are
going to church, as the Christian is justified, in his educational conscience, in trading on Saturday, when the
Jew reverently retires to the synagogue.  Of the
universal disagreement as to the nature of sin, Dr.
B — has, in the work heretofore alluded to (page 47),
acknowledged himself perfectly aware.  In speaking
of the indeterminate use of language, he says:-" The
word sin is of this description, and most persons seem




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.        173
to imagine that it names a given act or state, about
which there is no diversity of understanding. Contrary
to this, no two minds ever had the same impression of
it.  The whole personal history of every man, his acts,
temptations, wants, and repentances; his opinions of
God, of law, and of personal freedom; his theory of
virtue, his decisions of the question, whether sin is an
act, or a state; of the will, or of the heart: in fact, his
whole theology and life will enter into his impression
of this word sin, to change the quality and modify the relations of that which it signifies. It will also be found,
as a matter of fact, that the interminable disputes
of the theologians on this particular subject, originate
in fundamental differences of view concerning the nature of sin, and are themselves incontestible proofs that,
simple as the word is, and on the lips of everybody (as
we know it to be), there is yet no virtual agreement of
meaning connected with the word."  This is a very
rational confession.  All the different governments,
different laws, different religious sects, and systems of
managing the bodies and souls of men, are so many
evidences that mankind are striving, yearning after the
-RIGHT; that they are not yet progressed to that point
of unity where a universal standclrd of justice and
equity can be perceived and adopted, coextensive with
the human family.
Second proposition: " That sin is proved to exist,
because we instinctively blame mankind."  It is my
impression that blame is a complete proof of man's
ignorance of man. The wise and noble mind is lenient;
the foolish man is always blaming.  Jesus, Galileo,
Columbus, everybody, have been the victims of blame.




174         -THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
Does Dr. B-  remember how the pious and Christian
inhabitants of London rose up in holy horror against
HEMING, who had the audacity to invent street-lamps?
The sun had gone down, and the moon shed none of
her accustomled radiance; and so the genius of Hemning,
in the exercise of his supernatural will, constructed and
substituted lights at proper intervals throughout the
city. But he was blamed for sinning against God.
Impious, self-determining man!  But why was he
blamed?  Why, because he was usurping the prerogatives of the Creator! Does not the Bible distinctly
affirm that the Lord had made two lights; one to rule
the day, the other the night?  And did not Heming
act, in exercising his freedom, against the consummate
omniscience of Deity? Puny, presumptive, audacious
man! how richly he deserved blame for such a manifest
commission of the supernatural sin!
Dr. Bushnell said that the people were so perfectly
conscious of being personally sinful, and of deserving
blamze, that they would come to the church every Sunday to have it preached to them, and would_ pay for it
too! This was " the unkindest cut of all,." But let
us think of the statement. The priests bear rule, and
the people love to have it so. If Dr. B-1   were a
careful student of human nature, he would discover
quite different reasons for human actions. The people
go to church because they need diversion; because they
wish to be popular in business; because they desire to
see and to be seen. It is true that, now and then, a
person attends the sanctuary for instruction; not so
particularly for the purposes of being blamed. But
they become accustomed, however, to the perpetual




THE FALSE ISSUES OF- THEOLOGY.     i'5
defamation of the human character, and think there is no
remedy for the evil. When Baxter first preached "infant damnation" to the English mothers, they rose up
en, masse against him; but he was a " doctor of divinity," and hence, soon succeeded, by quoting Greek and
HTebrew passages and eminent commentators, in quelling the rebellious congregation. The mothers finally
became tranquil, and ultimately consented to pay quite
cheerfully' "to be blamed," and to hear preached the
diabolical and imaginative dogma.
The Lecturer said he would like to see how a rationalist, who believed that all things and men were controlled by the laws of cause and effect, would bear the
malicious taunts of an urchin who might be supposed
to be thrusting a pin in the skeptic's back. That would
be a case of "manifest misdirection," as the rationalist
defines sin. Would the rationalist regard it in the same
light as he would the pricking of a splinter from the
back of the pew.  "No," said he, " the rationalist
would blame the boy," as the self-determining cause of
the disturbance, and disturb the congregation by his
cries.  To this I can only offer my own method of
practicing the principles of a generous rationalism. In
the first place, I should pity the urchin for being sufficiently unfortunate in his phrenological character to
be capable of feeling like thus tormenting and disturbing another individual. In the second place, I should,
without harboring any revengeful feeling, break up the
immediate relations subsisting between the youth and
myself, either by removing myself from the locality, or
else the youth, as the cause of the supposed uneasiness.




176           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
To this matter the doctrine of supernatural blame does
not apply; it is all cause and effect.
As another department of this inferential effort to
prove the existence of evil, Dr. B — referred to the
hypothetical fact, that everybody is out of friendship
with themselves-perp.etually self-accusing and self'
blaming; which was considered sufficient evidence of
their internal guiltiness and moral obliquity. A little
real lnowledge of the teachings of phrenology would
have solved this problem. In nearly all cases of extreme sevf-condem9nation or blame, it will be found that
the individuals thus affected, either have received,
through hereditary descent, a defective mental constitution, or else are the, victims of some atrocious system
of ethics and theology.  Daily walking about the
streets, there is a man who believes he has committed
the unrpardonacle s8t/l!  Of course, he is under constant
se8f-accusation —as a being eternally condemned of
God. Now, I ask, where did he obtain so horrid an
idea?  Surely, not from lhis own sinful, depraved nature.  Quite the contrary. He is a victim of CAurc/Aianity —a mysterious and incomprehensible system,
which Dr.    - - is laboring to rescue from the approaching flood of intelligence and republicanism,
which is hourly rising higher and higher against the
combined forces of Christendom.
In the thirteenth century, there sprang up in Italy,
and was thence propagated throughout almost all the
countries of Europe, a denomination of Christians,
called the WHIPPERS. Their theology (like Dr. Bushnell's supernaturalism) taught them to spurn and dislike themselves, and to defame the human character in




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.       177
every conceivable manner. Persons of both sexes, and
all ranks and ages, ran through the public streets with
whips in their hands, lashing their bodies with the most
astonishing zeal and severity, with the hope of obtaining, by their voluntary mortification and outward penance, the divine mercy and salvation for themselves and
others. This sect taught, among other Christian doctrines, that flagellation was a virtue of equal magnitude
withl the baptismal ceremony and the other sacramental
proceedings, and was called the baptism of blood! Now
will Dr. B.-   assert that thisflagellation was a proof
that the people were internally conscious of deserving
blamerle   My impression is, that he must assume this
psychological position; because his last discourse, which
I am now examining, was as clear an instance of premeditated theological flagellation of the human soul as
was ever instituted or practiced by the religious Whippers themselves.
The long pilgrimages, made by the pagan and early
religious sects, were regarded by the Lecturer, as -another evidence of instinctive sense of wrong or evil to
be atoned for, through sacrificial agency. How superficial is this conclusion! Let us see. Mohammed, for
example, esteemed Mecca as the horizon of his spiritual
experience. He recommended it as such to his disciples. tIe loved the city and its beautiful retreats.
It was his sacramental altar; the table upon which he
first broke the bread and gave the wine to his conscientious followers. He did not command his people
to make a pilgrimage to the city once a year. But
those who lived in the days of 1Mohammed were first
led to the sacred cave from their affection for its relig8*




178          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
ious associations. The next generation considered it an
established custom, forever to be observed; the next, a
duty, to be discharged at all hazards; the next, a penance, analogous to all religious ceremonies, quite indispensable to the eternal salvation and beatification of
the soul!  Thus, Dr. t B —  should have been more
philosophical, and discovered a better explanation of
the causes of sef-condemnation and of self-imposed
afflictions; except in those cases where an enlightened
conscience in reality feels offended.
I come now to another proposition: That sin, exists
because weforgive. All the impressions which I have
received on that head, amount to this conclusion: that
revenge and forgiveness are almost twein brothers; born
of the prolific parent, Ignorance. There is no such
a thing, philosophically and properly considered, asforgiveness. A revengeful person is one who, from his
peculiar temperament and organization, can not easily
control his passions; he gives blow for blow-takes an
eye for an eye-and thus feels that the ends of justice,
according to his definition, are at once fully and per
fectly satisfied. But a forgiving person is one who
feels injured; he feels offended, he feels you to be
decidedly in his debt, and will long remember it; but
he controls his passions, easily, and in a commendable
degree, and says, "no matter, I will not hurt you in
return, my friend-oh, no! I forgive you —I can speak
words of kindness to you and feel them, too."  Now,
this is all the forgiveness which is at yet known or
developed in this world. The forgiving person smiles
and stabs. We are told to speak kind words to- those
we consider our enemies; because, forsooth, those mild




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.       179
sentences " heap coals of fire upon the offender's head."
This is highly gratifying to the, forgiving individual!
He forgives in order to be all the more revenged. Now
I am impressed to consider blame, revenge, and such.
forgiveness, as the legitimate children of Ignorance.' Forgive your enemies; love them that curse you,"
&c.; but I thank God that I can behold, in the approaching era, a more transcendent state of morals-a
state, in which the pure and wise, and high-minded
man can not be injured or offended!  Nothing to forgive; for there is no offense! The noble parent does
not feel offended at the little infant; though it might
cause some dreadful accident or injury. Men and
crimes are quite different things. The little bee makes
honey; but, if molested, it will also sting.
I pass on to another proposition: T/at all governnent presupposes the existence of sin in the world.
Here, again, I am moved to pronounce Dr. B      in
transparent error. For governments manifestly presuppose the existence of ignorance, imbecility, and
diversity of inclinations on the part of the people. An
intelligent man, as already shown, is a law unto himself! A moral and well situated man needs no constables, no prisons, no gallows, to keep him in the paths
of rectitude and righteousness.  Dr. B —.: thought,
that, granting the doctrine of cause and effect be true
and applicable to man, children should be left to unfold
in the family like flowers in the garden; giving forth
their native odors, without the farce of family governments. But the fact, he thought, was quite to the contrary.: He asserted that man was a self-determining
power; that the family arrangements were made as:a




180           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
proof of the expectation of evil as a consequence o0
necessity of such freedom. This point I will not nodispute. For I behold mountains of ignorance in fami
lies and states as to the most effectual and salutary
methods of developing and governing the individual
But I will simply remark, that, in a family where
rationalistic spiritualism or the harmonial philosophy
has displaced the church theology, and it is truly
practiced by the parents; the household regulations are
arranged so harmoniously, and with so much liberty for
the play of diverse individual inclinations, that the
children can have anuopportunity to be cultured like
the flowers, and to unfold the sweeter elements of their
being, without being molested by the horrid dreams of
supernaturalism. A judicious and philosophical hbusbandman will fenre in his gardens, that no cattle or
swine may disturb the growing vegetation; even so the
philosophical parent would put a family government
for the purpose of protecting the inward harmony from
unnecessary and unnatural molestation.
The other evidences of sin in the world,- which Dr.
B    - considered under the head of Sacrcasm  and
Iragecly, I am moved to pass by as requiring no special
comment. In alluding to the passage in Shakespeare,
the Lecturer asked, whether "Lady Miacbeth would
have exclaimed, in the agonies of a stricken conscience,
Out, damned spot!' if there were no' damned spot'
which existed to smite her for her voluntary transgressions?"  This question would appear in its true importance and legitimate force if I should ask:-When a
man, afflicted with a bad circulation of blood, retires,
and falling asleep, is heard to labor with the idea that




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.        181
a vulture is upon his breast-commonly called the
night-mare or incubus-would that man  be thus
troubled if there were no vulture there. The reader,
I think, will apprehend my meaning.  Dr. Baffirmed that Tragedy is a manifestation of, and contention between, right and wrong! while all natural
intellects regard this description or species of theatrical
representation as the impersonation of bad dreams and
savage cruelties, characterstic of a low and barbarous
stage of civilization.  "All tragedies are of kings and
princes."  Dr. Bt-  affirmed, in substance, "men
write and love tragedies, because it is a terrific display
of, anld combat between, sin and goodness."  But I
think, men write and love tragedies, because, to the
revengeful mind, they are sublime, and to the undeveloped imagination, exciting. Again, let it be repeated,
if the Lecturer would but receive the exhortation of
Pope to " study man," and leave the high truths pertaining to the " Lord of Hosts" for subsequent investigation, he would certainly become less theological and
more rationalistic. The cause of truth would be thus
advanced.
This discussion was commenced, apparently, with a
perfect, though carefully expressed, assurance of personal competency to philosophically prove the supernaturalness of sin, and the necessity for a supernatural
plan of redemption. But the effort. thus far has utterly
failed. He can not intelligibly and decisively determine what sin is; because there exists no uniwversally
recognized standard of goodness. Surely, the decalogue,
and the Christian Bible, do not constitute a universally
recognized standard; for every clergyman in Christen



182          THE -APPROACHING CRISIS.
dom entertains different conceptions of Right, obtained
by reading the same identical book: and commandments. Until, therefore, Dr. B   ascertains, beyond
all dispute, what the law of God absolutely and eternally is; and until that law is acknowledged all over
the world as the only admissible and everlasting criterion of Right; it will remain unqualifiedly impossible
for him to supernaturally define what sin is, or to convict the whole creation as being made subject to vanity,
and men as voluntary aliens to the Lord of Hosts.
In conclusion, Dr. B-  urged, quite logically from
his premises, the people to avail themselves forthwith
of the redemptive plan of salvation.  They were, he
affirmed, all convicted of the tremendous reality of sin,
and should, therefore, immediately set about    [something of which, I venture to affirm, not ten of the entire congregation had the least adequate conception].
His theology is not only time-sanctified, but measurably
popular. It acknowledges no necessary connection
with, or dependence upon, either nature or common
sense. It professes to be established upon a basis entirely supernatural. It takes no practical and beneficial cognizance of the social and natural wants of
mankind; but merely enjoins faith in certain abstract
dogmas and incomprehensibilities, which have already
divided the world into petty- sects, and spread hostility
and discord throughout - the land. Whereas, if Dr.
B — would but study mankind more, I know -he
would "blame" less, and become of far greater service
to the rising generations. By an adequate knowledge
of phrenological science,- and the law of hereditary
transmission of qualities, he would be enabled to judge




THE FALSE ISSUES OF THEOLOGY.                183
mankind with a righteous judgment, and to teach  the
people how to avoid entailing unhealthy and vicious
constitutions upon their offspring.*   But trembling for
the safety of doctrines based upon a supernatural foundation, the Lecturer discourages the investigation of
Nature and her laws; and frowns, dogmatically and
sarcastically, upon nearly all the splendid and valuable
discoveries which rationalists and researchers have exhumed from the deep vaults of universal nature. In
reply to the Lecturer's concluding earnest and prayerful appeal to the people, that they should forthwith
avail thenmselves of the redemptive scheme, and turn all
their love and attention to the Lord, I am impressed to
partially neutralize it in the reader's mind, by quoting
the following impressive parable, written by Leigh
H-Iunt:
Abou Ben-Adhem-may his tribe increase!Awoke one night from a sweet dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight of his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben-Adhem bold,
And to the vision in the room he said:
" What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And, with a look, made all of sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
* See chapters on the action of psychological laws, as applicable to
the generation and improvement of the human type, in Great Harmonia,
vol. III.; also in the Edinburgh Journal, edited by Combe; also in the
Educational System of A. Bronson Alcott, of Boston, Massachusetts.
This mind is most worthy of the attention which has been bestowed
upon more popular personages. His spirituality of character render him
a natural exponent of the psychological laws of Education, which the
shepherds of the land should more ffully comprehend.




184              THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
" And is mine one?" said Abou. " Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said: "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow-men."
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again, with a great wakening light,
And showed the names which love of God had blest,
And lo  BEN-ADHEM'S NAME LED ALL THE REST.




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.            185
CHAPTER VI.
FIFTH   R E V IEW.
Reconciliation impossible. —The end of controversy.-The effort to
prove the text. —Mankind vilified.-Necessity for the medicine of
redemption. —Patent remedies and Dr. Bushnell's conclusions.-No
universally recognized standard of Right and Wrong. —Nature as
it is.
DR. BUSHNELL has now attained the summit of the
philosophical argument, in favor of supernaturalism,
and against the rationalistic theories of religion.  In
the progress of the effort, man and nature have been
constantly referred to as living witnesses and demonstrations of the supernatural faith and theory.  The
young minds of the congregation, and the skeptical
members of all professions, were to receive, from this
naturalistic argument, ample satisfaction, that nothing
but supernaturalism can be the truth. The Rationalist
was, in the commencement, promised a philosophical
demonstration of the practicability of God in Christ,
of the atonement, of the redemptive plan of salvation,
of special providences, and prayer.   To accomplish
this desirable end, this modern LUTHER has relieved
his mind of five discourses, the last of which number I
design to review on this occasion.
The apex of the rational or philosophical argument




1.86         THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
is now reached by this independent champion of popular theology. During the eccentric march, nothing has
been neglected which could, in any conceivable manner, im)ecach the character of man, and bring the entire
human family into direct confliction with the nature
and will of God, and with the ineffable harmonies of
the moral universe. The Lecturer has labored diligently
to convict mankind of the most diabolical sins and
abominations. He has said very much calculated to
weaken the individual in his private efforts to be and
to do good; and has somewhat discouraged those who
would strive, by the aid of science and spiritual rationalism, to live righteous lives in strict obedience to the
moral and physical laws of their being. Ile has, in his intellectual gyrations, raised the theological telescope, its
lens deeply colored in the dyes of orthodoxy, and. bade
his hearers look through that beclouded medium, at the
" system of nature," as differing from the system of
God, and then at the spiritual "'realm of powers" —
causing, the people to observe in either direction the
illustrations and confirmations of the supernatural
creed. And then he inverted the instrument, and bade
his skeptical hearers to gaze in the opposite direction,
at mankind in their multifarious spiritual relations to
the wide expanse of created-things. After the Lecturer
had succeeded, as he supposed, in utterly demolishing
man's faith in the divinity of man, and converting the
whole system of nature into a perfect pandemonium of
wretched antagonisms to God, then he mounted the
ruins-ascended the falling and-crumbling fabric-and
said: "Here, then, I stand —feeling assured that nothing can shake me from my position-and now I offer




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.         187
to mankind, as a sovereign remedy for all sin, the redemptive plan of salvation."
The Lecturer said, in concluding his last discourse,
that he left the subject at a point where the Christian
plan of redemption was seen to be essential to individual
regeneration. The presumption is, therefore, that the
philosophical department of the argument for supernaturalism is now completed.  And, of course, we, who
desire to be reasonable and rational beings-and professedly candid in our recognitions and valuations of
an argument, pro or con, on any subject-should now
ask ourselves the questions:First. Has Dr. Bi?   _proved Rationalism to be erroneouns?
Second. Or, the Bible scheme of redemption to be
indispensable to peace on earth and good will anmong
tmen?
My impression is, that these essentially important
points have not been proved-nay, not even apparently
so; and, therefore, I am moved to present you with
the following considerations.
Before the Lecturer can build a spiritual Zion on the
scriptural foundation, or before he can repaint and reembellish the old superstructure, and invite the whole
human family to take possession, and satisfy them that
they can live therein in safety and concord forever, it
is first necessary to test and ascertain the condition of
the premises.  The ground-plan should have been far
removed from the neighborhood of earthquakes.  It
should be firm as a rock; capable of withstanding the
surging billows of time; and impregnable to the army
of sciences which promise to march steadily onward,




188           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
regardless of popular superstitions and error. As you
probably all know, Dr. B -—'s foundation is neither
Nature, nor Reason, nor Intuition, nor any thing else
which is accepted by the Rationalistic school of philosophers; but his avowed basis is the Bible-the present
recognized sacred canon. Do you not see, then, what
he should have done for the rising generations?  Do
you not see what all skeptics, infidels, atheists, lukewarm believers, and harmonial philosophers, very properly, and hence emphatically, demand? My friends,
if he could not have accomplished it in forty lectures,
and yet believed such a consummation possible, in the
sphere of historical proof and spiritual and inferential
demonstration; nevertheless, lie should havefirst given
us the plain unanswerable evidence that the Bible is
the veritable word of God!  But has he done this?
Has he proved to our satisfaction that he stands upon
a sure foundation, which can never be shaken?  Far
from  it. -He began his lectures by taking a text as
bodying forth a great truth; yet he altered it to fit still
closer the preconceived and prearranged convictions of
his own mind.  Thus making, as it were, assurance
doubly sure, that man's Reason, after all, on the ultimate analysis, is the master or umpire of the Bible
and its teachings.  This was the most essential point
to determine for the rationalist. The Lecturer should
have known that the principal cause of skepticism in
religious matters is the self-evident fact, that the Bible,
which is the only foundation of the supernaturalistic
system, is the creation of human heads and hands; that it
contains historical and chronological errors and contradictions; that it bears the impress of human imper



THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.         189
fections in its codes and inculcations.*   These are
points which required attention in the commencement.
But these important matters were passed over; hence,
all his arguments and special pleadings for the truth
of supernaturalism, fall lifeless to the ground; and  i)s
superstructure is as the house built on the sandy foun dation.  The frame-work is completed; doors and windows are made and adjusted; and the whole house is
put in readiness for the entrance and use of the proprietor.  But the tempest sweeps o'er the hills; old
ocean proclaims the speedy approach of the destroyer;
the distant forests break forth in dismal lamentations;
the rains descend; and the proprietor is driven out,
amid the ruins of his newly-constructed residence, to
do battle with the prevailing storm! The prevention
of such a disaster, evidently is a sound foundation and
a firm construction. But does Dr. B     not see that
he has gone on in the work of constructing a theological
fabric, without ever giving the least satisfactory assurance that the premises are tenable a Yea; whether he
perceives it or not, it is nevertheless true, that he has
totally neglected to do away with the chief cause of
skepticism in Christendom.  HIe employed his REASON,
I am happy to say, throughout the discussion. But it
was not a free reason. This I regret. It was manifestly engaged (before the trial commenced) to discharge
the duties of an attorney or counselor for the system
of supernaturalism, to which he stands before the world
fully committed. He assumed the premises, and then
applied a small amount of philosophical argument in
* See contradictions detailed in "'The Arabula."




19'0         THE APPROxCHING CRISIS.
order to convince the people that the Rationalistic system is essentially erroneous. This, I repeat, has not
been done; because the ground-plan of supernaturalism
is not proved to be immutable; the Bible was not shown
to be a supernatural revelation of God's will. More
particularly, I come now to examine the lecture in question, delivered on last Sabbath evening. This text was
again taken from the eighth chapter of Paul's Epistle
to the Romans, twenty-second verse-reading as fol
lows: " For we know that the whole creation groanelth
and travaileth in pain together until now."
When a modern son of Hippocrates or Galen, discovered a prescription for the chemical preparation of
some blood-detergent or purifying compound, forthwith
he sets himself to enumerating the number and variety
of diseases for which his remedy is to be confidently
recommended as a panacea. He thinks over the five
hundred different "ills which flesh is heir to," and
comes to the conclusion that his compound is not only
a "perfect cure " for the great leading diseases —asthma, rheumatism, consumption, scrofula, and goutbut that it is in fine a' universal panacea" for all
known and conceivable disorders. But here arises a
question. How shall he make the people believe that
"the blood-purifying compound" is THE unfailing
remedy for all diseases?'  His course is very plain. He
must develop a "New  Theory" of disease, culled
from the writings of learned authors upon pathology
and therapeutics. The theory must be constructed in
such a manner as to make the final conclusion very
logical and self-evident, that the " Blood-purifier" is
the only invaluable sovereign remedy and infallible




THE MEDICINE OF ltEDEMPTION.        191
cure for the sick to get and use, no matter what the
disorder may be, or how originated. In the first place,
the Esculapian makes it appear, from certain argumentations, that all diseases originate in the blood. He
writes emphatically on this affirmation. He elaborates
long columns of argument with the special design of
creating a general faith in this one-idea theory of dli.ease and physical distress. Every thing must originate
in the vascular system. The respiratory and circulating departments give rise to many maladies; but the
impurities, and impoverished condition, of the blood,
he asserts, are the primary causes of all human physical and considerable mental suffering. Now, I ask, why
does the proprietor of the " blood-purifier" publish this
philosophy of disease to the world as the truth?  The
answer is distinct. Because he believes he possesses a
remedy for all blood-diseases.  Hence he advertises
that his " universal panacea"  is an infallible and
sovereign remedy for all diseases which originate in
the blood; among which, he enumerates, are the
following: consumption, scrofula, cancer, broken bones,
sick head-ache, measles, squinting, rheumatism, fevers,
and clumnp feet!
Now, does Dr. B — not see that his recent ebort to
prove supernaturalism is perfectly represented in the
foregoing illustration? He has found, as he believes
with commendable integrity, a soul-purifying and
world-lubricating medicine —a certain and unmistakable remedy for all the disorders and consequences of
sin. Ile, therefore, commences a learned and argumentative diagnostication of the moral constitution of
man, and finds it sadly in need of the balm in Gilead.




192           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
He discovers and affirms that this "universal panacea"
can be made available and effective only in cases where
the individual is actually guilty of the supernatural sin.
Lest, however, he should fail to convict all mankind
(which he can not do by any known standard of
righteousness), of the high sin, for which the medicine
is particularly designed and administered by clergymen, he prudentially quotes a text from Paul to prove
that the whole family of man, together with a large
portion of the productions of nature, are charged, by
the recording angel in the courts of heaven, with the
commission of supernatural crime.  This is just the
universal disease which the redemptive plan is recommended to eradicate! Thus, it is manifest, that Dr.,
B —  has, under the avowed intention of removing
doubt and skepticism, put his mental energies to the
work of creating a fresh demand for the ecclesiastical
medicine which he scientifically compounds, and in the
curative properties of which, I doubt not, he places
the utmost hope and confidence.  Hence, with all conceivable honesty of purpose and true zeal for the universal acceptance and administration of his infallible
compound, Dr. B — proceeds to show that all " disorders originate in the supernatural sin; among which
he enumerates the following:-murder; theft; dissimulation; duplicity; wars; famine; diseases; storms;
fogs, which bedim  nature; pestilential miasm, which
generates death; deformed fish and vegetation; abortions; snakes; and malformed saurians.  All these
disorders, he thinks, are caused by the existence in this
world of supernatural sin; and he presents his " compound " of catonement, redernption,, forgiveness, specicl




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        193
providence, and prayer —as the sovereign remedy for
the regeneration and reformation of all. The Lecturer,
also, recommended the redemptive medicine as the
most perfect." fire annihilator" in the world!  For he
said; when a house was set on fire, it was evident that
nothing in nature could do it, except self-causing and
self-determining man.  [Parenthetically, I will here
remark, that houses, hay-stacks, volcanoes, and coal
mines, are frequently fred by the chemical action and
combustion of nature's own ingredients. Query: Is
this one of creation's disorders? ] He said, "- there was
free will at one end of the line and a house on fire at
the other." This burning house was a dissolving exhibition of the consequences of the supernatural sin.
And the redemptive compound was recommended, in
effect, as the best annihilator of these fiery trials
through which the travailing and groaning creation is
compelled to pass.
The last discourse, under review, was a continuation
of the arguments and theologic evidences in favor of
the utter depravity and moral viciousness of man.
The premeditation and words-with which the Lecturer
studied how to defame, vilify, and characterize man's
imperfect nature, is not a little surprising in view of
the fact, that he considers i9,mseif a member of the
same human family. What is man? Dr. 3 B- thinks
that the "serpert" is man's true representative; an
animal, which was said to be an abortion, shaken from
the lap of nature, and condemned to crawl in the dust
all the days of its life. How can an animal be condemned for moral wrong?  Again, What is man? Dr.
B — characterized hinm as the " sinning substance;"
9




194           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
a being or free power " doing as he was not made to
do;" an enemy to God's universe, and a destroyer of
nature's primeval harmony. Yes; nothing can exceed
the contempt and pity which Dr. B — professed to
feel toward and for the race of man. Every true philanthropist'must regret this. According to the Lec.
turer, man is as a foreign substance under the shell of
the egg; that is, a sinning power in the fields of nature.
By this Dr. B —  evidently means to imply, either
that man has very nearly converted all creation into a
defective egg, or else, by the process of incubation
being allowed to go on to its final issue, the whole creation, owing to man's voluntary sins, turns out, at last,
to be a deformed chicken, having one wing, or three
wings, as the sequence.
On opening his discourse, the Lecturer asserted that
the whole creation is groaning and travailing in sin,
" concomnitantly or by implication with man;" and
then, referred to the third chapter of Genesis, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth verses, wherein'it is
said-" Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of
thy wife, and hast eate'n of the tree, cursed is the
ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat of the herb of the
field, *  *  *  for dust thou art and unto dust shalt
thou return." To this matter I have presented several
objections..In this connection, however, it is deemed
proper to first direct your attention to the Lecturer's
definition of man as a'"sinning substance;" a being
"doing as he was not made to do." You remember, I
presume, how the Lecturer supposed that he had satis



THIE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.      195
factorily shown the whole family or fraternity of man
to be buried in supernatural sins. He said, in substance, as you remember, " that his whole subject depended upon the establishment of the existence of
positive sin in the world." This fact was clearly demonstrated, he thought, in the previous lecture; and
so, he felt at liberty to go on with his theme, and
demonstrate that Nature is suffering concomitantly
and by implication with man.
The system of supernaturalism, then, is not proved to
be a truth. Why? For the manifest reason, already
urged, that there exists no universal standard of judgment as to what sin or evil really is. It makes no difference, in a discussion of this nature, what opinion
you or I may entertain on the great question of Right
and Wrong. The whole family of man, most certainly,
can not be tried and condemned, for certain thoughts
and acts, according to mere individu cal opinions of
merit and demerit. Minds can be adjudged only by
what they individually conceive to be right and wrong.
This is the church theory. But it can not be altogether
true. Because it would convert all ideas of a divine
and unchangeable government into a world of anarchy
and ill-constructed comedy. I will give an illustration.
For example: suppose a man in Christendom should
commit the crime which is termed murder. Prior to
the act, however, he had read the injunction, "Thou
shalt not kill."  He had- received this as his standard
of right, and shaped his conscience to it. Now this,
therefore, becomes the law, according to theology, by
which that man is to be tried in the court of heaven.
In the moment and paroxysm of anger he destroys the




196          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
outer life of a fellow-being.  A  few months subsequently he is executed by the sheriff. He is straightway arraigned before the King of worlds, for the purpose of being then and there judged according to deeds
done in the body.
The Judge accordingly asks: "Of what sins are you
guilty a."
"I am guilty of murder," replies the prisoner, sorrowfully.
At this moment, he who had officially sent the prisoner to that awful court by strangulation on earth —
the sheriff-arrived, and is, also; placed in the prisoner's box.
The Judge next addresses him: "Of what supernatural sins are you guilty?"
"I am guilty,") says the sheriff " of envy, and, occasionally, of perjury."
" Is that all?" asks the Judge.
" Yes, so far as I can remember."
Judge: "Why do you consider yourself guilty only
of these sins 2?"
Prisoner: "'Because I have followed, as nearly as
possible, the precious commandments and word of God
in all other respects."
Judge: " Do you know the prisoner who was occupying the stand when you arrived?"
Prisoner: "Yes; he was guilty of murder. I knew
him well."
Judge: "Can you inform me what occasioned his
sudden departure from earth?"
Prisoner: " In obedience, my blessed Lord, to your
expressed command, as given to Moses, and in accord



THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        197
ance also with the combined moral and legal sanctions
of both the church and state, I, my Lord, in the capacity of a sheriff, was that man's executioner i"
Judge: "You say, then, that the first prisoner is
guilty of murder; that you are guilty only of envy and
perjury; and yet you confess, as I understand you, that
you were'the real cause of that man's physical death."
Prisoner (somewhat alarmed, but resolved on selfextrication): "Yes, my Lord, he committed murder
voluntarily, and therefore against thy law, which says-' Thou shalt not kill.' But I was an officer under a
government that employ thy ministers of the gospel,
who believe and teach thy word with becoming integrity. Thy vicegerents convinced me that capital punishment'Is RIGHT!' They quoted thy words, saying:'Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed.' Then they prayed for thy ever-enduring mercy to fall upon the soul of the murderer. Thus,
my Lord, I am not guilty of the voluntary crinme of
murder; for I conscientiously discharged my duties as
sheriff, and hung the prisoner up as an example to the
vicious, and as a terror to evil-doers."
Now, I inquire, in view of Dr. B -'s theory of sin
and punishment, how can the Great Judge dispense
justice, to redress the wrongs and punish the crimes of
these prisoners? Both committed murder; that is, both
destroyed external or physical life; one in the heat of
passion, the other from a conviction of duty. Where,
then, is the law of justice. Shall the sheriff go into
heaven, and take a seat in the midst of glory and goodness, simply because he did not intend any sin in
strangling the prisoner-his brother?  And is the vic



198          THE APPROACHINGO CRISIS.
tim, who was thus sent legally to the heavenly court
of eternal justice, to be forever consigned to a b6trming
hell, simply b)cause he had the misfortune, yea, the
terrible misfortune, to believe the Mosaic commandment
to be true?  Verily, according to this theory, the imperishable law of right and. wrong, by which a man's
soul is theologically asserted to be judged in-heaven, is
a mere inveiglement —a fantastic drama-I might truly
add, a " comedy of errors."  How much better for the
human race, according to this doctrine, were they all,
like the untutored heathen or beasts of the fields, ignorant of the means of condemnation! The brute and
the idolatrous heathen are exempt, through their ignorance of the Bible, from all future punishment; but
the civilized races-unfortunate beings as they aremust almost all suffer, for the same acts or sins, the
eternal consequences of knowledge. In all this, I again
ask, Where is the universal and unchangeable law of
distributive Justice?
Another point is essential. That is, supernaturalists
must yrst show that there exists a universally admitted
standard of Right before they can logically condemn a
single individual of "blamable wrong" in the sight of
God. Unless they can do this, how do they know but
that all theologic judgment and condemnation are
merely arbitrary   Dr. B    timay think it is " blamable wrong' for me to preach the harmonial doctrines;
but I do not think so. I hold it to be a plain duty.
The church is divided, according to his own acknowledgment, on the question of.Rtight and Wrong. IIe
thinks, and very properly, too, that lying is blamable
wrong. But there are. Christian sects who conscien



THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.         199
tiously believe that any thing is good-even pious
frauds-so long as " the end justifies the means." But,
enough of such superficiality. It has been shown you,
that, although there is " blamable wrong" in this world
of relative individual dependencies-merely local disturbances, confined to the common level of individual
affairs and interests; yet, there is no L-Aw by which all
mankind can be proved to be guilty of the supernatural
sin; which crime is theologically defined to be the voluntary action of man, knowingly, against the moral law
of God. Every man, it is true, has an indwelling and
indefinite conception of right and wrong.  But the
sense of right, which most persons feel the strongest, is
almost wholly educational.  You all know this to be
true. You know that there are as many different ideas
and laws of " RIGHTS" in the world as there are races
of men, or sects of religion; yea, these educational
views of sin and goodness are as numerous as individuals on the earth.  If, therefore, Dr. B-    depends
upon his success in convicting the race of sin, in order
to create a demand in the world for the saving and
cleansing "compound" of supernaturalistic redemption, then he has reasons for discouragement, because
he has signally failed in the premises. In the succeeding discourse, I am impressed to show, that, in the
philosophy of "free will,'" the Lecturer has derived
many deductionbs cr inferences from  untenable and
groundless propositions.
But now I must solicit your attention to another
point. I allude to the origin of supernatural sin. It
was asserted in the first text to Dr. B's course of
lectures, that " God was before all things, and in him




200           TIE APPROACHING CRISIS.
all things consist."  In reply to this, I said that Dr.
B13, in order to harmonize Rationalism with Supernaturalism, and all things with the text, was logically
under the necessity of charging the existence and subsistence of all things, evil as well as good, to God. If
all " things consist" in God, it follows that the origin
of sin, the disastrous deluge, the horrible experiences
of man from generation to generation, the formation
of a devil, and hell itself; all must be traced and referred to the creative, Omnipotent, and Omniscient
Miind. And thus, as it seems, Dr. B —- has finally
made the case appear! Hie affirms that God was surrounded with the possibility of evil before he created
man. The creation of man was, consequently, a hazardous experiment! The simple plan opened a door
for the entrance and existence of evil, which the Lord
could not shut, consistently and logically, with the
creation of free moral powers! Hence, Dr. B     has
openly acknowledged sin to be, in the aggregate estimate, a tremendous and supernatural reality.- He
has conceded, in the development of his theologic philosophy, that sin is truly a mighty antagonist to God;
who could not but Wiave permitted its existence and
absolute enthronement about him, even before the
population of the earth by human beings. Thus, by
the power of church-logic, sin is deified. It is a tremendous reality in God's universe. Nay, it is not so!
Evil is a transient shadow; a fleeting meteor. It is but
the dust of mankind's progression. All things have
dark sides -cast deep shadows upon the earth; but
they do so, because the effulgent sun shines upon them.
My interior meaning is, my friends, that silz is but the




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        201
name which men give to contrasts or contrarieties in'
minds and morals. The towering oak receives great
quantities of heat and light from the sun: and, when
thus illuminated, it looks grandly above all other vegetation as the lord of that kingdom; but, at the same
time, that magnificent tree casts a dark, deep shade
over a large piece'of ground. It may obscure the brilliancy of many flowers and beautiful trees. Thus lights
and shades exist; because the all-controlling luminary
shines out over the fields of creation. Now, shall we
term the light, goodness; and the shade, evil? Which,
I ask, is the positive fact; which the most conspicuous
reality?  Is it the darkness?  Or the light? There is
but one answer. The sun is the tremendous reality;
it is the great 2positive fact, which illuminates Nature,
and causes lights and shades amid the vast contrariety
of things of which the world is constituted. So it is
with what inen term EVIL. Evil is but the result of a
universal Goodness; the shade cast by the mzora characdter of man when his character is illuzminated by a
higher conception of Good —measured by a higher
standard of Right. Solomon continued to be a wise
man, until there appears a man of higher wisdom; then
the illumination of the latter casts a dark shade over
the former, who then gradually recedes from view. So
was Moses a great and brilliant character, until he was
thrown into the shade by the Prince of Peace! Like
shadows, all sin is local, and, when compared with the
soul's immortality, it is altogether negational and evanescent.
According to Dr. B —, the creation was groaning
and travailing in pain previous to man's creation. In




202           THE. APPROACHING CRISIS.
the great geological epoch, which preceded the human
species, the Lecturer affirmed that there were racess of
"malformed  creatures" —snakes, fish, &c.-running
parallel in their development: with the regularly developed types of the same.general class. Thus, Dr.
B   - proves himself an: infidel to the Mosaic account;
which asserts, that after the Lord- had created fish, and
all creeping things, and fowls, and vines, the heavens
and earth, and all that in them  is-then "'He saw
every thing- that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good." It seems by this, that the Lord entertained not
the least suspicion that he was environed by the tremendous possibility of evil. According to: Mloses, the
Lord did not regard: the creation of man as a wonderful
and stupendous experiment. HIe created Adam with
as much pleasure as he did any thing else, and blessed
him. The Lord pronounced frequently, that all things
he had made were "good."  This was uniformlythe
all-sealinZ word, spoken and declared, according to the
account, as earnestly subsequent to man's creation as
previous to that event. It seems, therefore, that Dr.
B —-- is far more learned and proficient in the mysteries of godliness than Moses appears to have been.
After the Lord had made the house; and furnished it,
then he very- naturally desired some one to live in it to'keep it in order. HIe had unfolded the earth; sent the
waters into their various divisions; made fish, and
birds, and animals; festooned the mountains with evergreen; and decorated and essentialized the world with
blessings and goodnesses; then, as a natural want, the
Lord desired some intelligent and rationalistic being
to enjoy the creation.  Hence, he says:' "Let us [that




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        203
is, Brahma and Vishnu] make man in our image." This
important resolution, you will perceive, was made in
the vast consilium of the other world, the Lord not
betraying the slightest particle of apprehensiveness that
the creation of man would involve the tremendous possibility of evil. But why (according to the Bible) was
man created?  Plainly enough, it is said, to "have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowls of the
air, and over every creeping thing." And subsequently
to the creation of male and female [i. e., free moral
powers], the Lord " blessed them, and said, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it."
Does this appear like the theory so earnestly propounded by the Lecturer?  Assuredly the Lord did
no1 anticipate, as has been shown, any great mizsfortuzne, even as "possibly" growing out of man's creation. It appears, also, that the human creation was
merely an after-thozught; a spontaneous suggestion and
requirement of nature. Every herb was growing with
unbounded luxuriance, the fields were teeming with
the ripened harvest; although " the Lord God," it is
said, "had not caused it to rain upon the earth." Well,
what then-?  It is written —" There was not a man to
till the ground."  * * *  And so, "the Lord fdrmed
man of the dust of the ground." This shows, very
simply and conclusively, that the Bible doctrine of
supernaturalism is vastly dclerent from, and more superior than Dr. B  -'s incomprehensible theory.
The Lecturer considered fogs and vapors as blemishes
in nature, caused by the supernatural sin! But from
Genesis we learn, that, before the creation of manand, hence, prior to any supernatural transgressions in




204          TIHE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the world —the rain was not caused to descend upon
the earth; nevertheless, as it reads, "there went'up a
mist from the earth, and watered the whole of the
ground."  It manifestly appears from this, that man"the sinning substance'- did not originally cause
vapors and fogs to rise up between Dr. B.or any
other man, and the contemplation of some beautiful
scene in nature.
How explicitly the Mosaic account of creation contradicts the positions taken by the Lecturer! True, it
is exceedingly difficult to anticipate what a doctor' of
divinity might do with the passages in Genesis, should
he undertake to doctor and improve them; but, one
thing is absolutely certain, the Bible account of man's
creation makes that event a matter of ordinary importance and suggestion.  The Lord did not work
timidly, as one would who was perfectly conscious of
being environed with the black clouds and portentous
shadows of some possibly stupendous and. eternal disaster. On the contrary, he labored in quite a different
state of feeling. I-Ie made man, according to the relation, on the suggestion of the moment, with the greatest conceivable cheerfulness, dispatch, and skill. And
when the Lord saw the man alone, in the great temple
of nature —so completely furnished with all things, as
it was, and adapted to all the conveniences and happiness of housekeeping, he concluded that it was "not
good that man should be alone." Upon this discovery
and suggestion the Lord acted promptly and energetically, and forthwith "made a woman" to assist Adam
to till the ground, to-keep house —to multiply and replenish the earth.




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        205
Nor did the "curse" drive man out of luxury into
active employment; because it is distinctly asserted or
implied, that, before the first pair was placed in the
garden, man was made expressly "to till the ground"
-"to subdue the earth"-" to have dominion over
every creeping thing."' Now, it is manifestly unreasonable to suppose that man could engage in so much
manual labor without "sweat on his brow." rNay.
Man had the earth to " subdue"-implying that there
were existing, even then, "thorns and thistles," and
many rough places to smooth, in the vast dominion
over which mnan was made the princely sovereign.!
There are other points of interest connected with this
particular question, but I leave them for the present,
and pass on to another consideration.
Dr. B - asserted that Nature represents both man
and God. All the disorder, groaning, and travailing
in Ethe world must be attributed to man; while God
must be praised for all the existing harmony, perfection, and tranquillity. According to this, the works
of God are inter-penetrated and ineverted by the voluntary or supernatural sins of jnan! Think, my friends,
of the unutterable absurdity of this doctrine. I askCan the wisdom and omnipotence of the Living Spirit
be counteracted and transcended by weak and ignorant
mortals? Can the finite overthrow the Infinite? Nay!
The Lord God omnipotent reigneth; he is before all
things, and in hinm all things consist; the measure
whereof is lonqger than the earth, and broader than the
sea. Who hath resisted his will? It is not of him that
willetf, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Can man resist the universal Will of the




206,         THE APPROACfINcG. CRISIS.
Supreme Being?  Dr. B — said, that man is a sinning
substance-a power, confusing and disordering nature;
because "-he does as he was not made to do."  This is
truly a bold assertion. tIow does he know whether he
tells the truth or not, in this matter?  He takes his
text from PAUL as a sufficient guaranty or indorsement of his theory. Here, then, I will quote from the
sanme authority, to prove (if it be thus valid) that 2Mata
does not and can not act contrary to the wise designs
and ordinations of Jehovah (see Romans. ix. 10): "Is
there unrighteousness with God?  God forbid.  For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on: whom I
will have compassion."  Further on it is asserted by
Paul, in substance, that Pharaoh had not committed the
so-called supernatural sin: " For unto Pharaoh the
Scripture saith, for this purpose have I raised thee up."
Now what are the reasons assigned by the Lord for
creating the tyrannical and murderous Egyptian king:?
Was he made to be good? and happy, and to assist
others to the acquisition of wisdom? Far from it. The
Lord says: "I raised thee up, that I might shaow
my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth."  Now, I ask, if Dr. B —
believes: that Pharaoh was thus designed to perform a
mission-confessedly to subserve the purpose of displaying God's sovQreign prowess and will, and to publish his name throughout the earth-how does he know
but that every living king, and tyrant, and pirate on
earth, is: to-day doing, by express: providential design,
thesovereign will of God?:  Tis is not my zimpression.
But I am now answering the supernaturalist on his own




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        207
ground. We have Bible assurance that evil is overruled for good. As plain as Dr. B —'s text are the
following passages from Paul.: " Who hath resisted IHis
WILL? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest
against God?  Shall the thing say to Him that formed
it, why hlast tlou made me thtes?  lath not the potter
power over the clay, of the same lump to make one
vessel: unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" What
shall we say, then, to all the wickedness and: disorder
in the world? 1 "Is. there unrighteousness with God?
God forbid."  In view, then, of all this plain Bible
language, how can Dr. B —  assert, with so much
scriptural assurance and professional dogmatism, that
man "' does as he was not made to do "  Or, that Nature
undertakes to, accomplish more than she is able to perform?  HIow does he know that "-the apple-tree puts
on more bucds than it is capable of developing" properly into healthy fruit?  Surely, every thing which
grows has. a rcsiduru  - some refuse materials - to
the labor. And why may not the falling apple-blossoms. be considered —like the expenditure of muscular
strength which is consequent upon our bodily exercise-as the result of the tree's effort to produce (what
it succeeds in to perfection), viz.: the precious fruit
which decorates its: bending boughs and delights our
taste.
I pass on to another point: Dr. B   - considered
at length, but in a very unsatisfactory manner, the
effect or consequences of sin —first, upon the Soulsecond, upon the Body-third, upon Society-fourth,
upon Nature. What was said under these respective
heads, I am impressed, needs no elaborate review.




208          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
In the SOUL, it was said, sin laid waste the moral
nature-desolated the creature man; his feelings, passions, and their multifarious dependencies. This was
only another way —a theological way —-of saying, that
all voluntary or other infringements upon the indwelltng conviction of Right, are succeeded by appropriate
results and legitimate consequences, from which there
was no possible escape, except, by taking internally
and eternally the redemptive " compound" which, as
you remember, is Dr. B's universal panacea for all
mental, physical, social, and natural disorders.
In the body, it was said, that sin brought wrong
things together-a man and alcohol, &c. —developing
pain, contagion, discords, diseases of all kinds, and
death. It was distinctly asserted, moreover, that death
and disturbance were in the world before man; seemingly in anticipation of the horrid catastrophes which
s&zpernatural sin was certainly destined to develop!
Friends, do you see the deformity of such an assertion!
Do you not see that all the " malformed creatures" and
universal "abortions," which Dr. B -- alluded to,
exist nowhere but in his own darkened affections and
beclouded reason? Theology has lamentably distorted
his vision, circumscribed his affections, crippled his understanding, and deformed his naturally good powers
of judgment. Theology has laid waste his love for,.
~man; and his admiration of nature, also, is contracted
exceedingly.  His conceptions of the harmony and
unutterable progressive perfectibility of God's works,
are exceedingly angular, and hugely-fashioned  and,
when he looks out -upon /Nature, from the blistered and
stained windows of his theological Zion, lie sees only




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        209
his own malformed cogitations; but he very honestly
takes them to be deformed fish,. grotesque disorders,
and the innumerable " cabortions," caused by the workings of supernatural sin upon the physical creation!
And as if his mind had not been beclouded and desolated enough by the theology of supernaturalism, he
summons to his side no less equivocal teachings and
testimony of another clergyman, Hugh Miller, who unblushingly, and, to some extent classically, gives in his
evidence, that the works of God are, in very truth, interpenetrated and inverted or subverted by the freewill crimes of man! What Dr. B — -said concerning
bodily pain acnd death, may be found, much better
stated in Combe's book on Man; or, in the phrenological publications of the day, associated with the
philosophical exposition of their obvious causes and
important uses in the providence of things, and with
valuable suggestions'as to their final exterminationi.
Of society, it was said, that sin had laid it nearly in
ruins-causing, by its power and propagative tendency,
wars, cheating, mburder, massacres, ease, power, luxury,
and licentiousness-all to be considered as the furniture
of sin. In replying briefly to this statement, I would
fjrst call attention to the fact, that the most gigantic
cruelties, the bloodiest wars, the highest spoliations,
and the deepest licentiousness, and the other crimes
and vices supposed, are sanctioned in the Old Testament by a "Thus saith the Lord."  Does Dr. Bremember how the lIord commanded Moses to " war"
against the Midianites? Does he remember the spoliations that were recommended? - Does he remember
the revolting crimes which the Lord permitted the




210           THEE APPROACHING CRISIS.
children of Israel to commit? In view of this-I ask,
did man, according to Dr. B ——'s theory, create and
perpetuate these sins?  Assuredly not. Man is the
victim  of an  oriental and demoralizing theology;
which originally sanctioned war and all the other sins
enumerated.  What occasioned that stupendous war,
known as the Crusades?  Did the people generate that
war by exercising the prerogative of free-will?-By
doing as they were not made to doa?  Nay; the thirty
years' war was a -" holy war,"-that is to say an honest
and conscientious war-as most all wars are-in which
the defenders of the faith signalized themselves as valiant "'soldiers of the cross:!"  Dr. B]-  should not,
therefore, "blame" man for the existence of war, and
for analogous evils; because, according to the writers
of his theology, there were times when the Lord himself cozmansdec bloocdshed, and gave us particular directions, through his holy prophets, as to the localities and
methods of its accomplishment.
With regard to theft and licentiousness, I can, for the
present, only say, that had Dr.- B'   studied mankind,
like a rational philosopher, he would have found, that
badly-constructed and. wrongly-situated minds give rise
to these transient and transitional evils.  Fouzrier has
elaborately considered the social causes of these evils,
and has mathematically shown, that a certain organization of Labor, Capital, and Talent, will effect the desired cure. If Fourier's positions be true (which no
church-disciple has as yet been able successfully to controvert), then. we have the plain solution. of the problem of evil. Ignorance, improper social alliances, and.
immoral situations -- giving rise  to antagonisms of




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        211
individual interests-these are the simple and self-evident explanations of sin's existence. Dr. B's medicine-the redemptive compound —has been tried for
many long, eventful centuries, and has failed to remedy
the evils complained of; why not, then, be humanitary
and charitable, and let the combined wisdom of this
century use a new panacea in the- great work of human
amelioration a
In Nature, it was said, that evil had wrought sad results. The so-called facts he adduced on this head I
will not stop to review. They are not considered of
sufficient importance to the thinking world. But in
regard to the allusion to the existence of snakes, fish,
and the "' abortive flounder," I have some impressions
which I will presently express. In this place, however,
I will merely utter my present regret that Dr. B — had
not familiarized his mind more with Nature. It seems
that he has studied, or rather observed, an enormous and
destructive battle among some exasperated ants in this
city! The battle-field-a yard square of earth-was
strewed with the dead, wounded, and dying!  They
finally " fought for halves, after many of them were bitten. into pieces." "' Thus " (concluded Dr. B  ), "it is
with society."  Supernatural sin operates even upon
the little ants!: Now, how much more reasonable would
the Lecturer have been, had he said, that the lower we
descend in the kingdoms of Nature the more cruel and
revengeful the creature; the higher we go, the nearer
we approach the angels.
In conclusion, allow me to give you a concise view
of fNature as it is.
As you remember, Dr. B    complained of Christian




212           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
poets and moralists skipping over the fields of Nature.
" They think it is Beautiful." In doing this, he thought
that they were uzqifait/ful to the Scripture doctrine.
He, it would seem, is ready to sacrifice every thing
upon the altar of supernaturalism-so degrading to the
mind are the fossil vestiges of old opinions!
Progress, my friends, is a law of Nature.  " That was
not first which is spiritual, but natural, and afterward
the spiritual." The fair and beautiful always unfold from
from the rudest beginnings. The first developments of
minerals, of vegetables, and animals, are universally low
and imperfect. The angular form is first; then succeeds
the circular; then the ascending circular, which is the
spiral; and this form merges gently into the spiritual.
For example, the child is first, which is angular; then
the youth, which is hasty and impetuous, because
changing from the angular to the circular in character;
then comes manhood, which is the perfect circular;
then the period of maturity, which is the ascending
circular, but which soon becomes a spiral, and glides
away into the spiritual realm of life! And so all brutes,
and birds, and fish are developed, primarily upon the
lowest possible plane of being. There is a regular chain
of beings from the little insect to the highest form of
matter. The supernatural idea that malformations or
abortions exist, is derived from a perverted and superficial view of the progressive gradations of Nature's unceasing developments. It was first necessary to invert
and misinterpret the true line of progress among animals, before a case could be made out to substantiate
the text: that' the creation groaneth and trvcaileth
together in pain until now " —all, it was asserted, in




THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.        213
consequence of man's voluntary sins,!  Such are the
logical disclosures of an erroneous theology.
But I am impressed to consider True Theology as the
holiest and sublimest form of knowledge. It conveys
our thoughts far away into the peopled realms of infinitude: speaks to us of the harmonies and sublimities of
eternity; and leads our affections onward and upward
to the Supernal Mind. True theology teaches, that
every thing is forever progressing in goodness and perfection-is eternally growing more and more lovely,
more harmonious, more wise, more happy.
The time hath been when this planet was but a dark
and barren desert. Frequent convulsions and earthquakes sent into the air black and grotesque rocks —
creating, in a moment of time, channels for the roll of
oceans-and forming deep valleys and ravines, dark
and dismal as the fabled dominions of Pluto. No bird
of song broke the silence; no creeping thing animated
the dust. Thus was it once with our earth.
But the eternal -principle of Progression continued
still to exert its mighty power upon the physical
elements; and soon, there came forth green leaves
from the mountain cliffs, lofty palms from the valleys,
and sea-mosses quickly gathered, in rich profusion,
upon the craggy acclivities.
Another long era passed, and the ocean was peopled
with living forms-even the earth became animated
with mighty saurians; and so, in due order of progression, animals came forth-improving, in their type
and character, in harmony with the advancement and
refinement of the elements of food, light, air, and the
surrounding geographical conditions. And finally, as




214          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
the crowning issue of all-as a coronation of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms-there came forth
Man! And Man, physically and spiritually, has steadily advanced from the earliest dawn of human life to
the present day. Still his course is eternally onward.
And the once barren and dismal earth is rapidly
becoming an incipient paradise.
Old theology complains, through its popular devotee, "that Nature is too much praised!" Indeed!
Nature too much praised?  Nay, it can not be.  He
who would study the works and ways of God, must
contemplate nature; and the creation can not be examined without inspiring the true mind with gratitude, delight, and religion. Nature teaches that low
and imperfect forms always precede high and beautiful
creations.  But Nature, my friends, is not limited to
this little _planet; neither to the myriads of earths and
systems in space; nor to the infinite system of suns in
the upper skies; it is the boundless universe, and
"beautiful" as the Living God!
Love-streams break forth from the deep depths of
Deity like the impetuous gushings of a mighty fountain. In its deep harmonious workings, it sends its
startling energies through myriads of planets at the
same moment-arousing the little germs, which lie hidden and slumbering in the earth, into the joy of being
-yet, there is no discord; for YVISDoM describes the
method of the vast accomplishments. As progress is
the law; so the development of every thing is graduated upon an infinite scale. Trees:grow from the earth
upward. And there is a harmony more or less perfect
in every thing. The coral worm works with harmoni



THE MEDICINE OF REDEMPTION.       215
ous skill, and builds the mighty reefs; against which
the ponderous waves of old ocean may perpetually roll;
and upon these islands cities might stand secure for
ages. The song of birds, too, and the waving willow,
blend together in harmonious motion. Sweet fountains
gush forth musically; melodies break forth from rippling lakes; the summer winds breathe joyfully over
the green fields; and the distant valleys murmur forth
a peaceful hymn! IBut this natural harmony is more
and more perfected as we ascend the spiritual scale of
being. The songs of birds foreshadow the perfections
of the human voice. The sweet harmonies of the midsummer season faintly typify the diversified beauties of
the Summer Land!  The Universe is beautifal as the
Living God: because it is his TEMPLE.




216           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
CHAPTER  VII.
THIE DYING  DOGMAS.
A prophecy.-Freedom of the will.-The unreliability of consciousness.
-The doctrine of moral freedom considered.-The spirit and the
father.-The case of Dr. Parkman and Professor Webster.
THE antagonisms existing between the popular dogmas of theology and the plainest declarations of Reason
are hourly becoming more and more distinct and visible. All efforts to harmonize them must ultimate in
disappointment and defeat. Because there exists no
essential affinity between them, no indwelling principle of common sympathy, around which a unitary
organization of reason and theology could only be
permanently established. Of this there can be but one
explanation. The dogmas of theology originated at a
period when the human mind had not yet put forth its
energetic faculties of understanding. Reason is a recent development. It has not yet appeared in its true
ministry and glory; but, slowly as unfolds the spring
vegetation, reason is appearing in the broad horizon of
the moral world-darting its penetrative illuminations
far away into the abysses of ignorance, and most
powerfully into the gloomy retreats of long-fostered
dogmas. These bequeathments of'the past, these idols
of the sacerdotal orders of men, must now be uncovered and examined. A lifeless and godless form




THIE DYING DOGMAS.             217
may be draped in the holiest garments; and, to all external seeming, the worshiped idol may present evidences of possessing a divine energy and spirit; but the
devotee, should he allow the reason-principle to perform its functions, will instantly become sufficiently
clairvoyant to perceive the emptiness of the dogma,
and its utter inapplicability to the present wants of the
age.
Now it can not be denied that the current churches
are the legitimate children of the Catholic organization;
which is the most extraordinary religious institution on
the face of the earth, considered either as a political or
as a moral combination of educated men and spiritual
forces. However, there is a manifest difference between the progenitor and the children. This consists,
simply, in the seemingly spiritual character of Protestant churches, also in the mental liberties which give
rise to democratic institutions of education, and to the
still greater blessing of free, representative governments.' Nevertheless, there are points of analogy
between the parent and the offspring; which, as honest
investigators, we should not fail to recognize and reveal.
As educated Protestants, we stand in open hostility
to the graven images and idolatrous ceremonials of the
Catholic institution. Wherefore? Because we hold
image-worship to be utterly incompatible with true religion; and irreconcilable with all reverence due the
one only and eternal God. Very well. We, therefore,
divest our churches of all idols; and in the same proportion, we abandon many forms, and leave ceremonialworship to the poor, benighted, imbecile devotees of the
10




218           TIE APPROACHING CRISIS.
Catholic religion. How  is this  Do we truly, as
Protestants, destroy all idols, and worship God only in
spirit and in truth? Let us see. As logical and orthodox
Protestants, we still adhere to certain cardinal principles in. theology, as unequivocally essential to the soul's
eternal salvation; also, as the divine doctrines destined
to be universally recognized and potentialized, under
the direct descension of the Divine energy-the I-Ioly
Ghost-to the final destruction of all heathenism, and
the reconciliation of all things to the glorious liberty of
the children of God.
These cardinal doctrines we have carefully examined,
harmonized, pronounced them " good;" and deposited
them in the theological armory, as our beloved [idols]
dogmas or sacredized essentials. The first essential is
" original sin,k recently defined as being supernatural. The Protestant church assigns to this idol a
conspicuous position. It is necessary that the people
should behold it frequently. Hence it is placed in
demi-relievo, and learnedly described, at regular intervals, as the foundation of all troubles in this terrestrial
sphere-as the grand cause of the unspeakable manifestations of divine mercy detailed in Scripture. But
here a question appears.  Clergymen dwell devoutly
on the glorious attributes of the Creator. They can
not enough express their glowing gratitude for the
"Revelation" of the Divine will and promnises.  The
advent of the only begotten Son, too; this is the grand
consummation of all deific love and wisdom-the ne
plus ultra of all conceivable mercy and providential
manifestation. But is it so? Strange thought! The
realms of spiritual existence contain no such de




THE DYING DOGMAS.              219
formed conception of the deific nature and attributes.
Ponder the supposition!  Think you that man could
ascertain nothing of the Divine Mind through this
universe of life -and animation? Was it necessary to
plunge the human family into the depths of discord and
degeneration, in order to reveal the Divine attributes
to the human affections and reason? Was it first
necessary to allow the race to generate every description of iniquity, and become dead in trespasses and
sins, before the attributes of mercy, love, and wisdom
could be manifested to the earth-children? If clergymen eulogize the effects, they certainly can not but
condemn the cause and the occasion. It is no better
than the oft-uttered assertion, that poverty and squalid
wretchedness are expressly designed as means to develop and exercise the Christian virtues termed kindness, brotherly love, and charity; while, in real truth,
poverty and want are the symptoms of a defective social
condition, which symptoms, well-organized talents and
industry will effectually remove; and then the virtues
may be normally exercised in the higher spheres of
human life and interests. NevertheleSs, the church
idol-" original sin " —must be kept before the people.
The devotee must first examine (for this is a glorious
attribute or privilege of Protestantism), then believe;
then, to be truly orthodox, he must worship2  "In time
of peace prepare for war;" which, in this supernatural
department of human interest, signifies the preparation
and formidable array of clerical talents and cogent argumentations, against the approach of the vast army of
modern sciences and discoveries, whose leader and
commander is REAsoN.




220           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
The second essential is " the Atonement," which is
now undergoing extensive repairs.  Several very distinguished and adequately qualified sculiptors in theology, are now laboring, with a commendable zeal
and integrity of motive, being actuated by the desire and design of elaborating a certain rationalistic,
"C atonement;" which they confidently believe will meet
the reasonable demands of the most intelligent and
logical mind in Protestant Christendom. This religious reformation has not escaped the attention of Dr.
Bushnell. He has himself done something toward
giving the Christian world a more comprehensible
theory of" God in Christ;" though it can not but be
regretted, that, in his effort to be both classical and
natural, independent and truly faithfuil to the old
masters, he has too deeply buried this beautiful and
energetic work of art.  Several Unitarians are now
preparing to repair the idol of Protestantism. Unfortunately, however, they have resolved to copy too
accurately many things from the prevailing orthodox
pattern.  The New Churchmen * are entirely settled
as to the perfect and eternal interpretation of this
supernatural problem. The interior import of all visible idols in the primitive history, is clear as the blue
vault of heaven to their unfolded faculties; and so,
like the Second Advent people, they devoutly and confidently await the " time " when the New Jerusalem,
the Holy City, will come down, from  God, out -of
heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband.
* "The Seer," contains several impressions and elucidations coneerning this form of theology.




THE DYING DOGMAS.              221
Nor is this all. The third essential is " faith," which
is also undergoing the most astounding alterations.
This idol is situated, in the Protestant church, directly
opposite to the other just considered. The recent efforts put forth to place this graven image upon a philosophical pedestal-to establish it upon the everlasting
foundation of nature and reason-may be regarded as
the premonitory indications of the in-terregnum which
is about to appear in the religious world. Men formerly received all spiritual nourishment, like infants,
through the vessels of the affections; which is the primary or rudimental process; it is invariably characteristic of th.e most incipient and uncultivated stage of
mental development. But having spiritually become
men, like Paul, they very naturally " put away childish things;" and, among those things, numerous minds
have been amazed to discover their creeds —the cherished idols of childhood. Dr. Bushnell is not alone in
the field of altering the theologic faith.  It is a precious idol to abandon; especially, when the mind has
not attained to " the fullness of the stature" of passional and judgmental harmony. I-Ience, very many
individuals have chiseled out a new form of religious
faith. But when the deeper analysis comes, the same
deformed and decrepit idol is revealed, which was first
worshiped through the medium of the unenlightened
affections. The exact truth is spoken when I say, that
Christendom is now as a slumbering volcano!  The
conflicting elements lie underneath all this fair exterior.
The thunders of a stupendous reformation are sure to
issue from  the now  open mouth of the Protestant
church.  The supernatural faith will be shaken as a




222           THE APPROACHING CRISISIS.
reed in the tempest. New channels will be formed for
the inflowing of new truths; and then, a long-promised
Era will steal upon the religious and political world.
It will come forth like the hurricane; but its action
will be gentle as the breathing of flowers. It will sound
like the thunderings of the mountainous water-fall;
but its influence upon the world will be as the music
of "many waters" to the ear of the care-worn and
thirsty pilgrim.  It will appear as a moral pestilence,
breeding internal agonies and mental despair; but it
will be as the spirit of a glorious divinity, floating unseen among us, " creeping, like the summer winds, from
flower to flower."  Such are the impressions which I
receive concerning the approaching crisis.' Faith,"
the present idol of Protestantism, will be essentially
altered, modified, and transformed into a milestone to
indicate the highway and progression of humanity.
Like the pyramids, it will stand as a monument of what
the ages have erected in the human world; and, as
such, it will forever possess interest to the historian,
to the antiquarian, and the spiritual philosopher.
The fourth essential is "free agency;" which is being re-examined and logically prepared for exhibition.
This is the greatest dogma in the orthodox church. It
is an idol of the utmost importance.  All theology,vould be flying in the wind, like the tempest-torn sails
of a ship, if it were not for the potent presence of this
graven image. It is a strange work of art! Blocked
out by the old masters, subsequently chiseled by the
professional artists in theology, and placed upon the
pedestal of mere assertion, it has become the most t:ivorite Idol in the Protestant institution. Should any




TIE DYING DOGMAS.             223.rationalistic disorder or epidemic prevail, the " doctors
of divinity " forthwith diagnosticate the pathognomonic
symptoms of Free Agency, to ascertain conclusively
whether the contagion really extends to the cardinal
dogma, or to the others. If not; then nothing is said.
If so; then comes a period of theological fumigation.
That is, the clergy attempt to produce a kind of intellectual blindness among the people, by decomposing,
apparently, a few rationalistic arguments with the
flame of their burning eloquence. Such an effort has
been recently made; as we have seen by the discourses
"on supernaturalism," under review.
How, then, does the matter really stand? Are Protestants not idolaters?   The Catholic has his "holy
virgin" in the form of a female statue; but we also
have a "holy virgin " in the form of a man-made book.
The Catholic has sacred saints; but we have sacred
dogmas. You perceive, then, my friends, that Catholics and Protestants are alike idolatrous: the latter
being so, intellectually; and the former, sensually.
The two forms of religious faith and culture are not
essentially distinct; only antagonistic in regard to
the ways and means of worship. The logical accuracy
of this will appear in the sequel. Can we, then, continue to worship these theologic idols   Can we still
cherish them as the only beings that have brought life
and immortality to light? Children play with balls;
but men amuse themselves with the rolling planets.
Young intellects cherish every thing through an exercise of the sightless affections; but matured minds
love all things which flow easily through the understanding.  Such are truly harmonial philosophers.




224          THE APPROACHIING CRISIS.
We, then, as Protestants in Protestantism -being
moved to address Protestants as they formerly decried
the heresies of the Catholic church-must faithfully
ignore those dogmas which pertain to the popular
theology.
The position of the clergy, amid these sacerdotal
idols, is potent to sustain error.  The most charitable
interpretation which an enlightened mind can indulge
in, is the probable honesty of all men who continue to
preach the antiquated doctrines.  This conclusion,
however, must be mainly grounded in benevolence;
for " how," many ask, "' can a man remodel and perpetually interpret an idea in theology as truth, when
the plainest declarations of science demonstrate it to
be an error? "  The only answer is, " Men love darkness rather than light," when they have not sufficient
independence and integrity of soul to cast aside all
forms, and worship God in spirit and in truth."  The
friends of true freedom have had occasion to regret a
recent manifestation of this mental condition.
Dr. B    - has labored to infuse new vitality into the
old dogmas; but the process seems like the action of
the galvanic force upon the lifeless body. The muscles
contract violently; the arms fly up against the silent
breast; the mouth opens; the eyes glare like angry lions
upon the people; and the strange phenomena immediately disappear.  So will all efforts terminate which
are designed to add new luster to the dogmas of Christendom. You who do not believe so, may engage in
the godless task; for experience is still the best schoolmaster to those who can not discern the signs of the
times.




THE DYING DOGMAS.              225
The advocate of supernaturalism, as he unfolded his
method, appeared, to the reviewer, in the midst of
church doctrines, which he was about to impregnate
with new theologic animation. -Behind stood the idol
called "Original Sin;" on the right, the idol called
"The  Atonement;"  on  the left, the idol called
"Faith;" and before him, higher than all the others,
stood the idol termed " Free Agency." This idol was
considered vastly superior to the others in the discussion; because, in the opinion of the Lecturer, it was the
great thing to establish, as a basis upon which to rest
the utility and essentiality of the pre-arranged dogmas.
The doctrine of "moral freedom," therefore, will be
more particularly reviewed on this occasion. In this
connection, however, it should be understood that the
Lecturer did not present what we would consider cogent
reasons to sustain the affirmative. lie depended mainly
upon the superficial reasons already given; and placed
himself too confidently upon his consciousnzess, and upon
his prevailing sensations of freedom, to. establish the
favorite doctrine. This cognitional source of our present
being, he considered the "self-evident" demonstration.
I will, therefore, first proceed to reveal the fallacy of
this conclusion; and then I will consider the question
as it is in nature.
It was repeatedly affirmed, as you remember, that
" moral freedom is a matter of consciousness " —"' everybody feels and knows his liberty," and so forth; which,
compared with the evidences heretofore considered, was
the principal proof presented to substantiate a doctrine
so essentially important to the consistence of the other
dogmas. The witness, then, which is called to appear
10*




226           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
and impart testimony in the pending trial, is cofnscioUsness. You will observe, that this term has a signification quite distinct from the word conscience. Conscience
means the internal faculty of knowing; a self-knowledge of what constitutes Right and Wrong. But consciousness, on the other hand, signifies something more
sensuous; a knowledge of operations and sensations
passing in one's own mind; or, the mental phenomenon termed, a cognition of external objects through the
medium of the senses. Now the question is: Can the
character of this witness be shown to be above -impeachment? Was it never known to impart, to the court of the
human understanding, any false and contradictory impressions? If this witness never deceived the judgment,
then it is, indeed and truly, the most complete demonstration of the dogma under present analysis. But if;
on the contrary, it can be shown to be a very treacherous and imperfect delineator of truth; then the testimony deposed by this witness can have no important
weight in a case of such momentous interest. Let this
witness, therefore, be cross-questioned, in order to
arrive at the actual pro and con in the premises.
Mletaphysicians have divided all the consciousness
of our mental being into five distinct compartments,
termed the five senses. The sensation of existence is
consciousness. The windows and doors, through which
this sensation goes out from and re-enters the sensorium,
are the eyes, the ears, the smell, the taste, and the more
general sense of feeling by the nervous mechanism.
All ideas of the contrariety of objects and influences,
constituting the material world, are derived through
our consciozus existence, as defined by the senses. The




THE DYING DOGMAS.               227
senses, then, may be, regarded as the divisions of consciousness; the different channels through which the
nerve-spirit of our present life receives influences and
imparts impressions to the understanding.
I hope it will not be considered presumption, should
I here affirm, that Dr. Bushnell is organized in these
respects precisely like every other man; that, therefore, his personal declarations, concerning the consciousness of the utter freedom of the soul, are worth,
in the present investigation, as much, to say the least,
as the assertions of any other intelligent individual.
Now I am moved to affirm, that human consciousness
is a very equivocal and unreliable source of knowledge.
Wherefore?  Because we are constantly deceived by
our sensations.  The senses frequently fail to impart
accurate impressions to the mind. According to all
human consciousness, this earth is neither globular nor
revolving. Aside from the opposition founded upon
the so-called heresy of asserting the revolution of our
planet, Galileo was opposed and confronted by the
universal consciousness of the race, that the earth was
a, vast permanent surface, whose edge had not yet been
discovered. The same thing is believed to-day by thousands of minds. Our senses declare to us, very distinctly, that the Sun and Moon roll round the earthrising uniformly in the east, and disappearing behind
the western hills. The diurnal motion of the earth is
against every man's consciousness; that is, this witness
does not impart a truthful impression to the understanding.
Two years since, while on a visit in the State of New
Jersey, a very industrious although uneducated farmer,




228           THE APPROACHIING CRISIS.
confessed to me his utter inability to believe in the
revolution of this orb every twenty-four hours. "Why,"
he exclaimed, " it is against my consciousness; against
the positive testimony of my senses. Don't I see the
sun going from east to west?  On the earth, as you
know, there are millions of movable things, and great
bodies of water. If my house was turned bottomside
up once a day, wouldn't the chairs, and the crockery,
and every thing movable therein, fall from their places,
and be dashed into pieces?  A pail filled with water,
you very well know, being turned upside down, would
necessarily be immediately emptied of its contents; and
so, if this earth turned upside down, as people say,
wouldn't all things be thrown out of order, and the
lakes and rivers be emptied of their waters2'" This
man's honest argument, fallacious as it was, very accurately and forcibly represents Dr. Bushnell's dogmatic
assertion, that his consciousness was a plain demonstration of the freedom of the will.
Again: this witness is not reliable, or sufficiently
unwavering to be received as proper evidence; because
it is known to be extremely susceptible to morbid developments and tendencies.  Many present are confounded by the strange operation of internal sensations,
as derived from external sources. A morbid brain is
conscious of various inconsistencies.  Insane minds
imagine-that is, believe the concurrent testimony of'
their consciousness-that they are certain great distin.
guished characters: Napoleon, Paitl, Alexander, and
so forth; and with as much calmness of pretension, too,
as would befit the most sane Christian. An intoxicated
mind, with the blood whirling in the cerebral recesses




THE DYING DOGMAS.              229
and vessels, is conscious of strange motions among the
objects about him. Should he declare his conscioutsess,
on going forth from the brothel into the street, he would
affirm he saw the street revolving like the wings
of a windmill, and the lofty steeples toppling from their
foundations. I would inquire: Which is in motion?
The external objects; or, the morbid consciousness?
Now, it is by no means an impossible or unnatural
thing to suppose a clergyman's mind to be somewliat
intoxicated with the spirit of certain dying dogmas,
even to imagining himself a perfectly free moral being
on the testimony of his morbid consciousness.
Enough has been adduced to invalidate the evidence
of Dr. B —— s principal witness.  Its character for
prevarication and waywardness is sufficiently made to
appear.  It is not even reliable on the greatest astronomical fact ever revealed to man. Consequently, the
rationalistic mind is absolutely forced to seek for evidence in other directions. The enlightened judgment,
independent of the ordinary plane of consciousness, is
forced to consult well-ascertained data, before it can
arrive at clear and satisfactory conclusions on any given
subject.
I come now to the negative consideration of moral
freedom; which is, that there is no such a fact in existence as absolute independence of the human will.
In the first place, let. me describe to you the conditions upon which alone man could be a perfectly free
moral being. The pre-consultations considered, as essential to the moral freedom of the first man, Adam, in
the great experiment of life, are still necessary to every
individual. The Christian Church has always had some




230          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
vague doctrines concerning the pre-existence of the
soul. Indeed, when we except the speculations of
Thomas:Dick and the universal analogies of Swedenborg, Christians have cherished the most mystical and
unsatisfactory opinions of the other life-more vague,
even, than the traditional myths and beliefs of the
North American Indians. For present purposes, however, we will suppose the pre-existence of every human
spirit. On this hypothesis, I will now state the conditions which are required in order to establish the dogma
of man's moral freedom.
The parent should have a conversation with the soul
of his child, previous to the bestowment of a physical
body. The language should convey to the unterrestrialized spirit this unmistakable information: "This
material world is a valley of trials and misfortunes. It
is replete with hard substances which the soul can
use only through the mediation of physical agents.
The external world is now-indeed, it always has been
-undergoing slow and gradual changes; and philosophers say, these unceasing alterations will in time render this world a serener and more spiritual field of
existence."  The spirit here asks: "Will you-inform
me how the inhabitants appear?" " The present human
race," replies the parent, " is rude, impulsive, and imper'fect. It is known to consist of different tribes or
nations, manifesting considerable varieties of external
appearance, and employing diverse kinds of languages.
These nations have not outgrown war; nor the causes
of discord and wretchedness. Poverty and wealth, indolence and industry, ignorance and wisdom, present
the strangest contrasts; and the world makes in the




THE DYING DOGMAS.              231
issue a strange dream, which the human mind hereafter cherishes as the daguerreotype impression and
history of its earth-life. But notwithstanding all this,
there is more than enough to compensate man for his
strange eventful passage from birth to the final result.
We have love, and friendship, and consequent joys:
each twining around the family circle, wreathing the
plowman's heart, and inspiring the merchant's mind
With dreams of wealth and enterprise.  We have rolling seas, beautiful rivers, mountains swelling with life
and loveliness, a sun of ineffable brilliancy, and an
earth filled with countless stores of luxurious wealth;
and all for! man! Now," continues the parent, " I desire you to become my son, clothed in a physical vesture.  But we have a religion that teaches the moral
freedom of every man; because this doctrine is alone
compatible with the plan of redemntion, which is said
to have been instituted expressly for our future salvation, but which can prove availing only when accepted
in. the freedom of the human will. God can not save,
they say, unless man is entirely willing. Therefore, I
desire you to exercise your freedom in becoming the
offspring of an earthly parent."
" What is the position of a son?" inquires the spirit.
"To learn some particular trade or profession; and
to do battle with the world of free but conflicting
powers about him."
"What is the position of a daughter?"
"A daughter has a different sphere. The home, the
family, and the social circle, are her proper fields of
action."
" Then," says the spirit, "if I come to earth I prefer




232          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
being a daughter. But tell me further: what are the
nations called?"
We may now suppose the parent informing the
spirit of the names of the different nations, with their
colors, declaring himself to be a European.' From what you say," replies the spirit, " I will not
be born into a physical body, unless I can be a Caucasian or an American. Nor will I consent to become
a Christian; for, according to your relations, it would
be better for my eternal welfare if I should be born
where the Christian religion is not known or preached;
hence, I will only be born on the planet Jupiter or
Saturn. Neither will I consent to be born with any
physical or mental defect. I require perfection in every
particular; thus to be all the more capable of exercising
my moral freedom. I will not consent to accept any
derangement in my temperaments; neither in my
powers of comprehension. If, therefore, you can impart to me all I now demand, physically and mentally,
I will consent to be born into the material world, and
take the eternal salvation of my soul upon my own
responsibility."
Such a final decision would certainly be made by
every well-informed spirit, should it be enlightened,
and thus consulted, as to the liberty of choice, prior to
its advent upon this or any other planet. And the
dogma of moral freedom can not exist, rationally and
intelligibly explained, upon any other conceivable
basis. As the doctrine now stands interpreted, it assuredly has nothing to recommend it to the intelligent mind. The assumptions of divines on this head
can have no important bearing; when every individual




TIE DYING DOGMAS.            233
is known to be forced, uninformed and  unconsulted,
into this breathing world, frequently " deformed, halfmade up," and with a " nationality," and complexion,
too, which may prove a blessing or a curse, just as the
tide of human prejudice may chance to flow at the
time. Think you, that any being would consent to be
born with a black skin, or with a defective organization?  Would any free moral being consent, on the
supposition of possessing all due information, to be introduced into this life with one leg shorter than the
other — With an imbecile brain?-With a hare-lip?With a predisposition to consumption and scrofula?Or, with any other disorder, physical or mental, which
children are compelled to accept with their birth?
The utter absurdity of the idea breaks upon the mind
with a redoubled force, when suggested by the monstrous assertions of the clergy, that "we are created
free moral powers!"  The very fact of beginning to be,
implies a primary dependence of the creature {ipon
the Creative Principle.
All intelligent mechanics know, that a human invention of "perpetual motion" would be possible were it
not for the primary necessity of employing perishable
materials, and driving home the last screw-implying,
thus, that the " motion" would have a beginning, and,
consequently, a certain termination. Even so, when
considered as to its derivation, the human soul is the
result of the harmonious action of a Creative Principle
of Nature; and it depends as much upon the eternal
existence of the divine Creator for its everlasting being
as the heart depends upon the presence of the human
spirit for life and energy.




234           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
If you should study the science of manl, my friends,
you will observe that all liberty or freedom is coWparative; not absolute. All will is consequent; not
primary.  The soul does not will itself into being; but
after its;existence and organization are determined,
then the inherited force, through will, sets the mechanism in motion. If the physical arrangements are not
fiom birth harmonious, the will can not render them
so.  Because the will-faculty is an efect of the mental
combinations; not a cause of them.  A child has the
will, or the desire, to play in the fields; but the determining power can accomplish nothing, unless the body
is well and the limbs free from paralysis. Will, moreover, can not exist as an. independent faculty of mind;
because it is a conditional and interfixed power —receiving promptings from the passions, and admonitions
from the judgment.  If the will acts by the instigations
of the reason, then it is merely the lever of the directing
power. Or, if will acts by impulses proceeding from
the passions; then, as before, it is executing the impetuous suggestions of a cause upon which it (the will),
as an effect, must necessarily depend. Will, therefore,
is not a self-causing and self-determining power; but
it is, when carefully defined, thefocus of the mind.
The human spirit, as I see it, is composed of actuating springs, which are LovE; and regulating faculties,
which are WIsDoM. These, combined and organized,
constitute a THINKING SUN. This spiritual sun, like its
representative in the heavens, sends off rays in all
directions. These rays are inclinations. The reflection
or refraction of these inclinations upon the countless
external objects which develop and attract them, forms




THE DYING DOGMAS.            2935
a focus in the mind. At this point all tne rays converge, and, when all external and contiguous conditions:are favorable, the fttl force of the internal sun (the
mind) is manifested at this focus. This focus is the will.
It is no more independent of the powers which contain
the inclinations, and which emit them, than the focal
point in a lens is independent of the rays of the sun.
The metaphysical nature of the subject prevents a
clearer illustration; which, taken in connection with
the fact that no human mind can perfectly analyze and
comprehend itself; must serve to explain away all
ambiguity in the description. The peculiar nature
of this review, moreover, does not encourage any elaborate considerations of this kind. They are deferred
to a more requisite occasion; when another, but more
carefully prepared, criticism may be called forth from
the author. Till then, we will let this point rest; and
proceed to consider man in relation to the world.
You ask:' Are you not mistaken in affirming the
partial freedom of man?  Do we not behold examples
of moral liberty in every man?"  To this I reply
briefly. As you recollect, Kossuth, the brilliant IHungarian Governor, was referred to as a fine example of a
Man in the exercise of his freedom. Now it seems to
me the merest insight into the true philosophy of human existence and events, would have prevented the
reference altogether. Development is a transparent
principle of nature; and mankind is the coronation of
all the nature which pertains to this earth.  It is selfevident that great events develop great men. A Washington appears when the occasion requires. Giants
are slumbering: because there is no temple to over



236          THE APPROACEHING CRISIS.
throw.  Should this people be suddenly oppressed by
the invasion of a foreign army, the pressure would
develop a Washington as naturally as the spring unfolds
the flower. So Kossuth is a development of the times
and events of his country. His love of Liberty was
born with him, by the direct action of psychological
laws upon his unfolding nature. Several of his relations were the victims of Tyranny, to which, very natu
rally, his mother became an ardent but speechless foe!
If the external circumstances did not exist, the great
"centerstance," Kossuth, would not be to-day known as
the influential Angel of Liberty. To believe that he is
self-determining and self-directing is to believe contrary
to truth; for he is, like the head upon the human
body, the sensorium and mouthpiece of the Hungarian
body, to which, by the most endearing ties, he is firmly
attached. He is, therefore, acting out his paramount
impulses as spontaneously as (but no more so than) the
rose breathes forth its native fragrance. True, his
liberty is greater than the rose; hence he does more,
enjoys more, has greater privileges; in exact proportion to which are his responsibilities-not to the supernatural sphere, remember, but to the events and people
by which he is supported. Thus, if the Hungarian is
an example of moral freedom, he is also an illustration
of moral dep3endence, as growing out of the universal
relationship of all created things. If you will but
study his very emotional organization, in connection
with the power of circumstances to develop man, I am
quite certain your legitimate conclusions will be analogous.
Methinks there now arises another question: "Is




THE DYING DOGMAS.             237
not man free to go where and do what he wills? Can
he not journey from city to city, and steal, and murder,
when he desires?"
The problem  of" blamable wrong "now begins to
appear.  From  the theological presentation of the
question, it may be difficult for many minds to turn
away, as they should, in order to study the nature of
man with an eye single to the acquisition of truthful
conclusions. If you divest your minds of all supernaturalistic notions, and analyze the individual relations
which subsist between every man and the external
world of effects, the truth will surely break upon you
in all its beautiful connections and simplicity.
As already shown, every man's freedom is comparca
tive and conditional; not absolute or uncaused.  It is,
in other words, the result of certain conspiring causes;
hence, it is not self-subsisting, but dependent. Suppose, for example, you Will to visit the city of Boston.
Now this will can have no external manifestation or
accomplishment, unless all the outer contingencies,
over which you individually can have no absolute
control, are conspiring to aid you. You depend upon
bodily health, upon the existence of safe and certain
means of conveyance, and so forth; which must all be
in full operation before you can accomplish the end of
the will.  These are common-sense affirmations which
every one of my audience fully comprehends.
But let us look at this matter, as the clergy do, from
a moral posture. Suppose an individual had high
duties, as personal responsibilities are termed, in Boston, which require his immediate presence and attention. And there being no physical hinderances to pre



238          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
vent him from going directly among them, upon which
an excuse might be properly based; still he does not, or
wiZl not, go forthwith and discharge those duties; the
question is: " Is not that man doing, in some sense,
a blamable wrong 2"  Or, let us again suppose, a
man is a partner in business.  He plans with the
utmost subtilty and care, the impoverishment of his
companion; and, having accomplished his designs, he
leaves the country, with all his partner's earnings and
his own; the question is: "Is not that man doing a
blamable wrong?."  Or, to suppose still further, one
man assassinates another, committing the double crime
of murder and robbing; the question is:' Is not that
man doing a blamable wrong?" I think the question
of "blamable wrong," in connection with the problem
of moral freedom, is here stated in full force; and my
answer, in order to be adequately apprehended, must
commence with the consideration of a few principles,
to which I now solicit your attention.
Man, as we have seen, is introduced into existence
without any previous consultations as to his desires or
choice.  This is, to commence with, a total violation
of the conditions of moral freedom. Because, if the
theologic assumptions be true, the individual is in
danger of ultimating in everlasting woe-his chances
being, according to the calculations of some divines,
one to seventy-five. All this is irreconcilable with the
workings of a divine Perfection. A free moral power
should have its choice consulted as to the nature it will
accept, and the laws to regulate it. Contrary to this,
no man creates the laws of his finite being; they are
made for him; and he, as an inevitable sequence, is




THE DYING DOGMAS.             239:
compelled to obey them. Man, therefore, in the consciousness of his being, is not self-causing or self-determining in any sense; but is the issue of certain creative principles, which he can no more break or subvert
than a planet can leave the orbit in which the laws of
condensation and gravitation have fixed it, and take
independent voyages through the firmament.
Man, I repeat, is not the creator of the inexorable
laws of his being; hence, he is their everlasting subject; hence, too, he obeys. The paramount law of his
nature, which he can not alter, is Attraction.  He
obeys this law every instant of time; true as the needle
to the positive magnet. For present purposes, I will
denominate this law, Interest; because your minds will
more readily apprehend the signification of the term.
Interest, I say, then, is the ruling principle of every
human being; no one can act without it, nor feel the
disposition to act. It operates in all degrees or spheres
of existences, with the same philosophical precision and
determination.  No man has a will superior to his
attractive or moving principle; he can not have; his
will is merely the agent, or fulcrtumr, whereby this law,
like a lever, moves the individual from point to point,
from attraction to attraction, among the countless contrarieties which make up existence.  Perhaps, mly
friends, you think me too abstract; but I know I am
not so to the over-seeing and comprehensive intellect.
However, let me bring the subject home to the individual.
Suppose you now WILL to walk into the street: the
question is-" How came you to feel that will?" There
is surely an antecedent somewhere, and generated by




240           TIE APPROACHING CRISIS.
something. You can not will to walk hence, unless
the attraction here diminisfhes, permitting another attraction to obtain the ascendency in your minds.  The
paramount or chief attraction you are under the necessity of obeying. But in this you may become confused,
like a flock of sheep whose leader is lost in hesitation; or, like the tides which, while changing from
one point of attraction to another, form eddies and
contrary currents. These eddies and contrary currents, in human affairs and deeds, are the very matters
about which the clergy are perpetually preaching.
Upon them the priesthood predicate all their theories
of man's moral freedom; and I fear it will be long ere
the doctors of divinity can be prevailed upon to study
man, and the profound philosophy of existence. Men
would move in the paths of rectitude as naturally and
spontaneously as the planets roll in their respective
orbits, without manifesting disorder, if they were, like
those planets, subject only to a single unchangeable law
of attraction, always developing uniform results. But
with mani the case is different. HIe possesses within
himself innumerable affinities, and, hence, is subject to
the influence of countless attractions. These set in
upon him from all directions, at the same time causing
him to hesitate, to deliberate, to decide, and finally to
act in accordance with the paramount attraction. This
is all the moral freedom there is in the constitution of
things. I will verify this on another occasion.
Now comes the solution of the questions propounded.
But first let me direct your attention to the fact, that
all the trouble, discords, and abominations in this world
arise from the conflict between the laws of nature and




THE DYING DOGMAS.             241the government of society. The laws of nature are implanted in the constitution of every man; but he does
not and can not so truly feel the laws of society. These
are the creations of ignorant and finite man; and they
are at war with the laws of nature, because they are
wrong and unjust. The individual, therefore, is situated between two contending forces-the imperative
laws of nature and the restrictive laws of societyand the confliction generates all the evils in the world.
Society says to the man, "Your duties, sir, lie in Boston-you must proceed there immediately."  But the
law of nature in him  does not affirm the same thing.
This law is superior in its influence upon his Will;
indeed, he feels only this law, accompanied with its
attractions or interests, and can- only happily obey it:
yet the social law he may fear exceedingly; and, this
gaining the ascendency in his mind, he proceeds to
obey it, with certain internal conflicts which he is theologically taught to term, " compunctions of conscience."
His mind may be so undeveloped that only ordinary
desires and attractions can affect him. Hence, while
my mind might esteem his' attractions of character as
low and demoralizing, he, on the other hand, might
consider my attractions as imaginary and poetical.
Hence, too, each being ignorant of the other's integrity
to the laws of nature, we would commence blaming one
another. I, considered as an orthodox clergyman,
might call him " a poor miserable sinner;"9 and he
would call me a penurious shepherd, determined to
shear all the wool from the flock. So the compliments
might be reciprocated; until, by my superior ability to
use language and argaumnents, I may finally subdue his
11




242           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
voice, overcome all his inordinate attractions, place my
attractions in the ascendency before him, and, lo! I
have achieved the conversion of a fellow-sinner. Very
well: when this method can be philosophically practiced, instilling high and humanitary sentiments in the
undeveloped mind, I will become a co-worker in all
religious revivals. This is the practical and logical tendency of the Harmonial Philosophy.
But what shall we say concerning the " moral freedom and blamable wrong" of the dexterous and faithless partner in business. The practical conclusion of
the case is, my friends, that society is, to a considerable
extent, accountable for his actions. I affirm this under
the strongest impression of its entire accuracy. If a
suit be instituted for damages, it would be far more
just should the individual bring it against society than
society against the individual. Society had no right
to be so defective as to permit such a disaster. If the
fire burns a city to the earth, what do you say? Do
you blame the fire? or, the defective use made of it,
and the combustible nature of the dwellings? Surely,
a fire-proof house is the best preventive against a fire.
So with our social organization.. If it is not murderproof, theft-proof, and proof against the evils complained of, it assuredly should not curse the low, misdirected, or undeveloped powers which very naturally
obey the laws proper to their nature, to the disturbance
and derangement of the general organism. It is true,
thousands obey the laws of society by violating the
inward principle; but such are not happy, because they
are actuated or kept in bondage byfear, which regulates
all their external interests and actions. But such are es



THE DYING DOGMAS.             243
teemed by the clergy as examples of free moral powers in
the loyal exercise of their liberty to do right or wrongso stpeyficial are all theological theories and conclusions.
Methinks- you inquire: "But is not the delinquent
partner also deserving blame.' To this I am impressed to reply: " le that is without sin among you,
let hiim cast the Cirst stone." That is to say, there is
blamable wrong in this world; but let us' denounce
deeds, not men. Let us not vilify and crucify the individual; but the social organization by which the individual is used and molded. But this, you say, is
evading the question. Assuredly not. You say, the
partner had the ability to plan the mischief, and, hence,
the inward power of unoerstanding exactly what he
was doing, &c.,.and should have not done the deed.
This is precisely what I say; only I affirm that he was
a misdirected man-acting from what you would pronounce the lowest motive of his nature: but at the
same time, the fact should not be overlooked that the
lowest motive was the strongest in his mind. It was
his prevailing and psychologizing Interest to do the
mischief; to which all his plans and deliberations were
playing the parts of agents and attorneys. The client
was the all-absorbing Interest. But you ask: " Where
did that low and miserable motive originate?" Divines
affirm it was generated in his own'will. This I deny,
and asl': Where did that man obtain his conscious
being and its laws?.Did he determine his organization? Certainly not. But why did not the other
partner commit the same theft?  Because, perhaps,
the other mind was endowed with a higher realization
of justice, which no ordinary attractions could influence




244          THE APPROxCHING CRISIS.
or dilute; or, he mightrfear society. Ie would, therefore, act out the law of his being as faithfully as the
other. Still society should not be so structurally defective as to allow the least developed mind an opportunity or tendency to create disorder. This man had
a right to demand, from the various dependencies, a
feeling s perior to the Interest of wealth and its supposed joys.
You now revert to the instance of the murderer. What
shall we say? Is the murderer not guilty?  Should
we not denounce him as a " free moral power " —'" doing as he was not made to do?"  Yea, verily! He
was doing as he was not made to do; but the primary
cause did not originate in his Will. Whence came it,
then? I answer: Society is guilty of the outrage; for
it permitted the lowest motives of the mind to become
paramount and the strongest. No man in his proper
condition, ever committed murder from a natural preference. The thought is revolting  If he should kill
from a native taste, whence came that taste. Did he
create himself? Far from it. Is there unrighteousness
with God?  God; forbid!  How-then came: that man
to destroy his brother? I answer,; he acted as a strong
power in the hands of a still more powerful combination of causes; for which society, not individuals, are
truly responsible.
Take for example, the case of Dr. PARERMAN and
Prof. WEBSTER. Did the latter murder the former
from a spontaneous exercise of his so-called- moral
freedom? The facts are quite to the contrary. The
crime grew-out of a pecuniary obligation and embarrassment between the individuals. The debtor did not




THE DYING DOGMAS.-             24
liquidate the debt when he promised to do so, and the
impatient creditor became abnormally suspicious. This
suspicion generated aggravating insinuations and constant inquiries, under which Prof. WEBSTER writhed
and smarted as only a proud man could. His wounded
pride overpowered.his other and higher feelings, and
developed a degree of anger altogether insupportable.
Htis strongest Interest was centered in the removal of
this bane to his happiness. This led to the murder.
You say:  "l e should have restrained himself."  Oh.
it is exceedingly easy to say what a fellow-being should
do under given circumstances, and to blame him if he
acts contrary to ouer notions of right and wrong-especially when we are not organized, situated, and influenced in a similar manner; but, when our turn
cornes, we find ourselves acting perhaps no better than
he; only we, being privy to all the causes, can see mitigating and modifying circumstances accompanying our
crimes, which we honestly believe, or wish to believe,
would justify utter forgiveness.  Society held Prof.
WEBSTER responsible for his moral delinquency or murderous deed. Is this exact justice? I hear a protesting
voice,-" Prof. WEBSTER should have more properly
instituted a suit for individual damages against society.
Because the crime in this case was the legitimate effect
of a social relation between debtor and creditor; of
which antagonistic relation the distinguished individuals were the most unfortunate victims." The precise
thought here intended can be much easier qnismtnder.stood than apprehended. It is quite a manifest departure from the popular definitions of Justice; and, like the
traveler in a strange country, the reader may uninten



246          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
tionally wander astray. You exclaim: " Oh, it is all a
plea for vice- relieving the individual of moral responsibility, and encouraging transgression-by charging
all upon the structure of society."  Error could not be
more remote from Truth, than is this conclusion -from
the author's meaning. Every individual is surely doing a blamable wrong when he acts inconsistently with
the indwelling Law of Right. But who shall say what
that Law is? Who shall sit in judgment against his
neighbor?  According to my impression, this Law is
Harmony. Any thing, therefore, which develops discord is wrong; as a cause, it must receive an unqualified condemnation. Now the reader will apprehend the
significancy of my affirmation, if he understands me as
condemn~ing the causes of discord or sin, whether traceable to individuals or to our social construction. In
the case of Prof. WEBSTER, there is no denying the
plain fact, that the murder did not grow out of any
innate taste or voluntary desire, but, primarily, out of
a money-relation between the parties-to which they
were unrighteously subjected. This pecuniary trouble,
then, taken in connection with the inherited temperaments and mental tendencies of the criminal, was the
canese of the premeditation and the sin. Therefore, inasmuch as the first cause of this evil is to be found in
our. social arrangements, so am I, in common justice
to truth, compelled to charge upon society the damages
and injuries done to the parties involved.
You ask, "Why does not every man destroy his
creditor, when similarly embarrassed in a money relation 2'"  For the same reason that, every man is not
physically and mentally organized precisely alike.




THE DYING DOGMAS.             247
Each man would be a NEWTON or a SHAKESPEARE, were
it not for this fact, that the inequalities of birth, the
contrarieties of surrounding circumstances, and the
different social positions which men occupy-(all conspire against the possibility of every person being and
doing in a corresponding manner. One man can bear
fifty times more embarrassment and vexation than
another, and manifest no discomposure or retaliation.
It depends altogether upon individual organization,
and the use which society makes of that organization,
as to the good or evil issues. You inquire: "Who
made society?" Society is the work of ignorant and
undeveloped men.  Like the first cotton machine,
society does not properly accomplish or manufacture
what the constructive minds desire. Individuals are
not personally responsible for all the evils evolved from
present social arrangements.  For it is the human
aggregate which forms society. The social mechanism
can be improved, only, on the event of the masses
becoming enlightened as to the actual causes of sin socalled, and as to the best methods of reorganization.
The reader, therefdre, will apprehend me as not tolerating vice, or as exculpating the individual from the
commission of discordant deeds which he, as a comzparative free power, can prevent or abstain from; but as
teaching the doctrine, which can not be successfully
refuted, that the greatest evils in this world arise from
Tgnorance as to the organization of men, and, equally,
from a defective social arrangement.  A different and
harmonious organization of human occupations and
interests would render society a better Parent to its
offspring! But the individuals were not the real suf



248           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
fereils; because, when their physical existence terminated a better opened upon them; but they were citizens, and husbands, and fathers! From these relations
sprang all the suffering which the murder developed.
Society, therefore, receives back, with interest compounded, all the wrongs, the insults, and oppressions
which its antagonistic relations inflict upon individuals.
Society, when it strangulates the murderer, at the same
time, absolutely insuzts the moral feelings of every
man who has outgrown theology and the prevailing
evils of an undeveloped race.
In conclusion, I will briefly reply to the almost
thoughtless assertion, that " this philosophy is immoral."
This assertion, my friends, is grounded in ignorance
and prejudice.  The logical fruits are: personadc  analysis, seaf-development,/ harmony, peace, brotherly love,
and a universal unizty of interests.  We are taught to
feel.ourselves free to do Right; but we are not free to
do wrong.  Tho law  of our existence is Justice or
harmony; this is our highest Interest or chief attraction.  Almost the last words which broke from  the
soul of Jesus, when he separated' from  his sorrowstricken disciples, bring out in full force the practical
teachings of this philosophy: " Be ye one, even as I
and any Father are one "-a blending of interests the
most intimate, wise, and divine.  This state can never
be developed under the teaching of supernaturalism;
which tolerates social antagonisms on. the fallacious
theory of man's moral freedom.  This doctrine which
asserts that each man is a self-determining and selfregulating power, is disproved by every thing in existence.  The mission of the Christ-principle is to reveal




THE DYING DOGMAS.               249
to the race the peace and unity of truth. It will unfold a Wisdom-power among men to the ultimate
establishment of a sacred harmony on earth, permanent
as the Eternal Mind.
I have said that man's will is an efect, and not a
cause; that it is, therefore, not absolutely, but com_paractively free.  If a man wills to accomplish any
thing, the execution thereof depends wholly upon the
favorable conspiration of surrounding things.  There
could be no lying, no stealing, no murder, if, every
man was an isolated being-an independent, self-causing, self-determining, and self-sustaining power. [Nay.
Association is the parent of cell discordant contrasts in
men and deeds; and the Law of Progression is the
parent of the countless varieties of character visible in
the human world. I say, then, that man is comparatively free in his will. He can- follow out, or after, his
stronyest attraction or Interest oil the condition that
all relative influences and circumstances, over which
he can have no direct control, are friendly to his proceeding.  Kossuth, in the exercise of his freedom,
could do nothing, tlough he might will forever, if there
were no hearts to beat sympathetically with his own.
Now I regard his love of, and labors for, Liberty as
the natural result of the events which developed him,
and of the peculiar organization which, without his
consent, he originally derived from  his progenitors.
Hence, manifestly, the reason why all men are not
precisely like Kossuth, is to be found in the fact, that
all are not personally organized and situated in a corresponding manner. So, therefore there is no great
cause for aristocracy in feeling; for the most splendid




250          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
man before the world to-day might have been, through
the accident of birth, a negro delving in the earth for
a livelihood.
But you ask: "If this doctrine be true, how shall
we graduate the measure of personal responsibility?"
This question I will more fully answer hereafter.  My
present reply is: from the mind of fine endowments
we should expect fine results, all immediately surrounding things being favorable. I think many who
now pass for good Christian citizens, have never committed theft or murder, simply because they have not
been situated amid the adequate temptations. But
what might constitute an irresistible temptation to one
man, could form no inducement whatever to another,
possessing a different temperament and a higher organization. This fact men are quite too apt to overlook in
pronouncing judgment upon the moral delinquencies
of the victims of vice. The man who would not be
tempted at all to do a certain thing, which some
weaker brother was influenced to accomplish in society,
sits in cold judgment against the misdirected mind,
and consigns him, on the ground of moral freedom, to
some loathsome prison or burning hell. Such is the
doctrine of supernaturalism!
Man, I repeat, is free to do right; but he is not
free to do wrong. When he does right, he glides
peacefully along with the divine life-currents of. this
beautiful universe, like a flower on the ocean's bosom.
This is the glorious Liberty of the children of God.
But to attempt to do wrong, or rather to be influenced
by social laws to go. in a wrong direction, is to meet
with insurmountable impediments at every step; it is




THE DYING DOGMAS.             251
like an effort to ascend the impetuous tide of Niagara
Falls. "According to this philosophy," you ask, " what
motive have we to use our comparative freedom?" I
answer: The chief attraction of every soul is Happiness. But there are very few who know which road to
take to find it. Thousands think it is to be found in
licentiousness, in gaming, in prowling through the
world, like the prodigal son, ill drunkenness and recklessness; but such soon discover their error; for a
miserable experience teaches a different lesson.
Happiness, then, is the chief of all attractions; and
all mankind would go directly' to it, if they possessed
sufficient wisdom. We, therefore, who have this wisdom, should impart it to those whose present proceedings are against the law of Right. This Law operates?n us and upon us, whether we recognize'it or not; and
every movement which deviates from its imperative
tendency, is attended with the legitimate consequences.
These results- are recorded in the book of life; not always in accordance with our educational notions of
right and wrong, with our voluntary or involuntary
doings; but, invariably, in proportion to the real deviation of the individual. Society does the most injury
to individuals in this respect. You ask: "' What do
you mean by the book of lifeb"  The book of life, my
friends, is composed of the human body and mind.
The lids are made of the body; the folios of the mental
faculties. Upon these leaves are written the many
Deviations of the individual from the paths of rectitude.
The recording angel is the Law of Right, or the
XPositive Principle of nature, which is Harmony. The.
mlark of transgression is upon the brow. The individ



252          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
nal-the book of life-is immortal; it soon passes away
to the Spirit-Land.  The record of misdirection apI
pears on the living faculties; is manifested in their
deformity and decrepitude; in their inability immediately to advance, with the higher spirits, upon the
eternal highway of Love and Wisdom. Such are the
motives, according to this philosophy, which we have
for exercising aright all the comparative freedom in
our possession.  One can righteously affect- a Family;
another a Society; another still, can affect a Community; and still another, can move a Nation with the
power of Mind-if all the immediate outer conditions
conspire to that end.  But society must be changed.
For the greatest injury which can be done an individual, is to place him, by the mere accident of birth, in a
world which'favors crime, and the perpetuation of
mental misery.




THIE TRIUMPH OF REASON.            253
CHAPTER VIII.
CONCGLUSION.
Political and Religious causes of the coming crisis.-A struggle between Catholics anda Protestants.-The triumph of Reason.-The
result.
THE friends of progress should always be able to read
that greatest of all living chapters in Creation: the condition of the- human world. It concerns everybody; because the world is composed of individuals. And if those
who stand upon the summit of the hill are incapable
of seeing the broad extent of humanity that surrounds
them, then who shall go to the contemplation? The
whole world, as a general thing, sees future events
through the eyes of a very few persons. Indeed, it is
almost true to say that, considered in the historical
sense, the entire body of mankind has but two eyes or
mediums through which to contemplate the condition
of things, namely, PoLITICS and RELIGION.
On this occasion let us look at the world through the
medium of RELIGION.  My impressions upon this subject may be briefly written. I, therefore, solicit your
clearest discernment to the following points: It is well
known by all the inhabitants of Christendom  that the
world is full of sectarian jargon and bitterness.  And
that very conspicuously before the world are arrayed, in




254           TEUE APPROACHING CRISIS.
bitter an(l uncompromising  hostility, two powerful
forces-ProtestantiXsm and Catholicismn.
In order to bring these religious institutions distinctly
before your minds, I will describe their leading characteristics.
Catholicism  is a system  of supernaturalism.  It
claims to be the "One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic
Church " —based upon supernatural authority, claiming
unending infallibility.  It denies the right of indivic-'ual judgment upon religious subjects; but inculcates
the virtues, charities, and hospitalities of Christianity through the agency of popes, bishops, and priests,
who profess to have their authority direct from  the
supernatural source.
Protestantism is also a system of supernaturalism-I
nmean, when considered as a whole. It claims to have
discovered the true import of the Sacred Scriptures. It
is based upon a supernatural foundation, but encourages
the right of private juddgment upon all subjects pertaining to religion and conscience. It likewise inculcates
the virtues and charities of Christianity through the
medium of clergymen, schools, and colleges.
Now I am not impressed to consider the minor points
of either Catholicism or Protestantism, nor the different
views which one party or the other entertains concerning the truest methods of biblical interpretation. There
have already been too many churches built, and too
many salaries paid, to have these oriental and insignificant affairs discussed.'3But I have to do only with the
foundation upon which these two very popular institutions manifestly stand. It is essential to understand
here, what is -very generally overlooked, that both of




THE TRIUMPH OF REASON.           255
these gigantic religious organizations are struggling to
maintain an everlasting position upon the samne identical basis. There is one foundation; but it is not
large enough to sustain two such stupendous and inharmonious superstructures. Hence it inevitably follows-that both must fall forever-leaving the ground
to be occupied by something more consistent. But one
must decline and crumble before the other. Now the
question is, which of these two religious institutions is
first destined to decay?
Let us leave this question unanswered, for a few
moments, and turn our thoughts in another direction.
It is well known by the clergy and people generally
of the present day, that there is rapidly growing a
rationalistic religion and a philosophical Spirituality.
This is the IHarmonial Philosophy. It stands upon the
revelations of Nature, and upon the foundations of the
highest form of Reason. It fully accepts the virtues,
charities, truths, and liberalities of every known religion;
and simply rejects every thing which claims to be intrinsically based upon the miraculous or unprofitably
supernatural.  It looks upon the moralisms hnd precepts of Christianity as a natural development of a well
balanced mind-or, more properly, as a natural unfolding of trueth in the general progress of mankind. It
regards all the real miracles, prophecies, and miraculous
powers, as explainable upon philosophical principles;
and holds to the doctrine of human progress and universal improvement in the constitution of things.
Now, it will be perceived, the declarations and positions of this Philosophy are clear, and positively antagonistic to both Protestantism and Catholicism. It is




256          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
essential that you fix your minds firmly upon this point.
The rationalism of this day is positively opposed to the
two grecu forms of religious belief. Because, as before
said, the quarrel between Protestantism and Catholicism
is sustained on the desire which one party has to supplant and transcend the other. For they stand upon
the same foundation. By this I mean to say, that the
Bible is the unInistakable originator of both these religious institutions.  It is the ground-plan -of each;
and the two start from the same degree of apostolic
authority; but there is a vast struggle, not now obvious,
but certain to occur between these Powers-a war, destined summarily to settle the question of the groundtitle, and the divine right of human government. A
supernatural religion based upon and supported by
miracles equally supernatural, is the basis of both superstructures.  There is no denying this plain fact.  I
would not be understood to consider Catholicism as
good in all respects as Protestantism; for it is clear that
the latter has wrought many improvements in the form
of religious worship, has abandoned many expensive
and unnecessary ceremonies, and encouraged individual
education, and private judgment in scriptural reading.
But mankind are now far more civilized and advanced
in arts and sciences than in any former era.   ][en understand each other better now; and the great laws of
nature are more easily and generally comprehended.
The shackles of bigotry and intolerance drop off as the
cause of Freedom advances; and all members of humanity-of Christendom especially-are becoming more
thoroughly reasonable and baptized in the pure waters
of wisdom.




TIlE TRIUMPHI OF REASON.          257
Here, then, is the point: men are becoming more
9reasonable.  The fate of Christendomn depends wholly
upon this one.fact: men are reaCizing their manhood
and becoming intelligent and strong.
Among other revolutions which await the higher
portions of mankind, is a religious one, which will be
more powerful than any known to history. But it will
be effected principally by Reason.  One party will
reason philosophically, the other theologically; both
will reason correctly from the premises assumed. You
may be assured of the truth of this approaching crisis.
The world must recognize it, because it will be accompanied with war; for politics are inseparably connected,
all over the world, with religious systems. Religion
will develop reason; but politics will impel the masses
to unsheath the sword and to stain the bosom of nature
with blood! Friends of progress! be not discouraged;
for the final crisis must come; then the strange interregnum.
Concerning so-called revealed religion, the majority
of the people will reason thus: "We believe Christianity to be a supernatural development of truth. There
are truths our feeble reason could never have discovered-such as the character of God, the doctrine of immortality, and so forth; hence, a supernatural revelation is essential to our future safety and present enlightenment."  (Remember, my friends, that thousands
of Protestants will and do reason in this way.)  And
looking about on either side, they will say: "What
means all these sects? Whence their origin? Is this
the result of religious liberty? Nay; it is religious
anarchy!  Wherefore?  Because all Protestantism  is




258           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
in error. We have a supernatural religion, but we
have been striving to comprehend a supernatural matter, with our common, natural judgments! This is
unreasonable." Thus many will say: This is unreasonable; and it is all chargeable upon Protestants. They
have been very inconsistent. They believe that Christianity is a supernatural revelation of supernatural
truth; and yet they have the presumption to think
that every man should read this supernatural revelation -to please himself. Catholicism is more consistent,
and more certain to redeem the sinner from the mortgage which the devil holds against him; because this
religion is true to all the apostolic symbols and pen
and ink habiliments of the early'Church, as these
were supernaturally originated and organized on earth.
Protestantism, on the contrary, is unsafe (on the supernatural theory) as a divine power unto salvation. Its
existence is based upon the original developments of
supernaturalism; but, on the score of freedom of opinion, this church has adopted a somewhat more s;p?ritual
method of accomplishing the new birth and the sinner's
final salvation. This freedom of opinion is now the
great trouble.  It has opened the door to all manner
of heresy, atheism, demonism, and diverse sectarian
antagonisms to the claims of supernaturalism. Now I
am impressed with the conviction that no natural judgment is adequate to the just understanding of supernatural things. If Christianity-is a system of supernatural truth, then it requires a supernaturally illuminated mind to comprehend its import and arcanical bearings. In this matter, the Roman Catholic religion is




THE TRIUMPH OF REASON.        - 259
altogether more consistent than the Protestant religion.
This is undeniable.
But it may be said that Christianity is only natural
truth, supernaturally revealed-presented to man for
his acceptation or rejection in his freedom. Now, by
taking this position, you clearly admit that the entire
system would eventually have been unfolded by the
general progression of humanity-you come upon rationalistic grounds of interpretation.  If Christianity
is a system of natural truth, then it would have naturally come forth like the sciences of Astronomy, Geology,
&c., in the common course of things. But if it came
through a miraculous channel, or was divulged through
the agency of supernatural means, then it evidently
requires the same means to enliven it and to spread it
triumphantly over the earth. Do you apprehend the
full bearing of this reasoning?
Let us take an example. Suppose you construct an
engine: you adjust the parts, introduce the vapor, and
the wheels turn. But what would you think of the
mechanic who insisted upon making a steam-engine go
by water-power. You would doubtless -consider him
ignorant or insane. Now, apply tile same reasoning
to Protestantism. Protestants believe that Christianity
was introduced, and'set in motion, by s8pern<atural
and miraculous means; and yet they reject the means
by which the whole system was originally moved, and
try to keep it in action by natural and common causes.
In this matter of theoretic consistence, I affirm, Catholicism has always been, and is now, far in advance of
Protestantism. For if we have a supernaturally revea led religion, we should have a class of men super



260              THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
naturally endowed, or ordained, to understand it, and
to impart its wonderful truths to  mankind.*   While
Protestantism   is  divided andS subdivided  into  many
conflicting sects, the  One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic
Church stands perfectly unmoved, and unchanged!
NowN  why is this?   The reply is plain: simply because
that church is, and always has been, perfectly consistent
with its assumed premises. It stands, like Protestantism, upon a supernatural foundation. Its doctrines are
derived from  the Bible, which is claimed to be a super* Protestantism  founds the Church on the Bible, making the Bible
prior. On the other hand, Catholicism rests the Bible on the Church,
making the Church prior. Ask a Protestant which he believes first,
Church or Bible? and he will say, "Bible;" which he believes because
of the other? and he will say, "I believe in a Church, because I believe
in the Bible."  "You start, then, with-the Bible?"  "Yes."  "But
how do you know the Bible is the Word of God?"  "W hy, I know it
because'all Scripiure is given by the inspiration of God.'"  "But, my
friend, the question is, what Scripture? How do you know that these
sixty-six books are the Scripture?  Why is' Solomon's Song' scripture,
and not the'Book of Wisdom?' Why the' Epistle of St. Jude,' and
not the' Epistle of St. Clement?' Where do you find in the Bible an inspired list of canonical books? and if there were such list, how could you
know that that list itself was inspired? If you fall back for aid on the
Holy Apostles, you find them quoting the' Book of Enoch,' and displaying familiarity with'Wisdom' and'Ecclesiasticus,' and even quoting passages from the heathen poets." The Protestant has no answer,
or he may tako refuge in the remark that he believes the Bible on account of its evidences. "But have you ever personally examined those
evidences to see if they are sound?"  "No; but others have, and so,
the Bible being generally accepted, I accept it."  And after a series of
questions, my brethren, you find it all comes to this, that he believes
the Bible to be the infallible Word of God, on the testimony and assurance of fallible men. As another has expressed it, the world is put
very comfortably on an elephant, and the elephant on a tortoise, but
the poor tortoise rests nowhere.-Ewer's Lecture.




THE TRIUMPH OF REASON.           261
naturally derived book; hence it requires a class of
regularly inspired men to divulge its great teachings,
and to secure their proper acceptation by, and influence
upon, the human character. This class of men should
take charge of our souls; and we should not interfere
with religious doctrines or political acts, only so far as
the supernaturally inspired men shall desire and command. Now, be it remembered, the Catholic Church
is, or claims to be, in possession of this class of inspired
men.  There is a great organization of Popes and
Bishops who claim to have supernatural authority, from
PETER the First, to the present time. The supernaturalistic chain is complete. To be consistent, then, let
us leave conflicting Protestantism, and go back to the
bosom of the Mother Church.
Here, my friends, you have a brief synopsis of the
simple process which is likely to occur in thousands
of Protestant hearts. It is now occurring, privately,
all around the world. There will be a peculiar reaction
in favor of Catholicism.  The One, Holy, Catholic
Church, is destined to spread throughout many of the
territories of Christendom; because one party in Protestantismn will see its inconsistent position in matters
of religious theory. But another party has appearedthe Liberal Christians and the Harmonial Philosophers.
This form of religion unqualifiedly rejects all.'annatctira
supernaturalism.  Hence, Protestantism and Catholicism, as religious institutions, are alike repudiated. It
does not make every mnan's judgment his only guide in
matters of importance, but asks-" Where shall we find
the most truth, the highest wisdom, the noblest religion,
the truest happiness? It has these desires for its eternal




262          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
magnet. IHenice it interrogates the boundless fields of
Nature with an honest soul and lofty brow! This is
perfect and immutable freedom. Anarchy can never
invade the principles of this party; for it is based upon
Reason, upon Nature, and upon Nature's God.
We have now obtained the final reply. Protestantism, as now constructed, will first decay; because it is
to be divided into two parties-the smallest party will
go back into Catholicism; the other will go forward
into Rationalism.  And then, after a succession of
eventful years, a political revolution will hurl the
Catholic superstructure to the Earth, and the prisnzatic
bow of promise will span the fHeavens. The nations
and races will then be comparatively free and happy.
For the Millennial Epoch will have arrived; and there
will be something like a realization of peace on Earth
and universal good will.




FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.           263
CHAPTER IX.
REASONS FOR THE. FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.*
Tim history of Christianity illustrates this text. Her
career has been marked by crises, when men, stirred by
unusual earnestness, have arisen against the quiet order
of things round about them. These crises have occurred
at irregular intervals. They have always been provoked by some evil that has been long and silently
growing.  They are periods which try men's souls, because they are periods when new men attack old and
cherished prejudices. In the second century after
Christ, the germs of what afterward became.Arianism
appeared in Lucian of Antioch.  Thdse germs grew
and spread in the Church silently, but so widely and
alarmingly at last, as to lead earnest Catholics, in the
subsequent century, to rise in their majesty, reassert
the faith in its purity, as it had come down from the
Apostles, and brand the new dogmas as deadly heresy.
In the Middle Ages, Roman errors silently and slowly
grew and spread, till at last, in the eleventh century,
earnest Catholics in the eastern portion of the Church,
enduring the evil no longer, rose in their majesty to
condemn it; and that non-intercommunion with Rome
* Extracts from a Discourse delivered by Rev. Dr. F. C. Ewer, at
Christ's Church, in New York, Sunday, September 27, 1868, from the
text, "I came not to bring peace, but a sword." —MATT. x. 30.




264          THE APPROACIIING CRISIS.
was decreed by the Orthodox Eastern (or Greek) Church,
which has lasted till to-day. In the Roman portion of
the Church the same evils continued to grow, with new
ones which brolke out from time to time, until at last,
in the fifteenth century, earnest men all over the
West rose in their majesty against them; and we have
the Reformation — so-called.  Subsequently, coldness
and deadness grew and spread in the Anglican portion
of the Church, till at last, in the eighteenth century,
those earnest souls, John and Charles Wesley, kindled
the blaze of Methodism. God hath cast our lives at
the opening of one of these crises.
I would not have you unalive to the fact, or undervalue its importance. For many years men have been
floating calmly down the stream of Christianity. There
have been petty differences and discussions between
sects, it is true, but no general upheaval. Foundations
have been undisturbed. But now a storm is very evidently rising, which is disturbing the bottom of affairs;
and it is impossible to predict how we shall all come
out of it. We may look to the warnings and advice
of our former rectors, speaking, as it were, from the
grave. But the leader of twenty or ten years ago could
give us no general sailing directions for these new coasts
and channels, these new heavens and seas. The voices
of the dead may warn us concerning those tilings which
they knew; they can not warn us concerning aspects
and conditions unseen and unanticipated by them.
Leaders in conservative and quiet times are rarely the
leaders in revolutions. Revolutions roll them under.
There are evils raising great fronts around us-evils
that have been long and silently growing. And as in




FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.           265
the fourth century, as in the eleventh, as in the fifteenth,
and as in the eighteenth, earnest souls are at last roused
at these evils, and men are beginning boldly to speak
out. It is noteworthy that the laity are ahead of the
clergy in this matter.  It is the evident and disastrous
ftilure of Protestantism, as a religious system, that is
raising the mutterings of this storm.  What is it that
is the mother of all this infidelity? What is it that is
the prolific cause of all this low grade of spirituality
and character in life?  What is it that hath broken
up respect for old age, for parents, for authorities?
What is it that hath laid Christianity open to the successful attacks of any resolute skeptic?  What is it
that hath dimmed the clearness of the eye of faith?
What is it that hath removed the spiritual world and its
dwellers far off to an astronomical distance, practically sundering the communion of the saints by the wall
of death a  What is it that hath substituted sentiment
for principle-that standeth over the sick bed, anxious
to wrest from the lips of the sufferer a cabalistic-a
magical utterance that shall save him in his sins, but
with scarce a word as to repentance, and confession,
and amendment, and his salvationfrom sin a What is
it that is the prolific cause of all this absence of the
self-sacrificing spirit? What is that has left the masses
without a religion, and that has sent us all on a course
where we are at last ignorant as to how we can get at
those masses? Mission chapels for the poor, with Protestant or semi-Protestant services, and with a limited
attendance at each of the well-to-do poor, are amiable,
but melancholy efforts of the day.  God knows we are
thankful for the good they do, but it is true that we no
12




266          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.@
longer flatter ourselves that with them we are getting
at the masses. The very pamphlets on church work
that are pouring from the press are indications that we
are walking in darkness; that we have been and are in
the midst of some great blunder. What is it that bath
set its face stubbornly, and reared stubborn prejudices
against the only appliances that have ever succeeded in
reaching down to the masses so as to hold them under
control? It is time for us to ask how much the Protestant prejudices, which we ]lave inherited from generations behind us by no means infallible, are worth, and
how much they are costing. It is time for us to ask
whether we shall longer weigh them against, the Christianizing of millions of the neglected poor. What is it
that hath left ministers stranded upon the high rocks of
life, preaching to the select rich? What is it that hath
sold the gospel to the rich in the house of God? What
is it that hath hushed the voice of resounding praise
throughout the great congregation, and delegated the
praise of God to a salaried fonur? What is it that hath
killed out from among us all anxiety for the salvation
of God's man, as a unit of creation, extending through
all time and space on'earth, and that has elevated
instead that selfish aspect of religion which makes it
simply a process for the salvation of the given.individual. Your and my salvation, my brother, are, of
course, all-important to ourselves; but God, when lie
made His Church, made it for all time and for man, in
the fullest meaning of the word. Nowadays, however,
so long as a given individual of to-day can "get saved"
in some human religious institution, that institution is
considered as answering all the purposes of the Church;




FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.          267
and there is not the slightest anxiety as to whether or
not that institution contain a theological disease which.
will kill it, and leave the individual of two centuries
hence without any institution to " get saved" in.
I propose to call your attention to a few of the facts
that mark the disastrous failure of Protestantism, and
to ask you whether those facts are not enough of themselves-to say nothing of others-to stir to its depths
any spirit that has a -particle of earnestness; and I
warn you beforehand, that if Protestantism has failed,
we are not to look to Rome for a cure. A recent able
writer has said, this would be but to fly from the effect
to the cause. Justly has he said it; for Protestantism
was produced by the errors of Rome; and why fly for.
cure from a system that has proved itself false in the
nineteenth century to one that proved itself false in
the fifteenth?  I remark, first, that in this city there'
are three hundred churches, some of them large, most
of them comparatively small. They will hold, when
all full, say about 200,000' persons-call it 250,000.
Where are the other three-quarters of a million of
people in this city every Sunday? Making a liberal
allowance for children too young to attend, for the
sick who can not, and for all engaged in employments
for the public convenience, and considering those of
our vast floating population who attend as strangers,
and considering, moreover, the empty seats in all the
churches each Sunday, there is an enormous residue that
are non-church-goers. Compare, nay, contrast the immense church attendance of the population in Roman
and Greek Catholic countries with the attendance of
the mere fragment of the population in Protestant lands.




268          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
My friends, have you ever thought of the fact that
there are countless thousands all over this land, to say
nothing of Germany and other countries, that have rejected Protestantism?  I do not mean to say they
have taken to Rome; but they have at any rate abandoned Protestantism as a religious system. There is
scarcely a man or a woman in the land that has not a
relative-shall I not say relatives-who, while they
still have a kind of respect for the Christian religion,
no longer believe those doctrines that all Protestant
denominations preach in common. The fact is, with
the most of them, dogmatic Christianity is identified
with its Protestant presentment. They know no other,
and, in abandoning Christianity for skepticism, it is
Protestantism that they have weighed in the balances
and found wanting. And there are thousands of men
and women, therefore, that at last do not go to church
anywhere. These men and women are rearing children; and the latter are, by example, by casual domestic remark, and by carelessness of their parents, inheriting a similar abandonment.  Protestantism  has
been trying to meet the evil by modifying and softening some of its subordinate dogmas. But people see
that its fundamental dogmas remain, and that the
modified subordinate doctrines only make the whole
system more thoroughly inconsistent with itself; and
so the great evil of abandonment grows greater and
greater. Now rise a grade above this class, and take
the men and women that do attend church.  How
many of them are there that really believe Christianity
as presented by Protestantism?  Some of its dogmas
they believe from habit, from early prejudice, or they




FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.         269
scarcely know why. But those whose minds are shaken
as to the rest form a very large element of every Protestant congregation. This is a fact which the clergy
may not wish to contemplate. But it is a fact. Here
we see not total abandonment, but that process of
abandonment in progress, which has been working for
much more than a century, and which is at last very
noticeable from the large proportions it has at length
assumed. These two classes I have mentioned form
the vast bulk of the community. Isn't that an alarming fact? What are you going to do with your prejudices under the circumstances? Now turn and look at
the individuals that compose these two classes. There
was a time when it ~was the staple remark, that men
became infidels because they desired to live a wicked
or careless life. Doubtless there are some even to-day
who are skeptics for the above-mentioned reason. But
it were sheer blindness thus to account for the present
general disease of infidelity which afflicts the community.
Look around upon our relatives and friends who
belong to the two great classes I have spoken of. - Are
they bad men?  No. Are they unreasoning or unreasonable men? No. Are they unearnest men? No.
Many of them are filled with the spirit of honesty, and
truthfulness, and- uprightness, and conscientiousness,
and nobleness, and generosity, and hospitality, and
kindness of heart, filled with all that which is the very
basis of religion. Often they are men that stir our
admiration. But they have consciously and conscientiously rejected (that is the word rejected), either in
whole or in part, the Protestant presentment of Chris



270           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
tianity, and deliberately remain in that condition. The
grandfathers were Calvinistic Presbyterians, the fathers
were Congregationalists, the sons were Unitarians, the
grandsons are Parkerites and infidels.
The attemgpt to mend Protestantism  as a religious
system ends in abandoning it altogether as a hopeless
case. The Rationalists have a ground to stand on; the
true Catholics have a ground to stand on; but Protestantism has no locus standi (if I may use such a
phrase), and its process of disappearing I have given
above. The men I speak of either do not think of or
do not care to accept Rome, and so they are left without any distinctive religion, unless we can say, indeed,
that each has his own.
The two basis ideas of Protestantism are, first, "the
Bible, and the Bible only, for Christians;" secondly,
" each man practically his own infallible interpreter of
it." Now, the consequence of this is, that Protestantism has not fostered humility, but arrogance.'It has
not cast over the individual mind the wholesome shadow
of a distrust in its own ignorance or partial views, or
unexamined prejudices; but it has spread broadcast
the rampant spirit of practical individual infallibility.
And so these men, nursed in that school, absorbing the
spirit from the very atmosphere about them, are perfectly satisfied, unalarmed, and at peace, each in his
own partial or complete infidelity.
Then, again, they see how these two basis ideas have
led to the thousand conflicting sects of Protestantism,
the splitting up of denominations on little petty points
which their common sense tells them are unimportant;
and so they gladly escape the maze in disgust, and,




FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.        271
with a self-complacent down-looking upon the whole.
field of battling Protestant sects, settle down themselves into the mere religion of being good men. * * X
They will take parts of the Bible and say they are
true; but it is because those parts appeal to their minds
as true. That is to say, Protestantism has wrecked
the community on the rocks of individualism, and left
each man to be a Bible to himself. Some people say,
"Any good man is a Christian."  But there were good
men and true, and honest, before Christ came-millions
of them.: Ancient civilizations could not have existed,
indeed no civilization, can exist, without an enormous
leaven of such elements. But the phrase " Any good
man is a Christian," and the phrase " A true Christian
is a good man," are by no means identical. * * X
Now, what is it that has led to and is responsible for
the rise of these two enormous classes in the community?
My friends, it is not Christianity as presented by the
one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church; for that has
not yet got the ear of the people, and it is, moreover,
very much hushed even in its own pulpits. Nay, it is
the Protestant presentment of Christianity that has
had their ear for the last two centuries. By its fruits
shall ye know it. And this wholesale abandonment of
it, that has been silently and steadily spreading in the
last century, till it has invaded every family, is one of
the indications of the failure of Protestantismn as a
system; and is arousing many reluctant but determined
souls to the sad duty of dragging down that which has.been quietly sitting on the throne as a king, too sacred
to be touched, and solemnly arraigning it at the bar
for trial. Protestantism, give us back our fathers, our




- 272         THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
children, our husbands, that are lost in the forests of
skepticism! It is this that is arousing and banding
together a broad Catholic party in the Church, which,
if it will not close its eyes to the Roman failure of the
fifteenth century (a failure made doubly disastrous by
the Bull of 1854), is determined no longer to close its
eyes to the Protestant failure of the nineteenth. A.
party that is determined to maintain and spread all
that is truly Catholic that has come down from the
past, and combine with it all of the present that
has proved itself good, both'in thought and in appliance-it is this that has provoked the beginnings
of a second reformation, that will be a reformation indeed.
In this claim that Protestantism has failed, you will
not, of course, understand me as asserting that there is
nothing good in it, and that with all its evils it has.been productive of no benefit whatever to the world
and the Church.  This would be but mere extravagance, foolish exaggeration, and not the result- of that
calm, attentive out-look which the seriousness of the
times and its dangers demand. Catholics are not unmindful- that the Methodists, for instance, have struck
something that is in harmony with human nature; and
that -that something can be wielded on the naturally
enthusiastic heart of man in a better way, and on
Christian rather than rationalistic plan.  Make the
man one with Christ, through the sacramental system,
and then bring in the lever of enthusiasm, and you
have not substituted practical Immediation for Mediation, nor struck a ruinous blow at the foundation of
Christianity. Catholics are not unmindful of Baptist




FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.         273
practice or Unitarian literature. But I can not pause
upon this point. 
I hasten to a second indication of the failure of-Protestantism as a system; and I do so by asking the question-Protestantism, where are the masses? When
we run our eye over the different sects, we are struck
with the fact that each is made up of a peculiar type of
man. There is, for instance, the Methodist type, and
the denomination vary to greater or less extent around
the type; then there is the Presbyterian type, and the
Baptist, and the Quaker. I am not speaking disparagingly-far be it from me to do so. The whole matter is too serious. But we all. know that men are constituted differently, and have'different appearances.
This is so nationally. No one would mistake a Frenchman for a Scotchman, or for a German. This is so, too,
inside of our people. So that, speaking generally, there
are nice points by which men may be classified. Now,
as a fact, Protestantlsm has been able, in the past, to
draw to itself, at least for awhile, only certain classes of
men and women. And the patent fact remains, that it
has failed to attract man in all his conditions and kinds.
Of course I do not mean to charge against it that it has
not Christianized the whole world. What I mean to
say is, that it has- failed to be a religion suited to every
kind of man. There are men of aesthetic tastes; its
cold and mean appearance repels them. There are
men who want a positive faith; its shifting dogmas
disgust them. There are holy women and self-sacrificing men who would gladly live a life of self-abnega —
tion and high spirituality, who would gladly give themselves up as laymen and laywomen to a life of prayer
12*




274          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
and charity. It frowns upon sisterhoods and brotherhoods. It says to such, " Get you gone from my doors,
I have no place nor need for such as you;" and it
turns them back either into the world or to Rome.
Christ's cause needs vast amounts of money all the
time. It has fostered selfishness toward Christ; so that
when the offertory plate passes down its aisles, it is
considered that the act should be tolerated as an exception; and if it passes too often, the offertory plate is
considered as a positive intrusion.  As a fact, after
240 years of trial with a fair field, even where, as in
this country, it has been vastly, overwhelmingly in
the ascendant, it has failed to reach the masses. It
has failed, even though it has preached-in very loud
tones, too, at times- all the terrors of hell fire, and
pictured by contrast all the gross splendors of a physical heaven. And it is this, too, that is stirring earnest
men. Where are the masses a Why do your appliances
fail to make permanent harvests among theme  * m *
Where is your control over them? Politics gathers in
all indiscriminately at its assemblages. How about
Christianity?  What is the matter with you?  How
long will you blindly hug your prejudices, and leave
Rome to be the only one that can reach down to and
control the masses?  My friends, look at the Roman
and the Greek branches of the Church, and contrast
them with Protestantism in this respect. Why is it
that the Anglican branch of the one great Catholic
Church has no more succeeded with the masses than
has Protestantism?  Why is it that there is an Episcopal type of man?  It is because we have run our
Catholic and Apostolic wheels in the Protestant, Cal



FAILURE OF PROTESTANTISM.        275
vinistic, and Lutheran ruts, which they do not fit, never
will, and never can. *  *  *  It is not because the
clergy and laity of Protestantism are unalive to the
wants of the masses, or to their own duty in the premises that Protestantism  has made a signal failure.
They are earnest and godly men. -Ieaven knows, they
spare no efforts; instant in season, out of season, earnest in prayer and in work. But this only makes the
matter worse. The fault is not in them.  /enr are
often better than their systems, and without doubt they
stand acquitted, while their system stands condemned.
I have mentioned but two counts in the presentment;
time forbids me to go on with many others. But these
alone, viz., the wholesale abandonment of Protestantism by large masses of thinking and good men; and,
secondly, its failure to reach the masses, are signs of
the times worthy of thought and account, in some part,
for a movement among us which has not had its equal
in earnestness and determination since the days of John
Wesley.




CHAPTER X.
ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST PROGRESSIVE SPIRITUALISM.*
MY text is taken from  the Scriptures, according to
the inspirations of St. Ralph: —
"Every one's progress is through a succession of teachers, each of
whom seems, at the time, to have a superlative influence, but it at last
gives place to a new."
DISCOURSE.
EACH person is organized and developed on a principle  of individuality, differently  from   every  other.
Each is destined to override- the physical and chemical
trials of death, and gain the shining shores of a higher
sphere. This latter fact is well established. The next
* A New York daily contained the following paragraph, which was
handed to Mr. Davis to read, just before the time arrived for the delivery of his evening lecture at Dodworth Hall, New York, 2d May,
1863:-" Father Smarius, of the Roman Catholic Church, from St. Louis,
recently delivered a lecture in the College of St. Xavier, in this city, to
a large congregation, mostly women, against the doctrines and teachings
of modern Spiritualism. He treated Spiritualism as the extreme results
of New England Protestantism. The theory, as taught by its supposed
original apostles, Judge Edmonds and Andrew Jackson Davis, is old
Hindoo Pantheism, and was exploded seventeen centuries ago! The Witch
of Endor was a medium like the class of modern times," &c., &c. The
foregoing was the substance of the paragraph. After reading it, Mr.
Davis delivered, in reply, the substance of this chapter.




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITU&LISM.  277
fact, as well ascertained, is, that the individual, having
gained the better shore, becomes acclimated to that better existence, forms an acquaintance with the by-laws
and general principles of the divine government, as exemplified in that state of life, and, by means of association, becomes educated in common with the hundreds,
and thousands, and myriads, who have long since departed from this earth, and from the other earths in
the universe. They learn, among other things, that
they can return, and thus demonstrate their individuality to those who still remain in the body.
Now, we are told that all these well-established facts
were "exploded seventeen hundred years ago!"  How
can mankind's faith recover from the terrible wreck
of that " explosion?" Seventeen hundred years before
any one of us wnere born, the doctrine that man is a
spirit, and that, as such, li he continues through eternity,
and that he sometimes revisits the earth —" exploded!"
What is the,foundation of religion in the Roman
Catholic Church?:- What are the fundamental doctrines
taught by all the notable priests and bishops? Just
this: That the human mind is a part of a great scheme
" of eternal life;" that it is not instantly converted
into a saint nor into a sinner, but enters an " intermediate state;" is neither perfect enough for bliss, nor
utterly consigned to the cells of hopeless perdition;
but, very reasonably, they say precisely what we do,
that there is a place next to the event of death for the
temporary residence of the departed spirit.' Thus every
Catholic Father' opposes his own faith when he attacks
the teachings of Spiritualism.
" The Witch of Endor " is brought up, by a Catholic




218          THE APPROACHING. CRISIS.
Father, as a type of all the modern mediums!  No
truthful man, who is acquainted with the great developments of Spiritualism, would ever take that case as a
standard by which to judge the myriad forms of "manifestation " in the present day.  According to the
Bible account, she was a medium who was enabled to
show her visitor the spirit of a departed warrior. That
is but one instance, and but one phase.  The  medimns
of the present epoch are classified in varieties, from five
to twenty-five; and these varieties have twenty, thirty,
or forty different shades of manifestation. All the
varieties are, of course, regulated by the unitary facts
and laws, viz.: (1) That man is a spirit; (2) that as a
spirit he is eternal; (3) that he can revisit the earth.
There can be no " original" apostles of that gospel
which is as old as the universe. How can a person be an
"original" apostle of that which is just as eternal behind
us as infront?  The Catholic Father says that this doctrine is based on " Pantheism."  Nay, nay.  It is not
based on any kind of "ism," but upon the basis of
science-upon sure FACTS, well ascertained, but wonderful. Facts are the beginning and the end of Spiritualism. The verities of " eternal life " have been demonstrated in many ways by these facts.
There are everywhere persons who have not yet seen
adequate evidence; not yet perfectly convinced; but
there are scores and scores of others who have received
the most ample evidences, and who are therefore convinced beyond the possibility of doubt. Such have
knowledge!  Spiritualists have no' Pantheism," nor
any other "ism" as a denominational tenet. There
are worthy minds among us who undoubtedly believe




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  279
that " all things are God."  Few persons are largeminded and good enough to believe so holy a thought
of Nature. Certainly the heathen were not sufficiently
spiritualized to believe it fully. They only saw and
worshiped "blind forces," and they classified and
called those forces " God." And whyS Because
such were the first religious yearnings-primitive upworkings of the Infinite Spirit in the soil of the human
mind —the Asiatic reason grasping after something
higher and better in its intuitions and conceptions of
the Infinite.  The most. learned heathen believed in
intell'gent forces within-matter.  And such was the
philosophy of Hindooism. Spiritualism, I repeat, is
not based on any theory of matter or mind, but upon
FACTS.  We have the largest freedom in matters of
opinion.  We have persons among us who firmly
believe in " a trinity."  Others in our ranks believe all
things with reference to a personal Deity; and with
reference to good and evil spirits in the other world;
and with reference to churches, and Bibles, and religions in this world. And so, indeed, do we find persons in the Summer Land still believing in multitudes
of dissimilar doctrines, as I have shown during this
course of lectures.*
Therefore, the Catholic Father can not justly describe
Spiritualism  as based on any "exploded notions,'"
unless the spiritual facts and fixed axcioms of human
nature can be classed among notions. The history
of man's spiritual nature and development is complete
and perfect.  These facts are received: (1) that there
* See a volume by the author entitled "l Morning Lectures."




280           THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
is a life within man superior to the animal; (2) that
such life eventually lifts him above the lower world;
(3) that it causes him to yearn for and aspire after
immortality; (4) that he seeks -'eternal life," not only
for himself, but also in his relations to mankindin Literature, in Arts, in Poetry, in Science, in Mechanics and Philosophy —and so looks calmly upon
death, and triumphs over the grave. Such a person is a
Spiritualist, no matter whether he be in the Christian
or in the Heathen Church.  Wherever a man intuitionally and intellectually triumphs over the idea that
physical death is the end, there a Spiritualist is born.
But we have, I repeat, a variety of minds among us
who draw very different conclusions from the facts
of Spiritual intercourse that come to their knowledge.
We advise and encourage the largest freedom in matters of opinion.
The Catholic Father can not attack Spiritualism as.
he might criticise the Protestant Church-i. e. from a
few speculative principles and premises that have not
been demonstrated.  I-e might logically trace mere'
speculative principles to their certain conclusions, and
then say: "' These conclusions are false; therefore, the
premises are false." He might take a creed, a theory,
and show that the miracles, and alleged facts on which
it is based, are fictions' and "pious frauds," and thus
prove that the conclusions logically deduced from the
false premises are invalid and worthless. But there are
certain facts-for instance, that the two halves of a
thing are equal to the whole-about which there is no
chance for a dispute. The logical conclusion, like the
fact itself, is immovable.




ROMAN CATHOLICISM: AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  281
So with Spiritualism. It is not based upon philosophical disquisitions or speculative opinions of any individual, either in or out of the body. The Catholic
Father traces New England Protestantism up until it is
merged into Spiritualism. We, on the other hand, trace
Protestantism down until it is lost in unsound Catholic
roots. The whole tree is fruitful of both good and evil.
We stand at the opposite extreme of this religious
controversy. The Roman Catholic Church is at one
end; Protestantism is between that church and the
Harmonial Dispensation; of which fact-paved Spiritualism is a part. There are about fifty-six sects of Protestants, and as many gradations of faith, based, not
upon knowledge, but upon the speculative opinions of
certain individuals as religious leaders, who had each
a different mode of reading and interpreting the Bible.
Every such religious man, who was possessed of the
ability to throw from his intellectual powers the positive magnetic force of genius into his new theology,
inevitably drew around him the minds that entered
into the nucleus of a new sect, and such new sect, as
Presbyterianism for example, in the course of years,
grows strong, gathers financial power and great respect,
begins to develop a literature of its own, and, by the
aid of the pulpit and press, is enabled to exert an immense influence upon families, and entire communities
and nations. Such is the brief history of every important sect.  Each of the sects was the outgrowth of
honest speculative -opinions,' and logical conclusions
drawn from identical premises, viz., the Old and New
Testaments-neither'of which are authenticated as
reliable disclosures fromn God.




28$2         TIlE APPROACHIIIN:G CRISIS.
We do not take any such speculative and untenable
course. We do not start from the Testaments. We
begin with the established scientific fact, (1) that "m an
is a spirit;" next, (2) from the certain discovery, or
fact, that "man does not and can not die" with the
dissolution of his body; that, (3) as an individual,
"man goes to the Summer Land;" and, (4) as an
individual,'man can and does return to earth, making palpable demonstrations of his personal identity."
On one point we need have no controversy with the
"Mother Church," because we agree with her that
Protestantism is "a go-between," or sort of connecting
link in the progressive developments of Theology and
Religion, as the zoophytes are links between submarine vegetation and early forms of animal life.
Piotestantism is a thelogical stratification between two
great developments.
Bishop Colenso comes forth from behind the fictions
of authority, and applies the reason with which the
Eternal Father has endowed' him. By the gravity
of his analytical judgment he drops down through
the Pentateuch, and lands on the granite foundations
below, viz., the solid stratum of common sense, which
the Father had established in mind before Genesis was
written.  Here is a bishop who has carved his way
through the adamantine fortifications of prejudice.
He has battled bravely. But when the world begins
to blaze with this' "War of Theology," it will be a bitter
war indeed; not wholly inseparable from the conflict
of swords. In the midst of it Protestantism will be cut
in twain, as was the personal devil described by the
gifted Milton. In the poem, you remember, it is said




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  283
that, as the sword passed through the celestial rebel,
the wound instantly closed up. But such recuperation
will not be the experience of the divided Protestantism,
because it is bitterly opposed to unity and self-restoration. And there is a large reversionary property in
the religious faith of the sects of Protestantism. This
portion will certainly go back to the old heirs in
the Mother Church.  But there also is a large portion
of spiritual property in Protestantism that will as
certainly expand into the broad fields of free and independent growth. Such will step upon the Harmonial
platform. And then the religious world will present a
new phase of development, viz., Roman Catholicism at
the lower of negative end-no sects of Protestantism in
the middle-and the iarmonial Philosophy at the
upper or positive pole. Catholicism will believe in the
ascension of the spirit after death, in the communion of
saints, and in the forgiveness of sins. We will believe
in the, ascension of the spirit after death; in the
communion of sinners as well as saints; and that sin is
never forgiven, but only outgrown —as much in the
next as in this world.
S-o, at last, Catholics and Harmronialists will be
organically opposed to each other. We shall certainly
stand upon a platform of facts, and upon the testimony
of the natural intuitions, which have climbed up
through ignorance until they touch the truths of the
unfolded heavens.
When these opposites in authority shall gain an elevation sufficiently conspicuous to be seen by intelligent
men and women, the result will be a rapid destruction
of the present variety of sects-indeed, the entire




284          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
destruction of all existing forms of sectarianism-followed by the resolution of all Protestantism into "A uthority" under the Roman Catholic system, or into
" Freedom" under the sway of the principles of immortal. reason and progress.  The Roman Catholic
Church is retrogressive in its very instincts; the HIarmonial Dispensation is progressive in its very instincts.
The Roman Catholic Church believes in the authority
of an "organization;" the Harmonial Philosophy believes in the authority of "facts " and "' principles" as
recognized and systematized by reason. The Roman
Catholic Church talkes old-time religious experiences
and bottles them up, and labels them with Latin terms,
and puts them on the shelves of authority, and feeds
them to the hundreds of thousands within its pews.
The Harmonial Dispensation, on the other hand, talkes
these old-time spiritual experiences, harmonizes them
with modern facts, and spreads them broadcast over the
people, upon whom they fall like manna from the free
heavens. Thus freely' and lovingly the people are
fed and nourished, and unconsciously they grow higher
and higher out of their creeds, out of sectarian bondage,
into the glorious light, and liberty, and happiness of the
sons of Progression.
I think the Catholic Father is doing the people an
excellent service.'Ine-is helping to bring up a controversy which he can not put down. All such agitation
is what is necessary for the onward growth of the religious world. It is said that the majority of churchgoers are women. What is the significance of this
fact? Why do not more men attend? Because there
is a class in society who are determined to take up free




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  285
thought. Most men in these days take no interest in such
useless theological questions as are debated in the evangelical pulpits. Unthinking girls and their female relatives go to the churches; but real women and real
men do not willingly support either clergymen or pulpits that carry on a war in opposition to the doctrines
of eternal Progression. Some men have worked and
lived out of' doors long enough to have grown- physically
strong and morally independent. As a general thing,
men will not be guided by the leading-strings of the
old systems. But women are differently situated and
differently influenced. They dwell within the inner
circles of custom-bound society. Those inner circles
touch them and fashion them on every side. A woman
can not move without being watched and pressed by
this neighbor, and criticised by that neighbor, and misrepresented by the other; and so, by and by, each female
is molded into the shape of that society within which she
must move and make her home. Women must dress and
go to-church, and sing, and'pray, and do all things according to the prescribed rules of society. Children and their
mothers are thus unfortunately in bondage to custom.
Meln, for these reasons, do not form a large portion of
religious congregations. Men are free to go where they
can hear an earnest discourse. They feel at liberty to
go where there is something worth hearing-" food for
thought." They begin, in advance of women, to cultivate the spirit of'independence." But there are noble
women, happily, who are very strong and very brave
in freedom. They, too, are becoming independent.
What has brought about this change among women?
Why are so many of them becoming free? Nothing




286          THE APPROACHING CRISIS.
but this dispensation of Spiritualism can explain the
fact. The Quakers started with the idea that women
should be spiritually at liberty to speak. Therefore,
women'dared to speak in Quaker meetings whenever
"the spirit moved."  The spiritual position of Mother
Ann Lee, whatever Protestant slander has done in the
way of blackening her history, looms up in the vital
part of a religious movement, as an example. Ann
Lee was, of course, hounded all through the world by
both Catholics and Protestants. Priests and ministers
were not willing to have the people taught by a woman.
In the first place, it was unfair to the man's right to
the pulpit; and, in the next place, it was contrary to
the opinions of Paul. She must be anathematized, and
she was accordingly. She survived it, however, and is
now an inhabitant of the Sumlner Land, hale, and
hearty, and happy, because she did her duty, notwithstanding the many absurd things she may have thought
or uttered. She spoke and wrought out of the fullness
of her inspiration, and now experiences the peaceful
satisfaction which springs from conscious honesty and
unswerving integrity.
The genius of this new dispensation is calling all
women to ascend the platform of free thought. The
spiritual platform  has expanded and deepened until
it reaches humanity, and goes down into the hearts
of the people.  It everywhere welcomes woman to the
fields of usefulness.  Woman, therefore, is gradually
seeing the golden rays of celestial light that are heralding her emancipation from cramping and dwarfing
influences. She is to be redeemed from that tyrannical
society that makes her a mere automaton, and a slave




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  287
to false and foolish customs. She sees the time coming; yea, rapidly approaching. The Catholic Church
dreads it. The Protestant Church dreads it. True,
-Protestant ministers permit their wives and daughters,
and their female members, to go way down in the basement of the church and talk' out loud" in conference
meetings, in Bible classes, and in prayer. Yes, women
are allowed to pray! Ministers don't object to so
much co-operation. But when woman is seen standing
where the ministers stand, in the pulpit-thus openly
infringing upon the " patent right " which the ordained
clergyman is supposed to have long since received from
the kingdom of heaven-they concentrate their prejudices and their words against her, and then it is that
Spiritualism opens to her the free future, and declares
to her the glorious possibilities of complete emancipation. Colleges and public schools are being established
for her, and already she begins to take a position equal
to her brother man in many if not all the spheres
of private and public life.  The result is, that they
move harmoniously and beautifully together.  The
liberal religious sects-the Unitarians, the Universalists, the Quakers, and the Shakers-are friendly to
woman's progression. But the other sects of Protestantism, including the old Mother Church, loolk down
upon it all with concentrated prejudice and profound
contempt.
But the " Newness " is upon us. The Summer Land
has been revealed. " The winter of our discontent"
in theology is certainly passing, and human existence
is made a thousandfold more precious and glorious by
perpetual revelations.




288          THE- APPROACHING CRISIS.
There is to-day an influence in the world which
is moving and molding the masses. They know not
exactly what it is, nor whence it comes. But thousands of people, for some impalpable reason, are believing less and less in the old doctrines of Church
and State. It is because the time has come for the
culmination of the faith that man is a child of the
Father and Mother-of God and Nature-and that, as
their child, he is to live after physical death in a
sphere "not made with hands"-full of M1ansions,
Spheres, States, Districts, Territories and Provinces.
All this " good news" is what has come to mankind. A
genuine new gospel! Is it fanaticism. -Is it pantheism?  Is it something that was " exploded 1700 years
ago'"  No man who interiorly knows any thing of
religious history-comprehending the natural workings
of the human soul-could ever stand up in the presence
of an intelligent congregation, and say aught against
these truths. No wonder the Catholic priest had " but
a sprinkling of men," and a "great congregation of
women," to listen to his tirade against modern Spiritualism.  Men who know the history of theology, of
fanaticism, and of Roman Catholicity, have no interest
in such one-sided and shallow controversies.
But yet there are ignorant men to the number of
hundreds and thousands; therefore, the work must go
on. The upheaval, the revolution, and the division,
must take place. A great theological warfare must be
waged, and it might as well commence when "the
rebellion is crushed" as at any other time. It can not
commence until the world's political convulsion has
very nearly exhausted itself in the minds of the people.




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  289
Then the flame of religious interest will be kindled,
and it will burn like wildfires on the broad prairies.
Then will come a new and a higher pentecostal experience. Then the people will be singularly excited.
They will not be able to repress their awakened anxiety
to know definitely about the future. They will say,
"'Give us knowledge as well as faith."  "Give us a
basis for our hopes."  Then they will accept impersonal Reason. Reason will rest and be grounded upon
Nature; which is forever harmonious with intuition,
and indorsed by experience and facts.
From the Summer Land this theological revolution,
and this great disunion and division of the sects, has
been many times announced. It was first definitely
announced to me in 1851. It was then made very
clear that Protestantism was to be divided; that the
Roman Catholic Church was then to have a great accession of persons and of power. Distinguished Protestants will return to the old authority. Rome at one
end; Reason at the other. Conservatism, in the shape
of religious dogmatic authority, in one place; Progression, in the shape of enlightened experience and advancing reason, in another.  The Conservatives will be
friendly to Music, and Art, and Science, only so far as
these divine agents administer to the advancement of
Church interests. The Progressives will be favorable
to and supporters of all things and of all influences that
can aid in advancing the cause of civilization-the onward development of the whole people toward. harmony
in society, and toward justice and freedom in government. These two parties and positions will be distinctly unfolded by the on-working laws of Progress.
13




290          TE APPROACHIING CRISIS.
The atmosphere is filled with individual private experiences. These experiences are frequently reported to,
and by, those who are called mediums. Private details
are interesting to those only who have been the subjects
of such experiences. But the finest evidences from the
Summer Land, and the best things in Spiritualism, canl
not be divulged to a promiscuous audience. Neither
can such evidences be made plausible to the reader of
a newspaper, because no speaker or writer can paint
all the convincing items of conditions, and the sSenery
which pertained to and accompanied the demonstration.
Only the general fact can be given to a hearer or a
reader. Because a third party can not see the minutise,
the narration seems trite, and many times unsatisfactory. Hence we say, "' Go seekl for yourselves." Individuals return to relate their private experiences; to
say in touching language what they think of the dear
ones remaining on earth; to tell how often they have
watched over their loved; to narrate how many times
they have endeavored to exert an influence in the way
of guardianship, and government, and protection; regretfully to inform the beloved how often they have
failed, or joyfully to tell how many times they have
succeeded. They tell us these things over and over
again, and we have accumulated unmistakable proofs
of the truth. It can not be fullyv described to you, nor
can you impart the vividness of the truth to your neighbor-only the skeleton of the experience; but all the
internzac interest can be conceived and treasured up by
no one beside yourself. Hence the basic historical facts
of Spiritualism can never be spread by propagandists.
You can not go about and preach the mere externals




ROMAN CATHOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  291
into the reason and intuitions of people. Spiritualists
are believers because of the incontrovertible evidences
which they have individually received or obtained by
investigation.
HIeretofore I have shown you that the Summer Land
is filled with countless varieties of persons, and that
these persons, instead of being in antagonism with each
other, as sects are here, are in harmony with the great
plans and design and moral government of the Divine
Mind. The higher intelligences almost never return
to earth. They do not find language adapted to the
expression of their finest thoughts or richest experiences.
Neither do they obtain the attention of those who
could best appreciate their thoughts. They therefore
turn their backs to the planet from which they sprang,
and go onward, knowing that you and I, as we ascend
the ladder of experience, will see, and feel, and know
what they have felt, and seen, and known. Hence,
revelations from the most frequent spirit visitors are
not often high, intellectual displays. They are not
manifestations of moral and intellectual archangelhood.
They are, on the contrary, expressions purely social,
pathetic, and unnsophisticated, coming from persons
who are mostly under the influence of affection; not
often under the control of high forms of thought and
contemplation.  The old philosophers, and the men
who were in this world interested in the various
Sciences, and those who were influential in the formation of Literature, and Art, and Governments, are
the very men who now take the lecast possible part in
the special thoughts and private interests of mankind.
They interest themselves chiefly in the grand move



292          TilE APPROACHING CRISIS.
ments which are carried forward by the hundreds
and thousands of lesser persons, who feel that they
must communicate to mankind frequently in order to
enjoy the social life of the existence which is bestowed
upon them.
Some of the inhabitants of the other world do not
seem fully to realize that they have certainly thrown
off their relations to the earth, but keep leaning and
yearning ea{ithward, facing this way, their affections
pouring into the channels of their terrestrial friendships. Others are interested in mere material property
left behind. Of course these persons are not comfortable.  The Ptoman Catholic Church, in its earliest conceptions of this thing, said: " There is a purgatory."
Verily, there is a state of mind that is next to the grave
— just the other side of it-which faces its tenants
earthward far more than skyward; which causes its
inhabitants still to feel that they have not thrown
off all connections with the low earth. These spirits
are the ones that are affected favorably by such communications as the mnediums are enabled to make;
they are often lifted, through the " satisfaction " which
such communications give, and, for the time, are raised
to a higher and a pleasanter sphere of feeling.
_Now, these are some of the facts in Spiritualism;
and they are accepted as true by the Catholic Church.
These religious opposites will eventually meet. When
they meet, they will shake hands.  I have met Catholic bishops face to face; I have talked with them.
They are, generally, what the world styles "educated
persons."  Many of them have been more pleasant, and
courteois, and agreeable to me than have the same




ROMAN CATI-IOLICISM AGAINST SPIRITUALISM.  293
number of Protestant ministers.  They hold that Reason has nothing to do with the dogmas and discipline of
the Church. The Bible itself is not so important to
the Catholics as the authority and principles of the
Church. Accept their Church; or individual Opinion.
Reason is a part of the individual. It is also the
instrumentality by which individual opinion is manufactured into practical forms. They ask: " Which
will you take-the Church, or individual Opinion a"
They take the Church, and that is a finality with them.
What it teaches in religion, "is from God;" what it
does not teach or permit, "is from the devil."  Thus
the argument is closed up forever.
On the other hand, we say that the Churchi is an accumulation of merely human experience, human authority, and plans of human discipline; and that experience and reason, and the inspirations of the intellectual, moral, and social faculties, are the "' Latest Revelations from God;" that when a man or a woman, owning these inspirable and inspired faculties, is filled with
an earnest desire to use them  rightly, then comes
the power to do, as well as to be, good; and with that
comes progress, and from progress harmony, and out
of harmony come happiness and oneness with Deity.
When there is a harmonious blending of heavenly
with earthly infiuences-when the sp;irit izn mzain meets
the Spirit of God-then the two are indissolubly wedded; and at the nuptial ceremony of such a union
Truth and Justice officiate, because they are the ordained priests of heaven and eternity.








DESCRIPTIVE LIST
OF
ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS,
FOR SALE BY
WM. WH ITE & C o.
(PUBLISHERS OF BANNER OF LIGHT),
No, 158 Washington Street, Boston, Mass,,
AND
American News Company, New York,
THE PRINCIPLES'OF NATURE:
PHer Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind. (In three parts.)
Thirtieth Edition, just published, with a likeness of the clairvoyant author, and
containing a family record for marriages, births, and deaths. This book contains the
basis and philosophy onwhich the whole structure of Spiritualism rests. It embodies
and condenses the fundamental principles of human life and human progress up to
and beyond the present, and has a steady and constant sale. Price, $3.50; postage,
48 cents.




THE GREAT HARMONIA:
Being a Philosophical Revelation of the Natural, Spiritual, and
Celestial Universe, in Five Volumes.
Vol. I. THE PHYSICIAN. Contents of Vol. I.-What is Man? What is the
Philosophy of Health? What is the Philosophy of Disease? What is the Philosophy
of Sleep? What is the Philosophy of Death? What is the Philosophy of Psychology?
What is the Philosophy of Healing? Thousands in the United States, and very many
in Europe, have read this volume with delight. The author's description of " The
Philosophy of Death " is alone worth more than the price of the book. No one can
read and remain unmoved. The volume is especially useful to every family as a work
on medicine and the science of disease and health. Price, $1.50; Postage, 20 cents.
Vol. II. THE TEACHER, Contents of Vol. II.-My Early Experience; My
Preacher and his Church; The True Reformer; Philosophy of Charity; Individual
and Social Culture; The Mission of Woman; The True Marriage; Moral Freedom;
Philosophy of Immortality; The Spirit's Destiny; Concerning the Deity. In this
volume is presented the new and wonderful principles of "Spirit, and its Culture;"
also, a comprehensive and systematic argument on the " Existence of God." Price,
$1.50; postage, 20 cents.
Vol. III. THE SEER. This volume is composed of twenty-seven Lectures on
every phase of Magnetism  and Clairvoyance in the past and present of human
history. Swedenborg's condition is thoroughly examined. Among the subjects
treated are, Philosophy of Clairvoyance and Inspiration; Man's Ordinary State,
considered in Connection with the External World and to the Spiritual Universe;
Dependencies existing between the Body and the Soul; Action of the Mind upon
the Body in Disease; Manifestations of a Universal Sympathy; On the Historical
Evidences of the Psycho-sympathetic State; Condition of Ancient Prophets, Seers,
and Religious Chieftains; The Phenomena and History of Clairvoyance; The
Spiritual State and its External Manifestations; Concerning the Principles and
Causes of True Inspiration; The Philosophy of Ordinary and:Extraordinary
Dreaming; The Sources of Human Happiness and Misery Philosophically Considered; A Brief Exposition of the Satan which Tempted Jesus of Nazareth; The
Authority of the Harmonial Philosophy; On the Uses and the Abuses of the
Sabbath. Price, $1.50; postage, 20 cents.
Vol. IV. THE REFORMER. This volume contains truths eminently serviceable in the elevation of the race. It is devoted to the consideration of " Physiological
Vices and Virtues, and the Seven Phases of Marriage." It covers ground never
before occupied by any reformatory writer, and teaches the most important truths
upon the most vital questions that can agitate any mind-those of larriage and
Parentageo. It is a work that appeals first to man's consciousness, by a clear representation of existing evils; and next to the higher faculties, by pointing out the
" highway of freedom " from all these evils. Satisfying as it does the understanding,
it affords valuable aid to the individual in rooting out bad habits and reforming
vicious tendencies. It is a safe book for youth, for it has not the least indelicacy of
sentiment or expression; and it furnishes just such knowledge, and inculcates such
principles, as are calculated to preserve the youthful mind from contamination, and
insure the practice of virtue. It is an invaluable book for the newly-married, for
it points out-the danger and consequences of extremism and inversionism, and imparts that information concerning the reproductive functions necessary to avoid
conjugal misdirections. Price, $1.50; postage, 20 cents.




Vol. V.'TIE THINKIER. This volume is by numerous readers pronuance,.
the most comprehensive and best sustained, of the series. Read it, and you will
become acquainted with all the great central " Ideas" which, aided by the minds by
whonm: they were unfolded, have carried forward the mighty growth of humanity.
Read it, and you will learn of the " Origin of Life, and the Law of Immortality."
In this volume you will also find very many new and instructive diagrams. Price,
$1.50; postage, 20 cents.
THE PiRESENT AGE, AND INNER LIFE:
Ancient and Modern Mysteries Classified and Explained.
The best critics have pronounced this work one of the most classically pure of
all the volumes of the anuthor. It abounds with thrilling passages; and no one can
fail to be instructed by the systematic " classification " of all the wonderful developments of modern days. The work is, in itself, almost a-demonstration of the claims
of Spiritualism. Price, $1.50; postage, 20 cents.
THE PENETRALIA.
This work, which at the time was styled by the author, " the wisest book" from
his pen, deserves to be brought prominently before the American public.  The
importance of the subjects considered, and the peculiarly terse and original style in
which they are handled, combine to give the book a most noticeable character.'While the topics are mainly theological, many questions of practical interest and
value are answere0, thus rendering the volume an acquisition to the student and philosopher, as well as the theologian. Price, $1.75;'csztage, 24 cents.
THE HARBINGER OF -IEALTH:
Containing Medical Prescriptions for the Human Body and Mind.
This new and rare volume contains more than three hundred prescriptions for the
treatment and cure'of over one hundred different diseases, and forms of disease,
incident to mankind in all parts of the world. The author's prescriptions are given
in the light of the "Superior Condition." The Harbinger of Health has never failed
to awaken intense interest in the minds of the moat intelligent of the Medical Profession, and it is invaluable to the general reader, containing as it does, information
concerning methods of treatment hitherto unknown to the world, and imparting important suggestions respecting the Will Power and the Self-Healing Energies, which
are better than medicine. It is a plain, simple guide to health, with no quackery, no
humbug, no universal panacea. Price, $1.50; postage, 20 cents.
ANSWERS TO EVER-RECURRING QUESTIONS FROM THE
PEOPLE.
During the period which has elapsed since the publication of the author's work
entitled the "Penetralia," a multitude of questions have been propounded to him.
From this list of several hundred interrogatories, those of the most permanent inter



est and highest value have been carefully selected, and the result is the present
volume, comprising well-considered and intelligent replies to more than two hundred important questions.  It is believed by hundreds that this work is,one of the
most interesting and useful volumes that has been issued. It invites the perusal not
only of those vitally interested in the topics discussed, but of all personus capable of
putting a question. It awakens inquiry and develops thought.  The wide range of
subjects embraced can be inferred from the table of contents. An examination of
the book itself will reveal the clearness of style and vigor of method characterizing
the replies. Price, $1.50; postage, 20 cents.
MORNING LECTURES:
Twenty Discourses, delivered in theo City of Nbw York, in the
Winter and Spring of 1863.'This volume is overflowing with that peculiar inspiration which carries the
reader into the region of new ideas. The discourses are clothed in language plain
and forcible, and the arguments and illustrations convey conviction. Among the
subjects treated are:-" The World's True Redeemer;" "The End of the World;"' The Reign of Anti-Christ;" " The Spirit, and its Circumstances;" "11 Eternal Value
of Pure Purposes;" 1 "Wars of Blood, Brain, and Spirit;" " False and True Education;" "Social Life in the Summer Land;" &c. This volume of plain lectures is just
the book to put into the hands of skeptics and new beginners in Spiritualism. Price,
$1.50; postage, 20 cents.
A STELLAR KEY TO THE SUMMER LAND.
Part I. Illustrated with Diagrams and Engravings of Celestial Scenery.
The author has heretofore explained the wonders of creation, the mysteries of
science and philosophy, the order, progress, and harmony of lNature in thousands of
pages of living inspiration. Hie has solved the mystery of death, and revealed the
connection between the world of matter and the world of spirits. Mr. Davis opens
wide the door of future human life, and shows us where we are to dwell when we put
aside the garments of mortality for the vestments of angels. The account of the
spiritual universe; the immortal mind looking into the heavens; the existence of a
spiritual zone-its possibilities and probabilities-its formation and scientific certainty; the harmonies of the universe; the physical scenery and constitution of the
Summer Land-its location, and domestic life in the spheres, are new and wonderfully
interesting. Price, $1.00; postage, 16 cents.
ARABULA; OR, THE DIVINE GUEST.
This fresh and beautiful volume is selling rapidly, because it supplies a deep religious want in the hearts of the people. Best literary minds are gratified, while truly
religious readers are spiritually fed with the contents of this volume. All who want




to understand and enjoy the grand central truths of the EIarmonial Philosophy, and
all who would investigate the teachings and religion of Spiritualism, should read
this inspired book. It contains a New Collection of Gospels by Saints not before
canonized, and its chapters are teeming with truths for humanity, and with fresh
tidings from the beloved beyond the tomb. The names of the new Saints are:-St.
RLishis, St. Menu, St. Confucius, St. Siamer, St. Syrus, St. Gabriel, St. John, St.
Pneuma, St. James, St. Gerrit, St. Theodore, St. Octavius, St. Samuel, St. Eliza, St.
Emma, St. Ralph, St. Asaph, St. Mary, St. Selden, St. Lotta. Price, $1.50; postage,
20 cents.
THE MAGIC STAFF:
An Autobiography of Andrew  Jackson Davis.
" This most singular biography of a most singular person," has been extensively
read in this country, and is now translated and published in the German language.
It is a complete personal history of the clairvoyant experiences of the author from
his earliest childhood to 1856. All important details are carefully and conscientiously
given. Every statement is authentic and beyond controversy. In this volume
(including the autobiographical parts of "Arabula" and "Memoranda" which
enter largely into the author's personal experiences), the public will find a final
answeer to all slanders and misrepresentattios.  Thousands of copies of the
" Magic Staff" have been sold in the United States, and the demand, instead of
being supplied, is increasing. Price, $1.75; postage, 24 cents.
MEMORANDA OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND EVENTS:
Embracing Authentic Facts, Visions, Impressions, Discoveries in
Magnetism, Clairvoyance, and Spiritualism.
This volume of transcripts from the observation and experience of Mr. Davis
will be welcomed with great pleasure by his tens of thousands of readers, in which
they will find a great variety of those fresh and fleeting "impressions" of the
inspired seer, carefully set down by his own hand for a period of over twenty-two
years, that can not but let them further than ever into his own nature, and the mysterious realms which his vision is permitted to penetrate and search. There is a
peculiar freshness about this latest book from Mr. Davis that makes it specially
attractive to the general reader. His off-hand characterization of persons of note
will strike all as peculiarly apt and effective. In fact, it is a sort of mirror for all to
look into. This volume should be read by all who have perused the "Magic Staff."
The Appendix, containing the fine translation of Zschokke's tale of the " Transfiguration," will attract-all to its perusal, since it illustrates the curative powers of
human magnetism, and the spiritual beauty and purity of the superior condition.
This book is also particularly valuable to' history, because it contains a chapter
written by Mary F. Davis, concerning the "Introduction of the Harmonial Phi.
losophy into Germany." Price, $1.60; Postage, 20 cents.




THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL PROVIDENCES.
This is a small pamphlet of fifty-five pages, but is living with thought. The
author considers the question, "Are there Special Providences?" and no'-one can
fail to be instructed and elevated by its perusal. The pamphlet contains Two
Visions, and An Argument. Price, 20 cents.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE.
CONTENTS.-Truth and Mystery; God's Universal Providence; The Miracles of
this Age; The Decay of Superstition; The Guardianship of Spirits; The Discernment of Spirits; The Stratford Mysteries; The Doctrine of Evil Spirits; The
Origin of Spirit Sounds; Concerning Sympathetic Spirits; The Formation of
Circles; The Resurrection of the Dead; A Voice from the Spirit Land; The True
Religion. In this thrilling work the reader is presented with an account of the
very wonderful Spiritual Developments at the house of the Rev. Dr. Phelphs, of
Stratford, Connecticut; and besides these, the work is replete with similar cases in
all parts of the country. This work is completed by its sequel, entitled "Present
Age and Inner Life." Price, in paper, 60 cents; cloth, $1.00; postage, 16 cents.
FREE THOUGHTS CONCERNING RELIGION.
This pamphlet contains short arguments, fresh and vigorous, substantiated by
plain historical and geological facts, against the popularly received idea that the
" Bible is the word of God."  Infallibility is demolished, and creeds finely
pulverized in the mill of truth. As a little pamphlet, it is calculated to "stir up
thought" in a bigoted neighborhood.  We recommend "Free Thoughts Concerning Religion." Price, 20 cents.
THE HARMONIAL MAN.
CONTENTS. — ow shall we Improve Society? The Influence of Churches; The
Necessity of Organic Liberty; Mankind's Natural Needs; The Means by which to
Secure Them; The Philosophy of Producing Rain; A Statement of Popular
Theories; The Causes of Rain Explained; The Philosophy of Controlling Rain;
Answer to Scientific Objections; Plagiarism; Clairvoyance Illustrated; What will
People Say; The Pirate's Simple Narrafive. The contents of this little wolk are
designed to enlarge man's views concerning the political and ecclesiastical condition
of our country, and to point out, or at least to suggest, the paths of reform which
the true itarmonial Man shall tread. We might add many commendatory notices
of the press, but it is deemed sufficient to give the reader an idea of the work, by