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HINTS
TOWARDS THE DEVEL0PE3UOT
UNITARY SCIENCE,
SCIENCE OF UNIVERSAL ANALOGY.
BY GEORGE CORSELIUS.
S ANN ARBOR:
IT. B. M'CRACKEN, PR1NTE1
1846.
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There is an order of truths which deeply concern our welfare,
and yet have no immediate relation to any worldly views of honor or
gain. They have a higher use — indeed the highest of all uses —
that is to enable us to think truly and to act justly. The end of all
things is use. Whatsoever is not useful, practical, is of no estima-
tion. All Truth is practical ; and if we regard any truth as merely
speculative, it only proves that such truth has no home in our affec-
tions. Thus, to the sensual and worldly minded man, the highest
truths of philosophy and religion are non-practical — they have no
relation to any end of his; hence he disregards and rejects them,
unless indeed he can make merchandise of them, or make them
minister in some way to the pride of his own understanding.
The subject of the following essay may, to some minds, appear to
be of this merely speculative character; when nevertheless, in the
light of true reason, it cannot appear otherwise than pre-eminently
practical, as it relates immediately to the true end of man's creation.
It is the subject of Universal Unity, the Unity of the Sciences, the
Unity of the Universe, the all-pervading analogies which bind all
things into a One, and unite that one with its Infinite Cause.
J beg to premise, that although on this great subject I have nothing
really new to offer, yet I am aware that it lies in good part out of
the common field of thought, and involves many truths that may not
be at once recognized as such. But as respects these, we shall not
fail to remember that we are yet at an immeasurable distance from
the ultimate boundary of attainable truth — that our minds are capable
of indefinite growth — that consequently our views of Truth cannot
remain fixed ; they must be enlarged and continually renewed, if there
is any principle of vital growth in our minds. No finite intelligence,
indeed, can see the truth as it is in itself, in its transcendent glory-
in the Infinite Mind. Our minds can receive but an obscure and
feeble image of it This image, if we love the truth and honestly
pursue it, will become more distinct and better defined, a more ac-
curate copy of its Divine Original or Prototype. Bearing these facts
in mind, and putting off the illusion that our present attainments and
prepossessions are the standard and test of every thing that is or can
be known, we shall be prepared to pursue our inquiry. It is obvious,
that on a subject co-extensive with the Universe itself, the most that
can be done is to present a few hints and suggestions, which, how-
ever, may open the way for establishing some general principles.
This Universe in which we are, is not, as some are willing to be-
lieve, a bundle of shreds and patches, without order or connection of
parts. Neither is there any thing arbitrary in its adjustments. It
is the perfect work of the Divine Wisdom ; by the Word of His
Power are all things upheld, and kept in their appointed order ; except
so far as man, by the abuse of his freedom, has brought in perver-
sions ; but even these have their limits and their laws. This Divine
Logos or Truth, from which the Universe has its birth, is also the
True Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the
world. Hence the laws of the outward world are, in their lower
plane, the counterparts of the laws of our own minds. However
strangely this announcement may strike the minds of some, we do
nevertheless, every one of us, every hour of our lives, think and act
upon the assumption that it is true. The truth of every science rests
upon the fact of a perfect correspondence between the subjective and
the objective ; between the world within us, and the world without
us : and if this correspondence, does not exist, our whole life is an
illusion, a fantastic dream !** This truth may be illustrated by fa-
miliar facts.
Every work that is done by an intelligent being is done for some
end. To act without an end is to act blindly. Every work of man
has a purpose in it. It was made for some use, real or imaginary.
There can be no intelligent action, no work, without a specific pur-
pose, or end, in the mind of the worker. Take some machine, for
example, a watch. This little machine has a use ; it was made for
an end. This end is to tell the time of the day. This being the
purpose or use of the watch, all its parts, the spring, the cylinder, the
wheels, and every part of each wheel, and the adjustment of every
part and of the whole, are made with distinct reference to this end.
This end is the principle of Unity which pervades the whole ma-
chine. The watch is a unit, because every part thereof conspires
to actualize its end or use. The watch is the effect of the purpose
and the skill of its maker. It existed in his mind before it was
thrown out and actualized in the world of space and time. Here
then are three things — the purpose or end of the watch-maker — his
skill — and the effective operation thence resulting. Or the end, the
cause, and the effect. Without this trine nothing can exist, and it
is manifested in every work of man. It is the mind itself of the
man imaged in his work. The work, as to its end and contrivance
and all the minutest particulars thereof, corresponds to the intentions
and ideas of its maker. It is the image, the correspondent, the sym-
bol of his mind, for the man is in all his work.
This being the truth as respects the working of our finite and very
imperfect intelligence, how much more must it hold good in the
workings of the All -perfect, Infinite Intelligence, who is Order and
" Suppose this being to be, introduced to the actual creation, — would not the pos-
sibility of its knowing and comprehending it, arise from the correspondence between
the outward reality and the ideas within ? Would it not understand the outward
world, just so far as it had the lavs and archetype within?*' — [Elements of Logic,
By Henry ft. Tappan. Int. View p. 42.
Truth itself, and from whom all human intelligence is derived,
The Creator of the Universe is law and order in its very essence,
and whatsoever proceeds and exists from him, must proceed and exist
according to law ; and thus hear a distinct reference to the grand
design or end of the whole Universe. Now it is, as w r e shall soon
see, a matter of the greatest importance to know what this grand end
cr unitary principle of the Universe is, in order that we may rightly
understand any subject whatever.
We have observed that whatsoever proceeds from the Divine Wis-
dom must proceed and exist according to law. The popular notion
of the first creation having been a chaos, is a simple absurdity. There
never could or can be any such thing; for disorder itself, moral evil,
the kingdom of darkness, has its laws, its order, which is simply the
inversion of true order, and without laio there can be no existence,
Now what is the office of law? Is it not to distribute, to associate,
to harmonize indefinite varieties into a one ? All things which stand
in the order of their creation, by virtue of that order, form a one,
held together by ineffable harmonies, by mutual uses, by sympathies
which often send their genial glow through the heart of the humblest
and least perfect of sincere workers in the cause of truth and good.
And all beings who have inverted this order in themselves, do like-
wise form one kingdom, one organic whole, antagonistic to the former,
but controlled and held in subjection by it. It is a familiar remark
that crimes and vices are seldom found single, but where one is de-
liberately persisted in, it soon brings all its kindred with it : And we
are told that whosoever deliberately breaks one commandment of the
law has, in reality, broken the whole. The kingdom of darkness,
though it be a kingdom of selfishness, and therefore of discord and
bitter conflict and eternal war, is not,- as to its ruling principle, a house
divided against itself; and he who wilfully confirms himself in one
evil binds about him the electric chain which shall unite him indis-
solubly with the whole. This does not by any means imply that all
who are in evils are equally evil. Every body or organism has one
life, but this life exists in very different degrees of intensity in diffe-
rent parts.
But let us trace this principle of Unity among some of the objects
of the natural sciences.
When we begin to study the natural objects around us, w r e soon
find that all the countless multitude of individual things, associate
themselves in groups and series of groups, which naturalists describe
as species, genera, orders, and classes. A very superficial view
leads us to think of natural things under the three different divisions
called the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; the objects
which compose each of these kingdoms having certain common pro-
perties which class them together, and distinguish them from the
objects of each of the other kingdoms. Similarity of certain external
and visible characteristics is the basis of this classification, and of the
distribution into minor classes, orders, genera and species, of the ob-
jects of each of these kingdoms. If natural things did not admit
of this classification, if a principle of unity did not pervade their
boundless variety, science, it is obvious, would be impossible. But
by the help of these all-pervading analogies, we are enabled to bring
an indefinite number of individuals under a single expression.^ It
is hardly worth while, perhaps, to notice the question which some
metaphysicians have puzzled themselves with, — whether the law of
these classifications exists in the human mind, or in external na-
ture ? Nearly all such questions arise out of the one-sidedness, the
want of catholicity in the human understanding in its present dark-
ened state. The principle of classification, of order, of unity, ex-
ists both in nature and in the mind which contemplates it; just be-
cause the natural world is, as we have before noticed, a perfect tran-
script from the world of mind : the world of mind and the world of
matter, the world of causes and the world of effects, form together
one Universe. The law and order of the spiritual world, descending
to a lower plane, or flowing forth into the plane of effects, becomes
the law and order of the natural world, and is exhibited under the
conditions of space and time. I know not, indeed I can hardly hope,
that I should be able to present this truth in such a way that all minds
could at once see it ; but a brief illustration will show what is meant.
Take the lowest developement of the law of Universal Unity, the
ultimate fact of the material world, the law of gravitation and cohe-
sion, which binds the material Universe together; do we not in this
observe a perfect analogy and correspondence with the highest truth
of the spiritual world, even the truth contained in those " two com-
mandments on which hang all the law and the prophets ?" Let us
not deny our kindred with this humbler world beneath us. For
And whence
" How could the beauty of material things
So win the heart and work upon the mind.
Unless like-natured with them ?"
" That look, so like to feeling, which the bright
And glorious things of nature ever wear ?"
We have spoken of the agreement and correspondence between
the worlds of mind and of nature ; but as the world of mind is in
the whole, such it is in each of its individuals ; for man, individually,
as well as in the aggregate , r is, in his normal state, an image and like-
ness of the Infinite Spirit, in and by whom all things exist. Each
individual mind, then, must, of necessity, contain within itself, the
elements of all things which exist without it ; and on this correspon-
dence, as we have before observed, depends the truth of all human
science, and the very reality of our life itself. For what could the
individual man be if he were not in correspondence with the uni-
verse without him ? Imagine such a being if you can, and see what
*See note at the end.
fie will amount to ! What could he know, or do ? It was hence
that in the ancient wisdom, from which the men of this 19th century
have yet many things to learn, man was called a microcosm, or uni-
verse in miniature. This is a truth belonging to the science of uni-
versal unity which I shall presently attempt to elucidate farther. But
I wish to dwell a little longer on the analogies of natural objects.
A principle of unity pervades each of the classes into which the
objects of natural history are distributed : And there is no violent
disruption of continuity in passing from one class to another, but a
gradual transition by intermediates. As Coleridge observes, " the
metal, in its highest forms of being, is a mute prophecy of the coming
vegetation, into a mimic semblance of which it chrystalizes ;" and it
is at length agreed that the transition from the vegetable to the ani-
mal kingdom is so imperceptible, that it is impossible to separate
them by a distinct line ; and the different classes and orders in each
of these kingdoms are, in like manner, connected by ambiguous or
intermediate natures. Thus says BufTon. " The apes tend to ap-
proach man ; the bats are the apes of birds which they imitate by
their flight ; the porcupines, the hedge-hogs, by the quills with which
they are covered, seem to indicate that plumes can belong to other
creatures as well as birds ; the armadillos, by their scaly shells, ap-
proach the tortoise and the crustaceous tribes ; the beavers, by the
scales of their tails, resemble fishes ; the ant-eaters, by their sort of
beak or trunk without teeth, and by their long tongue, again remind
us of the birds ; and finally, the phoca? and the sea-calves, and the
manatti, form a little body apart, which is the most salient point be-
fore arriving at the cetaceous tribe."
Again, we shall find in each genus, both of the animal and vege-
table kingdoms, one prominent species, in which the distinctive at-
tributes of the genus exist in their highest perfection. Such is the
wheat plant among the cereal grasses, the oak among quercine trees,
the lion and the eagle among rapacious beasts and birds. Around
this central or pivotal species are grouped, in order, the other species
of the genus, as they gradually degenerate and depart from the com-
mon type or pattern, until the distinctive attributes of the genus fade
away in the ambiguous species, which form the connecting links with
other genera.
Let us trace our analogies a little farther. " The most cursory
inspection," says a judicious wiiter on this subject, " will show that
the lower orders of creation, all present, in a certain manner, an image
of man. How strong is the tendency to the human form, for example,
which is observeable among all the subjects of the animal kingdom,
and even, though more remotely, among all the subjects of the veg-
etable kingdom likewise ! The animals which differ most in their
external shape from man, have, nevertheless, most of the organs
which are found in the human body, — especially those which are
most essential to life ; though all display them under endless varie-
ties ; all have heads, bodies, feet ; in their heads ?.re eyes, noses,
mouths, ears ; and iri their bodies, hearts, lungs, and other viscera.
As the animal descends in the scale of existence, the resemblance
becomes less perfect ; yet most of the species retain the principal
organs, and where these cease, their place is supplied by something
analagous, which performs their office in a manner suitable to the
animal's nature;
a So, again, the similitude between the animal and vegetable king-
doms, — the mutual relation which they bear to each other, — is in
many respects very conspicuous. They melt into each other by such
imperceptible degrees, that there are animals whose sensitive powers
are not much greater than those of vegetables, and there are vegeta-
bles which exhibit such an approximation to sensation, as renders the
propriety of assigning them to the vegetable kingdom almost a matter
of doubt. But even those which most decidedly belong to this de-
partment of nature, exhibit, in a remarkable manner, their affinity to
the animal kingdom : they display under another form, some of the
most important attributes of the latter. Not only are they, in com-
mon with animals, animated by a decided principle of life, — are pro-
pagated from parents, grow from an obscure germ to maturity, flourish
in vigor, provide for the continuance of their species, decline and
die, — sometimes from the agency of disease and sometimes from the
mere agency of time ; but their life is maintained in an exactly anala-
gous manner. Trees, and indeed all vegetables, circulate sap, which
is their blood, through vessels answering to arteries and veins, from
their root wdiich answers to the heart ; and they inhale and respire
air, through their leaves, which perform for them the office of lungs.
And the developement of their sexual system by Linneas has brought
to light other wonderful analogies. The discoveries of modern sci-
ence have even gone farther, not only establishing general analogies
between all animals and all vegetables taken respectively together,
but between particular classes of animals and particular classes of
vegetables ; and thus leading to the conclusion, that every individual
species in the vegetable kingdom has a species answering to it in the
animal kingdom ; or that certain vegetables are, in their kingdom,
what certain animals are in theirs ; discharging like functions in re-
gard to the whole. " #
These analogies, as we have already intimated, can be traced down
even into the mineral kingdom. We have referred to the mineral
productions which, "when left to assume, without constraint, the
forms most agreeable to their nature, seem to extricate themselves
from their originally unplastic state, and aspire towards the kingdom
immediately above them, emulating so exactly the vegetable shape,
that, judging by this test alone, it would be difficult to determine to
which province of nature they belong." And the investigations of
Liebeg have done much to point out the resemblances between the
laws of chemical affinities, and those of vegetable and animal nutri-
* Rev. S. Noble. Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, Lect. 3d,
tion. " But look again at the image of the circulation of the blood,
and thus of the animal creation which is exhibited in the globe we
inhabit. No one can inspect the map of an extensive country, and
the plates representing the venous system of the human body in
works of anatomy, without being struck by the similarity of form
between the rivers in the one, and the veins in the other ; both rise
from innumerable minute origins, wander through an infinity of
small channels which diminish in number and increase in size as
they respectively coalesce, till they unite in a common trunk which
carries them to their final goal. Nor is this an analogy which is
only such to the eye. The water is to the terraqueous globe, in
some degree, as the blood is to the body i So they are both circulated
throughout the whole in an analagous manner, though by very dif-
ferent means. While the heart by its contractions and expansions
performs this work for the animated frame of man and animals, dis-
tributing the blood by the arteries to nourish every part of the body,
and recalling it by the veins ; the mysterious economy of - alternate
evaporation and condensation accomplishes the same task for the
insensible frame of the earth;, By this are the waters raised from
their great storehouse, the Ocean, transported by the clouds, which
execute the office of the arterial system, to the parts where their fer-
tilizing agency is required, discharged in showers to irrigate the
soil, collected again by the rills and rivers as an immense system of
veins, and so carried back to their common reservoir, to be thrown
again and again, as long as time shall endure, through the same
circulation. " #
We have spoken of the grouping together of individuals and spe-
cies,— or of the analogies which unite them. But if we analyze an
individual, for example the human body, we find it made up of sev-
eral distinct systems or classes of parts, having each its distinct
function, yet all ministering to the unitary life. We find a digestive
organism, a sanguineous system, a nervous system, a respiratory
system, &c. Each of these systems or parts of the human organism,
has its distinct function, yet all are interactive and mutually depen-
dent. The nervous system, the sanguineous, the absorbent, have
each their centres and expansions. The nerves, the blood vessels,
the absorbents diffuse themselves from their centres to every part of the
body, and fill every the minutest part with their presence. They
are distinct at their centres and in their main branches, but in their
minute ramifications they become blended and assimilated, so that
their differences can be no longer traced. The arteries are lost in
the capilary veins and lymphatics, or blended with the nerves in the
muscular fibre, the glandular structures, and the cellular tissues. —
We have here, as every where, distinct groups with their centres,
their expansions, and their transitions into each other: and all co-
operating in their order, all actuated by the central unitary life, the
*Rev, §. Noble. Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, Lect 3d.
2
lb
living soul, which, through the brain and its derivations, is omnipre-
sent in its little world, giving to the material body its form and shape,
and harmonizing its immense complexity of parts to a living whole.
Man, the living soul, is a unit. But by this living soul we do no-t
mean the simple, uncompounded, unsubstantial somewhat, that the
pschycologists dream of. The human soul, though a unit, is not a
simple thing without distinction of parts and powers, but an inhnitely
complex spiritual organism. It has not, according to the acute ana-
lyst, Dr. Brown, one or two faculties ;oi a dozen or so, according to
others ; or thirty or forty, according to the elder phrenologists ; but
its faculties are as numberless as the minute glands in the cortical
substance of the brain, or as the stars in the heavens, or as the spe-
cies of things in the world without us. All the boundless variety of
the outward world has its counterpart here. What is a faculty, but
the power to know or do some thing? and have the things that we
are made to know and do ever been counted up? They never have
been and never will be. Yet in the midst of this endless variety the
most porfect unity reigns, wherever a human se/ul exists in its tm-
perverted, normal state. All the affections and faculties of this mmd
belong to the two essential constituents of the human being, the
Will and the Understanding ; and these two grand faculties, in their
Unperverted state, or when restored to true order, act as a one ; what
the understanding sees as beautiful, and true, and right, the will
loves as just and good, and this the man loves to do. There is no
longer a separation of what God hath joined together; there is no'
longer any conflict or war, but peaceful activity; peace, in its gentle
might, in its majestic meekness, reigns supreme, and holds the pow-
ers of darkness and evil in eternal subjection. And this happy state
of the individual is the image, the exact type, of a true society, of a
church, a commonwealth, of the universal brotherhood of man, when
the laws of Universal Unity shall be understood and obeyed.
We have hitherto dwelt chrefly upon the analogies that exist
among natural things, in the world of effects. We proceed to con-
sider briefly a higher order of analogies ; those, namely, that exist
between things natural and things spiritual ; between the world of
effects and the world of causes, the world of matter and the world of
mind. Let us attend a moment to what we should understand by
the world of effects and the world of causes.
In the world of nature there are no causes ; — the phrase natural
cause is a solecism, as much so as cold heat, or dark light. In the
world of nature are facta, phenomena, arranged in orderly series —
nothing more. And so far Mr. Hume and Dr. Brown are right. But
when they assert that we have no other idea of cause than that of
uniformity of sequences, they assert what is simply untrue. We
have an idea of cause, of power ; — it is a fundamental verity of rea-
son itself. But if wc think sanely of causes, we shall think of them
as belonging to a higher and more interior world than that of nature.
The rational mind cannot separate from the idea of cause that of in-
is
telligence, of will, of personality. The denial of this position involves
all the absurdities of atheism or pantheism. Man, during his present
life, belongs to both of these worlds. His mind or spirit belongs to
the spiritual world, or world of causes. He has rationality and free-
dom, he can originate motions and effects — effects corresponding with
his intention and his thought — external, visible effects, which reflect
and image forth his purpose and his skill ; as we noticed in the ex-
ample of the time-piece. But his material body, which, in its lower
plane, presents an image or counterpart of his mind, belongs to the
natural world, or world of effects. "His spiritual part, which is the
very man himself, is active ; his natural part is passive ; it goes
where it is sent, and does what the man commands. The material
particles of which it is composed, have no predilection for any par-
ticular form, but have an equal aptitude for any form. They existed
in innumerable vegetable and animal forms before they were arranged
in their present positions. It is the living soul, the life whereof is
from the One Infinite Fountain of Life, which arranges all the ma-
terial particles into forms corresponding with its own affections and.
powers. — The end of Education is often said- to be the formation of
a sound mind in a sound body ; and this is true : for then the man
is every whit whole: all his faculties and dispositions are harmo-
nized ; and the material instrument renders a prompt and ready
obedience to the commands of its owner. He is a unit — a true image
of order, an image indeed of his Creator. He is a true image of
what the Universe was before moral evil entered it, or of what the
Universe may yet be, when it shall have purged off its dross. He
is such an image because everything in him is brought into order —
in other words, because he has a sound mind in a sound body — these
two parts of his being are bronght into exact correspondence.
The existence cf material things pre-supposes the existence of
spiritual things, as every effect implies a cause. The whole of Nat-
ural Theology, so called, is built upon this truth : for, says the learned
and philosophical apostle, " The invisible things of God, from the
creation of tke world, are plainly seen, being understood by the things
that are made." Here it is expressly declared, — and we know it to
be true — that we have the faculty, if we will use it, of seeing the in-
finite in the finite, the spiritual in the natural, the cause in the effect.
It may be seen there ; it is not matter of inference but of intuition.
The Divine .Creator has, in some degree, impressed an image of
Himself on all His works. They are living mirrors which reflect,
more or less imperfectly, the lineaments of His Divine Love and
Wisdom ; and in this is seen the end and cause of their existence.
We had occasion to remark at the outset, that the end of all things
is use ; that every intelligent being has an end in all his work ; and
we will add that the perfection of every work is in proportion to the
skill with which all the parts are made to minister to its end ; or, in
other words, the perfection of every work is in proportion to its unity.
Is it not so? It was matter of dispute with the learned in the last
12
century, whether final causes, or ends, were among the proper objecs
of philosophical inquiry — a conclusive proof how deeply the mind
of that age was immersed in sensualism ! Let us hope that the pre-
sent age is able to think more sanely ; for all the signs of the times
indicate that the age of materialism, of doubt, and denial, is passing
away ; and that the age of philosophy and faith is dawning. We
may at length understand, that if we do not see things from their
ends and causes, we can know next to nothing about them. What pro-
gress would the wild man make in acquiring a knowledge of our watch ,
if the consideration of its end or use was excluded from his inquiry ?
This is the very thing that can enable him to understand what it is,
and why it is. If we do not recognise an end, a use, in every thing
which exists, we are so far atheists. In this end or use we have an
image of the Divine Love or Goodness ; in the arrangements by
which this end is secured, we have an image of the Divine Wisdom.
Even in those things in which the order of creation has been deranged
by the abuse of man's free-agency, we still see that which has refe-
rence to something which exists in the Creator, though not as an
image, but as an opposite. For all evil consists in the perversion of
what is good ; it has no independent ground of existence.
We conclude therefore that our Creator had an end in the creation
of this universe ; that, consequently, every individual thing that exists
has a distinct reference to this end ; and that to this it owes its whole
significance and use, and, indeed, its very existence ; for surely no-
thing can be created or permitted to exist without an end, and all
ends centre in the grand unitary end of the whole creation: — And,
farther, we conclude, that if we do not know this end of the creation,
we are in no state to think rationally upon any subject whatever.
We owe our rationality to this very circumstance, that we are able
v to understand the true ends and uses of things ; and we can under-
stand the parts of any thing only by understanding their relation to
the whole. But a knowledge of the end of the Universe implies a
knowledge of the attributes of the Creator. Hence all true rationality
commences from a right knowledge of the true God. And thus we
conclude that the philosophy (so called) which does not recognize
the Divine Word as the fountain of all genuine light, is necessarily
blind or insane. Not such were the philosophies, or forms of truth,
taught by Phythogoras, by Socrates, by Plato and his genuine fol-
lowers. They were too humble and too wise to arrogate to them-
selves the wisdom which they taught. In its shining truths they
saw, as we see, the light of a long lost golden age — " fragments from
the wreck of paradise" which had floated down the tide of ages to
their own time.
But what is the end of the Divine Creator in this Universe ? It
may be plainly seen by all who are willing to see, that it is the in-
definite multiplication of beings made in His image and after His
likeness, to whom, from the Infinite Fullness of His Divine Love,
He may communicate the felicities of eternal life. There can be no
13
higher created being than man. All below the Creator can be only
more or less perfect images, in their finite degree, of the Infinite Per-
fections of His own Divine Love and Wisdom. Doubtless there are
creatures of a higher order of humanity than we ; beings more per-
fectly human, truer images of the Divine Perfections, more perfect
recipients of that life of good and truth which is the essence of un-
perverted humanity. But they are all parts of the one humanity,
brethren and equals to the humblest and weakest of sincere and true
men upon this earth.
Man, then, is the being for whose sake this universe exists, and
he exists to satisfy the Divine Love of God ; or in other words, to
receive from his Creator the endowment of all human perfections
and happiness. This end is the principle of Unity in the Uni-
verse. Seen from this point, it bears, in every part, the image of the
Divine Unity ; because every part and particular has a distinct refe-
rence to the end for which the whole exists. This end was, of ne-
cessity, in the Divine Mind, when the Universe, with its infinity of
objects, was produced, as surely as the watchmaker had his end and
purpose, when he produced his time-piece. Every thing below man,
in the order of his creation, exists for the sake of man. The idea of
man, then, in the Divine Mind, included the idea of everything below
him ; and he is therefore the medium through which, and from which,
everything below him was created. We do not, in making this as»
sertion, forget the fact, that the material world, and numerous races
of animals, were created, in order of time, before man ; still man was
the end, the final cause, of the creation, and this end, in the Divine
Mind, was the medium through which and by which, the lower
world was first created. Could Creation have been effected without
an end? could the Infinite Wisdom act blindly ? — But the work of
creation is still going on. Preservation, we know, is perpetual cre-
ation. The Universe is re-created at every moment ; and the creative
energy must, of course, descend through the higher to the lower links
of the chain. Now that man exists, all the lower tribes of living
things must derive their life through him. He, being nearest the
Creator, is the secondary cause, or medium, through which the Uni-
verse is continually created: Hence all things below him have in
him their types or patterns ; or they are all images or counterparts
of some dispositions or qualities in man. And this fact will enable
us to explain the existence of perverted creations ; the tribes of nox-
ious and destructive animals and poisonous plants. Can any man
who thinks sanely, believe that the tiger, the fox, the wolf, the viper,
the rattle-snake, came directly from the hands of the Creator ; or
that they could exist until man, by the abuse of his freedom, had
perverted his own nature, which is the medium through which the
creative energy reaches the lower links of the chain of being. There
is nothing in our adorable Creator to which these things correspond,
except as opposites. He could not intend the creation of such things
as a part of his plan, any more than he could intend the creation of
14
evil men. Bat since man has introduced moral evil into bis lite.
since he has changed the. truth of God into a lie, and changed the
life itself he receives from his Maker into selfishness and its long
train of malignant and destructive passions, it is right and useful that
he should see the images of his perverted dispositions in the perverted
and hideous creations about him. Since the tiger principle and the
viper principle are in man, it is necessary and right that there should
be tigers and vipers upon the earth. Since man has introduced dis-
order into his passions and his will, it is right that the etherial media,
the colorific, electric, and galvanic energies, which are the connecting
media between spirit and matter, should also be deranged, and through
them the climates of the earth, and the equilibrium between heat and
cold. Should we not hesitate to believe that our Creator designed
so large a part of Africa for a barren and burning desert, generating
poisonous airs destructive to life ;
" Where nature breeds, perverse,
AH monstrous, all prodigious things;"
Or so large a portion of North America and Asia to be the seats of
perpetual cold ? Do we not know that in the primeval time, the
plains of Siberia down to the Northern ocean, were covered with a
rich tropical vegetation, and vast herds of elephants and other harm-
less animals, whose bones are yet mingled with the soil ? Doubtless
the same thing was true of the northern parts of this continent. And
what has been may be again ; nay, must be. For if the prophecies
of the Divine word, and the better instincts of humanity, are believed,
we cannot but conclude that the covenant shall be renewed as of old,
the state of primeval innocence and wisdom shall be restored upon
the earth, and endure forever.
These views will appear to some as an improper blending of natural
science with Divine Truths. I know it has been the chief employ-
ment of the learned for a century or two past, to separate what God
hath joined together ; to separate faith from reason, and charity from
faith, and science from religion, and man from man, and the Universe
from God. The work of disintegration has been going on for ages,
until every thing, science, society with its complex interests, the
church, and human nature itself, are broken into fragments, and the
human understanding, belittled by the contemplation of minute ex-
ternal differences, has become almost incapacitated for the reception
of interior and universal truths. Thus men
" Overlook the mass,
But fasten each on some particular crumb,
Of doctrine, or belief, or party cause."
It is right to distinguish all these things, but distinction is not sepa-
ration — it is the condition of orderly union. It has been my purpose,
thus far, to show that a principle of Unity reigns amidst the infinite
variety of God's works ; to show that the universe is one as God is
one : And since all things form a one, in which each part has its place
and its use, I have wished to make manifest the* truth that no par-
ticular thing or science can be properly understood except by a know-
ledge of the whole, that is, of its end or use. If we do not regard
every particular science, and every particular thing, under its relation
to the grand, end of the Universe, or under its relation to our Divine
Creator, I repeat that we can know next to nothing about it.* What
could vve know of the parts of any human work, even, if we viewed
them isolated from the whole and from each other ? What could
you understand of a segment taken from one of the wheels of a watch,
if you studied it without any knowledge of the end or use of the ma-
chine of which it forms a part ? You could see that it was made of
brass, that it was the segment of a circle with little notches in the
circumference, and this is just the amount of what infidel, or frag-
mentary, science can tell you of any subject whatever. We there-
fore conclude that there can be no genuine knowledge without a grand
unitary science corresponding with the universe itself, embracing the
ends and uses of all things, and assigning to every particular science
its rank and its place. Without this knowledge of the end for which
all things were made, or of " the chief end of man " to which all su-
bordinate ends, and the uses of all things below him, ascend, and iii
which they find their centre, we can know nothing as we ought to
know.
The time is coming, and now is, when all knowledge, all truth,
must be harmonised. Faith and science must no longer be set at
variance.
"All Truth is from the Sempiternal Source
Of Light Divine,"
and it loses its rightful power when broken into hostile fragments.
The disorder which man has introduced into his nature is reflected
in all his systems of science as well as of society — in the conflicts of
nations about disputed rights, and in the strifes of political parties
and religious sects. But in the midst of all this warfare, the spirit
of harmony is still at work ; order is gradually arising out of the
moral chaos ; a clearer perception of the true end of society and of all
things, is opening in the minds of men. The age of Universal Unity
is dawning, and streams of heavenly light are beginning to pierce
the clouds that have gathered about the mind for ages. With think-
ing men the conviction is common, that we live in a wonderful age
— an age moved by unprecedented activities, and beginning to be
controlled by grand and new ideas — ideas apparently new, but in
reality as old as the earliest revelations of Divine Truth. Great
Truths, which the evil of man's state had covered over with its black
*«« Since, then, all things are either caused, or causes — assisting, or being assisted
— mediately, or immediately,' — and all are related to each other by a natural and
imperceptible bond, which unites together things the most distant and dissimilar, I
hold it impossible to know the parts, without knowing the whole; and equally so to
know the whole, without knowing the parts in detail." — rascal,
16
pall, are emerging from their long eclipse, and false institutions and
perverse societies are troubled by their light in which they can see
nought but threatening judgments and a consuming fire. It is, to
the bold and the strong in faith, a time of rich promise, but also a
time of great present disquiet and mourning to many of the wise and
good. The good man cannot be happy without a church and a state
to look up to. He has not that now. He can reverence neither.
Both the Church and the State are arraigned before the judgment-seat
of a higher truth than their own, and they have no good defence !
It would be interesting to trace some of the manifest bearings of
this subject of Universal Unity upon every department of human
thought and action; upon morals and jurisprudence, and civil arid
religious polity ; upon the church and the commonwealth in all their
interests and duties ; upon the mental and moral training of the in-
dividual, and the whole conduct of his life ; and upon the organization
of industry and commerce. But the limits prescribed to this Essay
will allow of but a few hints on one or two of these subjects.
1st. Of the State or Commonwealth. This, as all other things,
can be understood only from a just view of its end or use. It is in
the order of Divine Providence that the different races of mankind
should be distributed into tribes and nations, each distinguished by
its peculiar characters and genius, and inhabiting a limited portion of
of the earth's surface. A State is an association of individuals for
mutual protection, the establishment of justice, the security of freedom,
and the promotion of the common welfare. A true State or common-
wealth has respect to all the interests of man, material and moral;
and regards the former as existing for the sake of the latter. Its life
is neighborly love, a regard for mutual good, the principle of Christian
Brotherhood. Every nation is bound, of course, to govern itself by
those laws of order which shall promote the highest good of all its
members without distinction ; restrain nothing but disorder, and se-
cure the most perfect freedom to all commendable and innocent pur-
poses, thoughts, and actions. The law of Universal Unity embraces
within its order the law of universal freedom ; for no good is done
by man except in freedom. A true commonwealth will know no
other " national honor" than that which is found in deeds of justice
and good will, and in the virtue, wisdom, and happiness of its people:
Its members will feel themselves bound together by a common life,
each caring for all and all for each. There will be little dispute about
"the rights of man," for these, being involved in the absolute duty
of all men to do right, will be regarded as unquestionable and Divine ;
— as the plain teaching of this precept, "All things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." This
is the great fundamental law of human equality, the Divine expresssion
of the Unity of the Race. And this unity of the human race depends,
not as some imagine, upon descent from a common ancestor ; but on
a common life from the One Infinite Fountain of Love and Wisdom.
17
We assert the unity of the race not only on this earth, but in all
worlds. There is but one humanity in the Universe ; and from the
life of this one humanity is derived the life and the law of all minor
associations of mankind, as families, tribes, and nations : and thus
each nation or society, by being true to the laws of its own well being",
is in the way of promoting the highest good of the race.
In such a society party spirit will have a very limited range of
action. Differences of opinion among those who have in view the
common good, when tolerated, fade away and are lost in the superior
light of a practical wisdom, that knows how to harmonise all honest
differences and make them minister to a more perfect uniom
Does this order of society suppose a radical change in the nature
of man ? It is the end of the Divine Providence, and of every dis-
pensation of grace and truth, to effect this radical change in man's
nature, and thus restore him to his normal state ; and whatsoever
teaching or science does not look to this end, is of no estimation. Do
we see no aspiration towards the state of order indicated above as that
■of a true society, no developement of the laws of Unity, in the nu-
merous reforms attempted in all departments of life ? Some indica-
tions of this tendency we have just noticed. We have observed how
the disorder which man has introduced into his nature is repeated in
all the institutions of society, and even in all the kingdoms of nature ;
and it is a favorite theory of speculative men that these external de-
rangements are to be rectified only by bringing the internal into order ;
and they hence discourage what they call external and superficial re-
forms, until the internal man shall be set right, when external order
will follow of course, The theory involves a half of truth, which is
commonly equivalent to a grave error. It is true that the reforma-
tion of external disorders must proceed from within, but the reforma-
tion within first manifests itself in attempts to correct the more glaring
external evils. Creation ascends from the lowest degree to the high-
est ; after the light has revealed the dry ground and the waters, ap-
pears the grass bearing seed and the fruit tree bearing fruit, the sun
yields his living warmth, and the moon and stars their welcome light j
the waters become prolific, birds enliven the air, and the earth brings
forth its living creatures ; and at length when all things are prepared
the Human is manifested, Man appears in the image of his Maker.
This is the unchangeable law of creation, and in this order must all
re-formation whether of the individual or of society, take place. And
very striking have been the changes in this direction since the middle
of the last century. Need we refer to the astonishing developement
of the physical sciences and their applications in the industrial arts,
and the three-fold efficiency thereby given to the hand of labor — to
the changes favorable to freedom and order, in political institutions —
to the warfare waged, not without success, against the grosser and
more destructive vices and oppressions in society ? True it is, that
seen from a merely natural point of view, the issue of this great con-
flict between light and darkness appears doubtful. Crime and misery
3
II
appear to be on the increase ; and evil and selfish passions too often
mingle in the enterprises of humanity, and impair their power, and
blight their fruits. Yet from all these phenomena of the movement ,
the enlightened friends of progress gather heart and hope. The in-
flowing light reveals the thoughts of many hearts, and where deep-
seated and inveterate evils exist, it bringeth not peace upon the earth,
but a sword. For example, in a society and church so deeply diseased
as that of France before the revolution — a society in which disorder
and deadliest crime had become fixed in its permanent institutes,
while charity and faith had almost perished from the hearts of men
— could the entrance of new truths revealing these deformities, fail
to be followed by direst convulsions and fearful crimes ? It is much
when the evils of man's state and condition are revealed ; when he
is awakened from his " sleep in the dust of- the earth," though many
thereby appear to become more desperately wicked, and their awaking
is but to "shame and everlasting contempt ;" for in this way alone
can the earth be purged of its evils. The first office of the truth in
its mission of redemption, is the execution of a judgment by mani-
festing, in its own light, the quality, of institutions and of men. It
is this which false societies and evil institutions instinctively dread ;
hence the restraints and penalties by which they seek to suppress the
free expression of man's honest convictions. But in spite of all these
restraints which the Divine Providence, for good ends, permits to
exist, the truth finds an entrance to the popular mind through ways
that no human authority can close up. Wherever the Divine Word
exists, every pure heart and honest mind enkindled by its influence,
becomes a burning light, and transmits its rays to all within his sphere.
Thus is knowledge and goodness increased by communication, and
the darkness dispersed. Of course the grosser external evils of man's
state and condition are first revealed, and as these are removed, more
interior evils are brought to light, as man gathers strength to combat
and subdue them. Let us illustrate this reformatory process by an
example. One of the external evils which has excited deep and
anxious attention, and called forth strenuous efforts for its suppression,
is the use of intoxicating drinks. Therciore interior depravities from
which this external vice flows, have been little thought of; but the
vice itself has been combatted almost on its own ground, from motives
of worldly interest, of honor, of self-respect and natural affection: —
it has been so combatted against, and with great success, because the
mass of mankind were incapable of acting from any higher principle.
The warfare against evils must begin on the ground w r here the natural
man stands, and from which he can see clearly only gross external
vices and crimes. When these are removed, he is elevated to a higher
ground, and evils of a more interior and deadly kind, though less
revolting in their external aspect, are presented to his view, as defiling
his soul and warring against his peace ; and so on through all the
stages of his upward progress, until he attains to his rest. And as
it js with an individual, so is it with a society. " First is the natural
19
man, and afterwards the spiritual." It will' be easy to apply this
principle of progress to every attempt to realize a better condition of
humanity — to the efforts in behalf of peace among nations — to the
warfare against slavery and every form of injustice, and of human
debasement and misery. The state of celestial Peace, with its inef-
fable harmonies, its ever joyous activity and freedom, must needs
foreshadow its coming; must, before its entrance into the World, cast
a feeble and obscure image of its own heavenly form upon the insti-
tutions of society and other circumstances of man's external condition.
And is there no word of prophecy in the fact that a large and growing
band of hopeful men are laboring to actualize a condition of society
in which all interests shall be harmonized ; in which the precept
" Love thy neighbor as thyself," shall be a living fact ; where labor
shall be attractive and suitably rewarded, and a congenial sphere exist
for all ? In view of all these efforts of amelioration, may we not "now
learn a parable of the fig tree ; when its branch is yet tender and
putteth forth leaves, then know that the summer is nigh." Yes, nigh
already in its creative influences, though centuries may pass away
before its confirmed reign shall bless the world — before the Will of
the Father shall "be done on earth as it is in the heavens."
2d. Of the Church and Religion. If we regard the laws of Divine
Order, we shall expect to find here the same variety in unity as exists
in every part of creation. Unity is admitted to belong to the very
idea of a true church ; but in what this unity consists is not so well
understood. It is too commonly confounded with sameness in formulas
of belief, or forms of polity, or submission to the same external legis-
lative power. But in these things, mainly, must be manifested that
boundless variety without which there can be no true and living
harmony.
We have seen that the principle of Unity in the Universe and in
every individual thing therein, is its end or use. A watch, or any
other work of man, is a unit, because all its parts exist for the sake
of its end, and conspire to actualize that end ; and this is true of every
living thing ; of the race of man, and of every thing below him ; and
it is obviously true of every society of men. The Society is one
when it has a common end, and each member labors, whether con*
sciously or unconsciously, to the attainment of that end. The Unity
of the Church, then, must consist in its recognition of a common end,
and its sincere and diligent working out of that end. This end is
the establishment of the Lord's Kingdom in the hearts and minds of
the human race — the putting away of evil and the doing of good.
This principle, under whatever variety of forms of religion it exists,
unites all minds, in whom it reigns, into a one; they have o?iehord,
one Life ; they are willing subjects of the one Supreme Law of the
Universe, "brethren in the Lord," and "members one of another."
This Union embraces all who are in possession of any Divine Truth
and religiously obey it. The heathen who know hut one precept of
the Decalogue (and there are none, perhaps, without at least this
20
amount of knowledge, else they could not be men,) and observe and
keep it as a precept of religious obligation, are thereby placed in com-
munication with all truth, and receive, in their degree, the life of
heaven : they are thus, in their humble sphere, members of the Lord's
body, and should not be treated as strangers and aliens. " A bruised
reed and a dimly burning taper," represent their feeble life, but these
shall be preserved until the Divine Truth gain its victory. " All
members have not the same office," and the perfect human form em-
braces the whole endless variety of the Universe. Take a humbler
illustration : What is the end of the vine ? Is it not to bear fruit ?
and we value the vine in proportion to the excellence of it's fruit. Yet
no part of the vine is precisely like another; and in the whole there
is not one leaf, nor one blossom, nor one grape, precisely and in all
respects like another : and m this variety of uses and forms, all con-
spiring in the one unitary form and use, consist the beauty and ex-
cellence of the vine. But it has been regarded as a question of great
difficulty in the church, how to reconcile the existing variety with
the required unity. The difficulty lies in the principle of selfishness,
in " the lust of dominion, and the pride of self-derived intelligence."
This union does not exist simply because the end, on which it de-
pends, has not been- honestly pursued. The Christian spirit or
Charity has been wanting. Overlooking this Divine and all-suffi-
cient bond — " this bond of perfectness " — men have sought to frame
external and artificial ones to supply its place ; as ingeniously con-
structed formulas of belief, and systems of polity. But all such at-
tempts have failed, and ever must. The Temple of the Lord is built,
not with bricks and bitumen from the plain of Shinar, but of living
stones from the mountain. In the language of an author as yet fa?
too little read r
" When a church is first raised up by the Lord, it is in the begin-
ning pure, and the members love each other as brethren ; as is known- 1
from the Primitive Christian Church after the Lord's coming. All
the sons of the Church at that time lived among themselves as breth-
ren, and mutually loved each other : but in process of time charity
diminished and vanished away ; and as charity vanished evils suc-
ceeded, and with evils falses also insinuated themselves, whence
arose schisms and heresies. These would never have existed if
Charity had continued to live and rule. For then they would not
have called them schisms and heresies, but doctrinals according to
one's opinion, which they would have left to every one's conscience,
provided they did not deny principles, that is the Lord, Eternal Life,
and the Word, and maintained nothing contrary to Divine Order, that
is, contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue. — Arcana Celes-
tia, 1834.
Again : " The doctrine is one where all have mutual love or charit}^.
Mutual love and charity effects that they should be one, although
various ; for from things various it makes a one. All, however many
they arp, even though myriads of myriads, if they are in charity or
21
mutual love, they have one end, viz. the common good, the kingdom
of the Lord, and the Lord Himself; and the varieties in matters of
doctrine and worship are as the varieties of the senses and viscera
in man, which contribute to the perfection of the whole. For then
the Lord, by means of charity, flows in and operates, differently ac-
cording to the genius of each one, and thus arranges all and every
one in order, as in heaven so also on earth. — A. C. 1285.
" All doctrines which are true, regard charity as their fundamental ;
what is the design of doctrinals but to teach how man should live ?
The several churches m Christendom are distinguished by their doc-
trinals, and they hence call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans,
Calvinists, or the Reformed Evangelical Protestants, with many
others. This distinction of names arises solely from doctrinals, and
would never have had place, if they had made love to the Lord and
charity towards the neighbor the principal point of faith. Doctrinals
would then, be only varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of
faith, which true christians would leave to every one according to
his conscience, and would say from the heart that he is a true chris-
tian who lives as a christian, or as the Lord teaches. Thus one
church would be formed out of all these diverse ones, and all disa-
greements arising from mere doctrinals would vanish, yea, all the
animosities of one against another would be dissipated in a moment,
and the kingdom of the Lord would be established on the earth." —
A. C. 1799.
Is not this true ?
Note. — Since the above pages were written I have read with much satisfaction
the lectures of Professor Q,uinet, of the College of France, on " The Jesuits," and
on " the Roman Church and Modern Society." Here, as in all the utterances of
the most advanced minds, we see an earnest aspiration towards a Universal and
living Unity of the Church and of Humanity. Is not the leading idea of the age,:
of the New Dispensation of Truth, contained in such expressions as these ?
" The thought of circumscribing, or despoiling theology, of separating it from
science, is wholly modern ; for indeed there is but one science, as there is but one
true religion ; and you cannot depart from the one without departing from the
other "
Speaking of the fragments of truth possessed by all nations :
" The more I discover of these resemblances, the more I perceive every where
the principles of the same faith, the relics of one vast church which must one day
recover itself and re-unite what the breath of the times has divided."
" It will be one of the consequences of the social dogma to raise one's self to that
height where churches, divided, separated, hostile, may attract each other, and be
reconciled to each other. * * * If the same church should re-assemble one
day the tribes dispersed to the four winds, if the members of the human family as-
pire secretly to be melted into the same compact mass, if the tunic of Christ, for
which they cast lots on Calvary, should ever re-appear in its integrity,' — I say that
science accomplishes a good work in entering first into this way of alliance. One
will have for enemies those who love hatred and division in sacred things. No
matter ; we must persevere ; it is man who divides, it is God who re-unites."
" Certes it would be necessary to shut the eyes to the light, not to see that a new
religious aurora is dawning on the world. * * * Every one pretends to shut it
up, to circumscribe it, to wall it in, in some particular enclosure ; but this Christ,
enlarged, renewed, come cut. as it were, a second time from the tomb, docs not
22 ttffrr
allow himself so easily to" b'e brought into subjection ; he apportions himself, gives
himself, communicates himself, to all. The great religious life appears not only in
Catholicism, but also in Protestantism ; not only in positive faith, but also in Phi-
losophy. ' '
[Classification of Natural Objects. Note to page 6.]
The distinction between the principle of classification proper to the sensuous un-
derstanding and that of the rational mind, is not adequately pointed out in the text.
As observed by James John Garth Wilkinson, in a paper on the grouping of ani-
mals : " Each walk of nature maybe studied for very different purposes ; but the
purpose will determine the order into which the knowledge gained during the study
is distributed; Thus animals may be classed either, 1. To assist the memory ; for
instance, to enable it to hold together a multitude of facts by virtue of some general
points of connection ; or, 2. To aid the rational faculties, to strengthen their per-
ceptions of the order of nature, of man himself, and of the human mind, and of the
relations in which all things stand to the Creator. Natural History, therefore, as
a ground, like all the other series in the Universe, may furnish any thing, from a
bare catalogue, to an order reflecting a profound philosophy. * * * When the
end proposed in a classification of animals is to fortify the memory and to facilitate
the record of knowledge, it would seem that similarity of form, and similarity in
general, may constitute the basis of the classification. On the other hand, when
the end is of a philosophical character^ when we wish to treat our classification as
a truth, and to reason from it,, we must have recource to something more vital than
analogy of form, and in this case, as I hope to show, we must rather consider affi-
nities of use and character than the resemblances perceptible to the senses. * * *
" I have before stated, that existing classifications may be likened to Dictionaries
of animated nature, and the parallel involves an interesting truth. In an ordinary
Dictionary, the words of a language are brought together by the rule of literal si-
milarity ; and a mighty convenient thing such a Dictionary is. But in making use
of language as an instrument of thought, we depart at once from the order of the
Dictionary ; and in proportion as the subject lifts us into the art of expression, we
avoid similarities of sound, lest the progressive spiral of ideas should be drawn back
into a dull round of jingling terms. Now there is just the same difference between
the present method of the naturalist and the method of nature, that there is between
a dictionary and a grand composition. The former coheres by a single thread,
namely, the rule of uniformity ; the latter is a connected tissue of ends, means,
and uses, and the bond of connection throughout is the harmonious working of the
parts, all with each, and each with all."
Mr. W. accordingly proposes a "trial of the principle of affinity of use as a
ground of classification, in place of similarity of form and structure." This prin-
ciple leads to the grouping of the domestic animals around the human race ; and
Mr. W. concludes that of the animated tribes, '* the horse is the prime unit, and
most allied to man — that he is the head of animated nature. ' ' This scheme of clas-
sification may be attended with difficulties, but since it is founded in the very truth
of things, it must ultimately prevail. Says Mr. W. " At all events we see a dis-
tinct luminous spot. Man and the domestic animals shining as a great light in the
centre of animated nature. What if it be surrounded, as worlds always are, at
first, with a dark circumference of chaos and obscurity ; this is the very matter out
of which order and beauty are to be created. It only shows that, as followers of
nature, she imposes upon us the same difficulties that she imposes upon herself.
She works, and we must learn by rational methods. The organization of knowl-
edge must begin from principles, and be accomplished progressively, precisely as
the organization of matter begins, and as solar systems are created. We have no
right to be disappointed, if the one condition of exploring nature consists in follow-
ing that order which she herself obeys in her operations.
H 153 82
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