TWENTY DISCOURSES,
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
IN THE WINTER AND SPRING OF 1863.
BY ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS,
Author of several volumes on the Harmonial Philosophy.
NEW YORK:
C. M. PLUMB  &  CO., PUBLISHERS,
2'14 CANAL STREET.
LONDON: J. BURNS, CAMBERWELL.
1865.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by
ANDREW  JACKSON DAVIS 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
"FRIEND OF PROGRESS"' PRINT,
274 Canal St., New York.




PREFACE.
The Lectures of which this volume is composed, were
lelivered Sunday mornings before the Friends of Progress
in the city of New York, during the Winter and Spring of
1863. The subject matter of the discourses, and the
language in which they are clothed, were drawn from the
inspiration given during the moments allotted to their
delivery-sometimes, indeed, the speaker had not chosen
either his theme, or the line of argument to be pursued,
until he arose to address the congregation. This fact will
amply account for both the defects and excellences which
may be found sprinkled through the following pages.
Doubtless the author would have given more time to the
selection of themes and the construction of arguments —
which is ever to be recommended-if his thoughts and time
had not been so entirely devoted to many and various
labors wholly disconnected with this course of Lectures.
And yet, in the light of his experience, it is questionable
whether the contents of this volume would have been
improved.  If all scripture  "given by inspiration is
profitable," why may not the same rule apply to Morning
Lectures, given under the quickening power of the same
universal principle?
That this volume may be a friend to the lonely, a guide
to the wanderer, and a ray of light to those in darkness, is
the sincere prayer of
NEW YORK, June 1, 1864.                 A. J. D.




CONTE NTS.
Page
Defeats and Victories,                                    5
The World's True Redeemer,       -      -      -      - 28
The End of the World,                                    51
The New Birth,      -      -                             82
The Shortest Road to the Kingdom of Heaven, -      -   107
The Reign of Anti-Christ,                             - 134
The Spirit and its Circumstances,    -      -      -   154
Eternal Value of Pure Purposes,   -     -      -        188
Wars of the Blood, Brain, and Spirit,  -    -      -   199
Truths, Male and Female,   -     -      -      -      - 213
False and True Educatidn,            -                  238
The Equalities and Inequalities of IIuman Nature, -   - 253
Social Centers in the Summer-Land,    -     -      -   266
Poverty and Riches,              -                    - 288
The 6bject of Life,    -      -      -      -           310
Expensiveness of Error in Religion,   -        -      - 328
Winter-Land and Summer-Land,-        -      - -         349
Language and Life in the Summer-Land,          - -    - 377
Material Work for Spiritual Workers,  -                 405
Ultimates in the Summer-Land,                         - 421




MORNING LECTURES.
DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.
"Many a foe is a friend in disguise;
Many a trouble a blessing most true."
I have for years observed that the earth is full of
downcast, melancholy persons, or of indifferent, stoical,
lukewarm, shipwrecked characters-both the logical
consequences of this over-spun popular but dogmatic
theology, which is the plague of the world in general
and the private sorrow of the millions of Americans in
particular. Atheism is a beautiful belief, honest and
soul-saving, compared with that desperate, godless, devilfull theology, which gives such splendor to the physical
churches and such despair to the congregations of
believing millions who support them.  Mankind must
obtain a new conception of the world in order to drive
out this theological disease, which has been communicated to almost every sensitive, religious, spiritual, and
poetic mind.  It has sickened and blighted every soul
that has unfortunately come under the sable wings of
this dismal, desperate dream  of the Oriental world.
le>briew  mythology is the basis of the theology of
America this very hour.  Only where there happens to
be a mleet.ing Quakers, of Unitarians or Universalists,




6                MORNING LECTURES.
of Spiritual Reformers or of Progressive Friendsonly in such places is there any living protest to th(
prevalence of the abominable miasma which has gone
abroad like the plagues of Egypt, filtering itself
through all human institutions, not even excepting
science, literature, and the arts.
Now I find myself called upon to speak in emphatic
words against the desperate, dismal disease-promoting,
despair-propagating tendency of Hebrew  mythology,
which i's the accredited theology and petted religion of
Christendom.  And it seems to me that, if there be
vouchsafed enough light and strength at this timne, we
may do something towards augmenting the force of this
protest by considering the question of "Defeats and
Victories."
There are two propositions which stand before my
mind as incontrovertible, and as necessary to a distinct
and full comprehension of the subject:
First: That forms, vehicles, mediums, organizations, institutions, equipments, agents, attorneys, are
transient, while that which they convey is PERMANENT
and ETERNAL —and, therefore, that even what are called
"c Accidents," are but the conductors or viaducts of
laws that are just as full of the wisdom of Deity as the
most delicious blessings that ever hugged your heart.
Second: That all great immutable scientific principles, and the eternal spiritual truths, have been conveyed to mankind by means of blood, fires, dungeons,
racks, gibbets, guillotines, governments, revolutions,
convulsions, spasms, fits, earthquakes, and hysterics.
These two propositions stand before my mind with
as much distinctness and significance as does any person's countenance in this room.  To  recognize the




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.              7
Divinity in the accident, to see Good in dire disaster,
to be strong enough to overcome evil in your oppressive
misfortunes, to be pure enough to conquer the vice that
is within you, or just touching you, is-to give evidence
of your complete and practical recognition of that sublime truth in the first proposition which is essential to
every person's success and happiness in society, in business, in death, in resurrection.  The most beautiful
success is the most desperate disaster to him who is not
wise enough to accept God as much in cloud as in sunshine.
Now, I am  looking at and speaking to the world
to-day from these propositions and principles. The
whole universe appears to me.to be regulated by a system of immutable, divine, benign, heavenly principles,
which ooze perpetually forth and declare themselves
even through our direst defeats, through our misfortunes, our failings and faults, and through those various and numerous accidents which occur in the history
of human experience.
Rightly looked at, Adam fell up stairs!  (I am
speaking  now  of the  accepted  story  in  Hebrew
mythology with reference to the first human defeatperhaps the best, most full of wisdom, most searching
in its spiritual lessons.) This Hebrew myth, at basis a
beautiful truth, teaches that Adam fell upward and onward-out of his ephemeral, butterfly, useless existence, into manly health and laborious progression. He
was born into luxury; this was the primal cause of his
first defeat.  He was physically and spiritually successful from the beginning; that caused his downfall and
expulsion.  Born from the skies, inheriting an incalcu



8               MORNING LECTURES.
lable fortune-never having earned a penny of it, not
having acquired an item of the powers and truths
which were slumbering in his possession-consequently
he had no appreciation of either, and like all other
superficial riches and unmerited success, his advantages
took unto themselves wings and fled, dropping him in
one of the open fields which were longing for a Man!
He met multiform  obstacles on every side; but they
were his best friends. If the first man Adam had early
met a little hill of gold, not more than six inches high
and ten inches in diameter, I fear he would never have
successfully surmounted it. Undoubtedly he had sufficient of the ", Yankee" in him to have influenced his
mind to bow to " the golden image and worship it." But
instead, he met only thistles, thorns, tempests, hurricanes, earthquakes and fits; but they sternly and honestly befriended him.
Do you not pity those feeble forest trees that must
grow where the winds never blow with tempestuous
fury?  You never find a great, beautiful oak, never
a grand, well-developed pine, never thrifty fruittrees, nor a great variety of wild flowers, where the
winds are not permitted -to work with great energy.
Instead, you find swamps of stagnation and cesspools
pervaded with deadly miasma; also you find subterranean beasts there —repulsive creatures, unfit to live
above ground, crawling and wriggling in the undisturbed sinks of nastiness.
Again, do you not pity a Brother man who is so well
fed in body that he has grown exceedingly lean and
mean in his spirit?  General Bankis (who now  occupies a very prominent office, probably standing on the




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.              9
threshold of the most important movement about to
connect the East inseparably with the great States and
Territories west of the Mississippi,) graduated from one
of New Englalrd's cotton-mills, and not from some high
temple of learning,' not from the fostering caresses and
enfeebling  attentions of very  rich  parents.  No!
MIaster-men are the productions of those'energetic
principles in Nature which produce and regulate all
accidents; in the midst of apparent confusion developing the mrost orderly ends and guiding events to perfect
purposes.
I accept the doctrine that man is the ultimate image
of s" a divine plan," and that he is destined to be symmetrically developed in body and caused to ripen in
spirit.  These ends are accomplished by means of outward agents and spiritual influences-by mistakes and
personal faults-and not altogether by means of riches
and idleness, worldly success and bodily happiness. I
do not know of a single remarkable instance where a
man, made suddenly rich or popular, continues committed to the noble truths and large sympathies which
distinguished him before his great success.  But I do
know a man who was very poor from his birth, but
who became gradually rich and victorious in the midst
of disasters and misfortunes. He never lost his interest
in the struggling poor of the world, but gave, and still
gives, wisely of both wisdom and wealth.
The English Commissioner of Revenue near a hundred years ago undertook to gather exorbitant taxes
fromn the American people.  He was obliged to depart
without the tax-money, and -he sought his personal
safety out of Boston.  The people would not submit to
1i'




10               MORNING LECTURES.
tyranny that came over the free ocean. The tea was
thrown over in the harbor.  Americans would no
longer be willing slaves to the requisitions and impositions of their trans-Atlantic masters.'What was the
result?  All history of this country is resplendently
begemmed with the consequences.  1776 is referred to
in all the school-books, and by all loyal persons, both
in song and in story, as the commencement of "an
era" of Freedom  in the political and religious history
of the American.  England's great defeat was justice
and success to her.  It drove her snugly home, concentrated her upon the properties of her own kingdom
and commerce, and she has ever since been nationally
prosperous and self-possessed.  But when she arrogantly came over here, dressed in red-coats, marchitcng
to rich and costly music, she found that victory was
destined to be on the side of her opponents.
But this same victory of ours brought us a mighty
defeat.  We earned our "Cindependence," but found,
alas! that we were masters of England not only, but
also of millions of slaves.  And that sad success was
the germ of our present full-orbed defeats. As a nation
we have gone on with this terrible success until it has
put an extinguisher upon the effulgent light of our
Union.  Almost are we gone nationally down into the
martyr's sepulcher! Almost are hearth-stone enemies
ready to roll a great stone against its mouth!  But
America dead and in the martyr's tomb, with the stone
of adversity rolled against its mouth, is more mighty
and more triumphant than when tea went overboard in
Boston.
As a nation we must be forced into court and arbi



DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.             It
trarily condemned.  The cross of. sorrow must be put
on the Northern shoulder, and the whole country must
be led up to the summit of Calvary! A1 are now slowly
going thither. We shall be nailed to the cross, and
two thieves will be executed with us.  (There will be
no difficulty in finding a couple.)  Then we shall be
taken down, and the countries of Europe about the
foot of our cross will say: "We told you so —we
expected it. We have argued it and written it for the
last half century, that such a Republic as yours, such a
loosely constituted democracy, could not and would not
long exist."  Then we shall be carried away, placed in
the earth —only for a day!  Then will angel-principles roll away this vast political obstruction, which
keeps the people in the darkness of Hades and the
miseryv of Gehenna. Behold we shall come forth! And
then the nations of the world, like the old officers of
Rome, will be struck with blindness and paralysis.
America will come  forth-clad  in white-purified,
redeemed, transformed, free! Our greatest national
success-which gave us the power to overthrow the
mastery of England-gave us also mastery over millions of Africans.  That success is to-day teaching us
an expensive and desperate lesson, and we are slow in
learning it.
God, the greatest central good in the Universe, is
giving us our best development and our highest victories through disappointments, military defeats, and
political adversities.  Minds, not perceiving this truth,
are cast down.  They walk sadly in the vale of tears.
They live daily in bondage to'a fearful, soul-sickening
sorrow.  Oh, I pity those sightless editors of innu



12              MORNING LECTURES.
merable papers-those atheistic men who move and
float along in and with the rough world "just as they
find it" —minds that see nothing higher and feel nothing
better than the hum-drum of diurnal events.  I do not
wonder that they oppose and decry the Government,
and set themselves against the administration of the
Government.  All the atheistic criticisms of our countrymen are so many moral stumbling-blocks in the
pathway toward perdition. Banking men contemplate
the demolition of their capital. Churches and colleges,
and the institutions of common education, are wrapped
up with the nation's commercial machinery.  The
important men, who support these institutions, are not
lifted by their faith in Christianity high enough above
circumstances to see that America is destined to go
down through the Gulf Stream, then put out into the
cold water, and at last outsail all the storms of capes
and gulfs, and finally' reach the clear open sea of
boundless liberty. They do not believe in God, and
they are accordingly cast down. And yet they go to
their churches, they hear beautiful music, utter formal
prayers, listen to expensive orthodox sermons that
are filled with grammar and rhetoric, and with very
beautiful allusions to the Savior and his exemplary
life;, but when they go home from  their carpeted
churches, they are the same cast-down, hopeless, atheistical persons they were before they assembled for
worship. A hopeful, buoyant, and honorable man or
woman is so in spite of his or her religious creed.
Look at mankind's defeats and successes in Science.
We have a beautiful science of anatomy —a knowledge
of all the bones that enter into the framework of the




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.             13
human being, or of the lower organizations. Do you
suppose that a healthy man would ever have concerned
himself with the items of his structure? Never! Perfect success in health would have kept the world in
total ignorance of its anatomy and physiology. Disease has been our blessing! It strikes at the bone.
Then comes the surgeon with his scalpel, separating
parts and revealing structure, and thus he becomes a
learned man; next he teaches anatomy to the classes,
and then the classes go out, and thus a true education
finally filters through the interstices of all human experience.  And to-day almost every person knows that
he has 247 bones in his body, and that woman is constituted precisely the same; and that the doctrine that
man lost a rib originally is just as true as any other
ancient myth-that is to say, in its external sense, not
true at all.
Then came the beautiful knowledge of physiology.
This science is now one of the useful ornaments of a
gentleman's education.  Ladies, also, have begun to
acquire great riches in the direction of organs and
functions. Disease has been the world's great teacher.
People just begin to discover that there are such things
as nerves! They have been long told by physicians
that there were such conductors; but now they know
the thrilling fact.  Old sturdy Britons and Northern
lords knew nothing of nerves.  Read their books, and
you will find scarcely an allusion to such impressible
structures.  A. nation had to become sick-the whole
people had to be cast down in sorrow —before man's
mind could be inoved to seek out knowledge of thiat
mysterious system  which connects his brain with all




14               MORNING LECTURES.
his senses, and the senses with the whole universe
without.
Insanity, too, had to exist before phrenology could
be practically developed and demonstrated.  Mental
diseases had to abound, and crime in its most mischievous forms also, before phrenology became the
world's absolute necessity. The science is the child
of research and misfortune, and for this reason phrenology has conquered much ignorance, and has given
men practical knowledge of themselves.
Again, mankind wele obliged to be afflicted and
defeated with sickness in the spirit, moral prostrations,
vices, and discords.  There had to be swearing, profanity of various kinds, and licentiousness also, before
-men would seek out the great developments of music,
art, religion-those higher blessings which enter into
the spiritual education and happiness of the world.  It
was necessary that the world should suffer from its
ignorance and defeats before men could be induced to
inquire concerning the spiritual laws and inner principies of their existence.  Men who had never seen or
experienced any such evils as larceny, incendiarism, or
murder, would never haye concerned themselves with
virtue, with truth, and with legal agents and instrumentalities by which virtue and truth are advocated,
vindicated, and developed.  Great saving constructive
truths would never have appeared to the human mind
were it not for the discords of society and the dire diseases of individuals.
The best knowledge in the world is attributable to
the sworld's ignorance.  Misfortune is esteemed by
Diviiiity of as much value as success.  Defeat is just




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.              15
as truly a part of God's great system as victory. Vice
is a portion of the system —it is not an accident —for it
brings victories as well as virtues.  I verily believe
this country's salvation is inseparable from the colossal
lies which decorate the throne of Jefferson Davis. How
could it be otherwise? How could the political crabsterians of this country discover that the millions who
have been working for nothing in the South, are children
of God and the victims of wrong political circumstances, were it not for the moral, political, social, and
civil degradations which those same circumstances have
developed among the whites? White ninnies and black
picaninnies walk side by side, and all parties are
moving on  the  road  leading  to an equal success
through desperate and blood-stained defeats.
Do you suppose that Abraham Lincoln would have
felt the "military necessity" which prompted his first
of January edict, if our armies had been successful six
months before? The civilized world looks at the brave,
strong, powerful North, and is amazed at its defeats. But the future will look upon those weeks and
months of our national agony and despair with awe,
gratitude, and thanksgiving.  The "military necessity" of the 1st of January, 1863, will beget and
become a s" moral necessity.'"
Already the people of the North are opening their
hearts to the conception that the black man is able and
anxious to defend the rights of the white man.  6c This
is a white man's war," said the proud, successful
Northlmen.  "' We will fight our own battles, win our
own victories, and obtain much credit in the political
heaven for'achieving all this sublime success."  Our




16               MORNING LECTURES.
private merchants and our public ministers, as with one
voice, said:  "We shall have the glorious honor of
beholding a white man's laurel on the brow  of the
potential North." Well, we have!learned, sadly enough,
that all this boasting and presumption, this pedantry
an ld heartless assumption of power, has been forced
down with its knees in the dust. The whole people see
that further humiliations are in store before real victory can crown the brow of the North; and so seeing,
they are imperceptibly converted to a higher religion
than the churches can impart.  I know that a few
churches begin to recognize this; but did they recognize it at the start?  No! Ministers have been educated by this war'as much as merchants, bankers,
farmers, and mechanics.  Brigadier-Generals know no
more about'the future than does the private warrior
who went bravely forth from the mechanic's shop, the
factory, or the field, bearing the musket snugly against
his shoulder, and groaning (sometimes with homesick,
despairing though ts,) under the weight of his overloaded
knapsack. But- he knows as much, thinks as clearly,
feels as much true patriotism  as do the Brigadiers
and Major-Generals who ride with plumes along the
front, s" the observed of all observers "-all being educated alike; all gone to school together.
Old theology teaches persons who go through these
long avenues on to battle, that if they have  not
accepted Christ and the means of salvation, they will
go down to endless night.  B l, the divine truth of
Nature (which is God's only gospel) speaking deep
down in the soul of such persons, causes them to say,
6 I do not believe it."  The minister says, "That




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.              17
is Satan's voice."  Intuition, however, takes the
responsibility, and so the soldier, without conversion,
marches on to battle.  He vaguely, yet strongly feels,
in his deepest soul, that if he should die in the midst
of carnage, fighting for his flag and the country, the
duty which he is performing and the motive which
actuates him will be equal to the merits of Christ.  So
he practically sees the goodness of God, and believes
in his own salvation. And what is more curious, his
mother at home believes it also.  She says: "To be
sure, Charles never went to church; he seemed to be
irreligious on Sundays; but he was better than most
young men, and, though he was a little wild, yet he
died doing his duty, bravely and fearlessly at the cannon's mouthl; and I know that our Savior is very mercit'ul, and though he was not'converted,' as was
supposed, no doubt God, who seeth the falling sparrow,
will take him home to glory."'
THAT is the great gospel of Mother Nature! That
is the voice of the living God speaking higher than
theoloogy, and above all the superstitions which crowd
the mother's  mind.  Let us pray that all motherswhen the deep sorrow comes to the heart-may have
the great joy of believing truth  direct from  Deity.
Notwithst.anding. his waywardness, his evils, imperfections, cruelties at home, negligence even —still, over all
and through all, is tile intuitive belief that the heavens
open and receive the soldier-son.  That, I say, is the
word of God speaking in the womlan's heart in the cool
of the day, when sorrow presses heavily, whea the wine
-of truth comes bleedingly out of her spirit.
But let a mother go on with social and worldly




18              MORNING LECTURES.
success —let her feel the pressure of no great sorrowand her theology will be a pampered idol.  She will
oppose the Reformer and sneer at the Spiritualist. She
does not believe in the war; or, if she does, it is with
hate, like the politicians.  But let a weighty sorrow
come to her heart, and forthwith she rises up into a
beautiful transformation of spirit; and then from ignorance she goes to knowledge, from theology to wisdom,
from despair to hope, from doubt to faith, from defeat
to victory.
For all these reasons I pity a village that has never
had a mob. Go into a Connecticut town that has never
had anything to disturb it worse than a few boys stealing melons in the summer time, or some dogs that kill
the sheep —suppose no great disturbance, no deep agitation, had come to that town-behold  the  utter
imbecility there in regard to the great moving principles of the world!  They read old newspapers that
were published half a century ago, edited by persons
who geot their education one hundred years ago, and
who taught things that are two and a half centuries
old,'hev own the oldest books, which contain. the
oldest sermons and inculcate the poorest thoughts.
They read the Bible with the oldest pair of spectacles
in the house, and they judge of' modern things through
the Testaments, portions of which are at least three
thousand years behind the age.
Now look at the city or village that has been stirred.  Some reformatory man went there, who aroused
tihe passions and prejudices of the people.  They were
obliged to hunt up their unmarketable eggs to express -
their profound disgust with the reformer's sentiments.




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.             19
Perhaps he was an Anti-slavery man, or a Woman's
Rights speaker, or some thoronlgh-going temperance
reformer, or-which is still more dreadful-some longhaired and large-brained Spiritualist.  The community
so visited has received a shock, a vibration, a movement from its center, which is the commencement of its
success -in development.
Now take this country.  The iron-clads and the
Monitors that are to go forth to victory, have c6ome out
of defeats.  In Hampton Roads, in sight of' Fortress.
3Monroe, the Merrimac had to come.  She was the
Confederate's victory.  But we had to be defeated
before a Monitor could come out of these machineshops-freighted  with  prodigious  strength,  with
almighty energy-blasting that invention of' the Confederates in its very eyes, and giving such a demonstration of power as to alarm the North with its own
success.  Do you not also see that the Monitor had to
die,'to sink, before f'uture Monitors would be made
impervious to tempests and waves? Let her go; let
her bravely sink.  6" It is but to another sea."  The
people rise up to a more perfect work.  Our engineers,
our machinists, our scientific men, our inventors —all
spring like angels of light to the rescue!  Give us
defeat, not only in Hampton Roads, but also near Cape
Hatteras!
Now, what has Disease done?  It has brought the
sciences of Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Therapeutics-these volumes of'education upon which scientific
and school men pride- themselves.  And what has been
the result?  The expansion of useful knowledge aiong
the people, urging them to ov6rcome the causes of dis



20               MORNING LECTURES.
ease and to learn the simple ways of Health. There is;
consequently, only about one person in every twentythree really sick at any one time. The twenty-two are
not perfectly well-that is too much for the terrestrial
sphere; but there is only one of the twenty-three who
is prostrated, or silent, White, and waiting at the
golden gate of the Summer-Land. So that, at this
moment, while I am speaking to you, there are not more
than  1,370,000  persons actually sick in America.
According  to  the last census there were  about
32,000,000 persons in the United States; and only about
one in'every twenty-three was prostrated by disease
Why, the world is almost perfectly healthy —just sickness and suffering enough to keep us busy and on the
high road to victorious Science.
The defeats of the Allopathic system-what have
they led to? Why, they have led, through salivation,
to salvation! Behold those crystal colleges, devoted
to higher medical education, teaching the system  of
Hlahnemann, or the systemn  of Priesnitz, or both, and
the system of Franklin-electricity, and the system of
Mesner —magnetism, and next the system  of God.INDEPENDENCE OF ALL MEDICINE!
Let us thank all who populate heaven for our
defeats, diseases, accidents, and disappointments. Why,
Bull Run was but the commencement of that race which
shall not stop until the golden summits of Liberty are
fully attained!  We have only 4"gone around Robin
Hood's barn."  There is vastly more courage and real
success in backing out of fire than there is in going
uselessly into it and dying ibolishly. We had strength
and wisdom enough to retreat when disaster was upon




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.             21
us.  There was a Divinity shaping our ends-teaching
us that Freedom is the moral as well as the military
necessity of America's inhabitants.
Men in business do not arise to the true moral
position. They cannot do it until they are bankrupt,
and they may, therefore, soon become so. What makes
slavery so popular at the South?  Because of its great
mercantile, and commercial, and local advantages, and
not because of its moral, spiritual, and political advantages. It is popular because men and women, resting
in the lap of luxury, can get money without earning it,
can whip or hire it done, and out of the affliction of
others realize two or three hundred per cent. on their
hereditary investment.  That is the reason why it is
popular.  Men are not constituted to continue long in
that which brings bankruptcy. The slaves of the
South have earned the wealth of the South.  Many
great folks who live in luxury in the North, are trembling lest these multiplied and triple-fold taxes will
sweep away their fortunes and leave them at the altar
of repentance.  Many such persons tremble because
they are living on the earnings of slaves.  Men who
have amassed large estates by the misfortunes and victimizations of the black people, have had the most
miserable "success."  Oh, what a desperate victory!
It is dreadful, direful, devilful, hellful-damnation is
the result! Every such estate will melt like a mountain of ice before the summer sun.
Before this war commenced many persons who were
unfaithful to the ordinary obligations of truth became
tangled up with and woven into this great national
trouble.  They ripened on the very sorrows and sick



22               MORNING LECTURES.
nesses and slaveries of the people.  Let the moneyed
institutions groan! It is an honest symptom of coming
success for Truth and Justice-but remember, such success is coming through bankruptcy, through painful
defeats!  It is very gratifying to go into business and
obtain money-mere animal excitement and happiness
-have credit, so that no man questions you, with all
your drafts instantly honored.  Such a man does not
care to attend Progressive Meetings. He goes to a popular church every Sunday, where it is only necessary to
pay and keep still. But when the Sun of Righteousness
comes over the horizon of disasters and melts away all
his property, and when his great wealth floats doAil
into the little rivulets of other individual possessions,
then he goes in haste to his minister; he is spiritually
sick, is alarmed for his soul, and begins to inquire the
shortest way to the residence of the Holy Ghost.  Do
we not read in the New Testament that the young man
was " very sorrowful, because he had great possessions"?  He was materially successful —that was the
hidden  secret-so  successful, indeed, that he was
defeated every moment.
The man who is most unhappy, restless, defeated,
is the man who appears to be in the midst of plenty and
opulence.  I wish mankind could see this immutable
truth  more clearly.  They would then never become
bankrupt.  But not seeing it5 they yield themselves to
discord, to... disappointinent, and die with a thunderstroke of Fate!
But a true Spiritualist cannot be cast down.  lHe
cannot be thrown into these vales of disappointment.
No matter where he is, or in what he is laudably




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.              23
engaged, he finds that the eternal principles of the universe are filled with God's loving spirit, and in them
he knows that he is safe, and beyond the possibility of
defeat.
It is philosophical to believe in the benefits of.
defeats.  The shipwrecked mariner contributes by his
disaster just so much toward making all other ships
safer.  The Great Eastern had mishap after mishap in
order that vessels hereafter should not be so ambitious
in size, but more secure. Every accident on a railroad
is but another step toward expedition and safety.
Seeing all this, I wonder how men can live or die
worshiping the idol of theology, or believing in any
creed in Christendom.  I wonder not that they are
mentally prostrated, with only what they call " faith"
to give them a glimmering of rest just before the tombgate opens to receive them. They go down into the
grave, and friends write on their tombstones  that,
when the angel comes and the trumpet sounds, then
there will be a resurrection.  But the true Spiritualist
sees that there is no sepulcher, no tomb; that the
world is regulated without accidents, and that death is
nothing but a gentle "6defeat," which excludes the
cypress and includes the laurel.  Flowers blooln o'er
the death-bed of that mind which sees God's smiles
behind frowning clouds and tempests. The Christian's
"; hope" and this knowledge among Spiritualists are the
same in their effect upon the sentiments.  When the
Christian feels the "cfaith" which is peculiar to the
Spiritualism of Christianity and identical with the
knowledge of Spiritualism in these days, it is the light
of a common Deity speaking through the intuitions and




24              MORNING LECTURES.
the  moral faculties, saying to the prostrated one:
s" Thou shalt live beyond the tomb."
" The Summer-Land is not afar off. It is environing this world of ours, encasing it as the general air.
It surrounds this world on all sides, so that, whether
pointing up at noonday or at midnight, you point
toward your home which is c" eternal in the heavens."
It is through the. narrow, strait gate of defeat and
of death, but it deepens into unutterable splendor and
undying exhibitions of infinitude.  That world hovers
all around this world of winter, even as the golden era
of peace is ready to pervade this terrible era of war.
War is the production of the cellar-kitchen of
human nationality and progress.  It never comes from
the upper chambers in the temple of human growth.
It is natural to have war in the basement of our life.
There war is perfectly natural; not outside of God's
providence, but as much in it as is the highest and most
beautiful flower of peace.
The doctrine that you are fighting the devil when
you are favoring the Deity, is worthy only of low and
uneducated minds.  Whichever way you work, you
work for the ultimate glory of the universal system.
God is in it.  I mean by " God," the highest Truth,
the highest Principle, the highest Virtue, the highest
idea of whatsoever is Central and Perfect. The embodiment of these conceptions-the crystallization of all
high thoughts and intuitions-is "God."  God may be
a monster to one in a monstrous state of mind.  He is
a heathen God to the heathen mind.  He is a God of
battle to the Major-general, but always a God of peace
to " the pure in heart."




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.            25
We have acquired a larger vision, and see principles ip their grand, boundless operation, breaking out
of the Infinite bosom with great success, which come
from fine personal spasms and the awful experiences of
rough public defeats. When men learn that war is to
die, they will also learn that disease is to die; but
while they believe that war is an inevitable part of
human society and progress, and "; will continue through
all the cycles of human history," they then teach a desperate error, and are defeated through their lessons of
faith in God and Humanity.  Their misery, their
despondency, their downcast hearts, and their deploring
spirits, will constitute their best teachers; but we
believe that the time will come when they will attain
to the summit of a better conviction, and say: "Sin
abounded, that grace might much more abound;" discord, that harmony might come; ignorance, that knowledge might, bloom and blossom as the rose; misfortune, that success could come; death, that immortality
could crown the life of man; the sepulcher being
necessary for the new truth, and the stone necessary to
keep it entombed until the time should arrive for its
out-bursting development.  Behold! defeat is crowned
at length with victory.  The stone is rolled away,
truth arises, and those who stand guard over it say,
" Nay, this was buried, and it may now come forth."
Do you not feel thankful that the Romans caine into
England, and that when they found the old ancient
Britons there they straightway put those Britons in
bondage? What would England be to-day if it had
not been for the defeat of those Britons and for the
success of the Romans, and the Saxons, and the Nor2




26              MORNING LECTURES.
mans. Their defeat was necessary for that great, powerful, commercial, arrogant nation, which to-day ie
giving America her finest lesson. It is the lesson of
national consolidation-extending the front of eduication, of art, of commerce, and of liberty, Athough
through a monarchial system. She became more liberal than Rome, though Rome was a republic.  Whal
kind of a republic? A republic for those'who had
arms to defend themselves against the Goths and the
Vandals.  It was not the Liberty, the high republic,
which gives to every man and woman an expression.
America, to-day, appears as a great success out of the
defeats of these elder nations.  England is not a perfect republic, because England came from  ancestors
who taught the monarchial system.  She inherits the
forces and features of the past.
But America threw off that hereditary disaster, and
out of the defeats of the Past she is urging forward the
victory of the Present.  Suppose that persecution had
never reached those old Dissenters in Nottingham, in
England-suppose that persecution had never driven
them  to Holland —what would have become of Plymouth Rock? The Pilgrims laid the foundation for
the Puritanic temple of perpendicular righteousness,
elnd of Yankee chicanery and machinery. as well.
Otherwise the temple could never have been erected.
Governor Bradford were a myth, had it not been for
the great persecutions and the bitter defeats which
those early Dissenters experienced.  Defeats drove
them from Nottingham to Holland, and thence, in the
midst of their physical embarrassments and great privations, they came all the way across the Atlantic to the




DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.          27
Western shore. Plymouth Rock is the victory of
many defeats and misfortunes. But the descendants
of that Rock are destined to develop the palladium of
universal Freedom, and to make the immortal edict of
Emancipation a moral as well as a military necessity.




28               MORNING LECTURES.
THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMERI
"Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."
The beautiful and sublime truths imparted by the
Harmonial Dispensation, will hereafter appear through
lips more touched by the Promethean fire —more
blessed by the enchanting powers of divine eloquence.
My mission at present seems to be to utter, in plain
style and understandable language, new lessons in
spiritual progress, and to explain and enforce old
lessons in a new and more practical, useful, soulexalting, body-saving form.
I find a great many social and religious sewers in
fashionable homes that need to be thoroughly cleansed;
and one to enter upon such a labor must take off kidgloves and put on corduroy over-ails.  And hence,
although it is hardly the form accepted in the so-styled
best circles, (where dress passes par, and truth is
quoted at fifty per cent. discount,) yet for the accomplishment of important ends in the day and hour and
minute in which we breathe, such methods and dresses,
and  such  unvarnished  presentations of truth, are
deemed  expedient and  appropriate.  Therefore, as
there are so many blessed witnesses to come after me,
who will bring to you the clearly-defined pictures and
express the highest melody of progressive truth, there




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.          29
seems to be for me the rougher labor of laying the
granite foundation on which the temple of strong, vigorous Freedom, and of sturdy thought, can be planted
and erected in safety as upon the everlasting, hills.
I come before you at this time with the question,
"Who-What is the world's true Redeemer?"
A redeemer is one who takes up a circulation that
has had a very wide diffusion on the credit system.
The popular theory is that, from  the first, mankind
have been doing a credit business with the kingdom of
heaven; that the first thing we did as a race was to
run into an everlasting, deadly, and diabolical debt
with the Divine government, which is under the management and administration of that wifeless and melancholy trinity of co-equal gods-Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Hence, according to this theory, the world
needs some person, or thing, or principle, or transubstantiation, to liquidate this solid and solemn condition
of things, and thus put mankind again on c" interceding
ground"-on the basis of a possible credit and acceptance at the bar of the Eternal in the heavens.
This, I repeat, is the general theory among socalled Christians. In searching human history, however, we find this popular theory to be nothing niore
than a hypothesis, based on Hebrew mythology and
superstition.  But this Hebrew mythology was originated in a genuine spiritual perception-crude, indistinct, and unphilosophical, but a perfect truth in
germ-that, in the great future, manlkind would come
individually to realize that they were full of imtperfections and weaknesses, and needed a saving power, a
redemptive personage, an uplifting energy, a purifying




30               MORNING LECTURES.
principle. Thus originated the hypothesis of a personal Savior. What was first a mere speculation, at
last became established as a positive fact.
The beauty and boundless catholicity of the IHarmonial Dispensation are seen in the fact that, in freely
and fearlessly sounding the deeps of all human history,
its teachers come at last to accept the spiritual essence
of all opinions in the world's religious creeds. They
discover that in all things there is a sovereign, eternal
truth, and their business seems to be, in part, to take
off the coating and clear away the rubbish of the
past-to divest history and mythology and experience
of adhering superstitions, and thus aid to exhibit the
majesty and harmonious perfections of the divine government, in its non-supernatural; inimitable, eternal
beauty.
Hence we begin by rejecting the word 6 "Redeemer,"
because it is a term developed by an hypothesis- which
is in itself erroneous.  We discover that mankind do
not stand in any such debit-and-credit relation to the
kingdom  of heaven.  We are not doing a day-book
and ledger business with God and Nature.  Every
instant of time the account in the "book of life" is
balanced. The Bible is paper, and on the church theory
it certainly is a paper basis of credit. Politicians and
merchants, bankers and corporations, profess to dread
and deplore this universal expansion of paper currency. Indeed! Then why do they note dread and
equally deplore it in the religion of the world? It is
nothing but paper currency in the popular churches,
and much of it is exceedingly spurious at that.  Multitudes of early Scriptures were counterfeits.  This fact




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.3 3
is inseparable from the history of all past negotiations
on this paper basis in relioion. In the Council of Nice
the manuscripts which were rejected would make more
than two such Bibles as are read in the churches of
New York city.  Those scriptures were repudiated as
counterfeit representations of the real paper currency
which it was supposed God had authorized to be diffused among mankind.  On this theory the Divine
government -must have been exceedingly limited in
suitable material for specie! The pavements of Heaven
must have consumed all the gold and other metal they
had on hand.  The New Jerusalem, according to that
old opinion, was so expensive in its metallic basis and
ornamentations that the Trinity could not afford a
specie basis for religion and morality.  Of course they
were obliged to issue several varieties of paper currency, and these are what men call the "Old and New
Testaments"'-legal tender notes, and notes promissory
and on mortgages.
Now I ask, Why not be as reasonable in religion,
theology, and spiritual necessities, as in this common
affair of banking and of mercantile business?  The
answer is that men dare to use their reason, their common sense, and their educational sense as well, in all
matters pertaining to the actualities of outward life,
and the same men have resolved to be as nearly consummate block-heads and stumbling-blocks in matters
of religionQ as they can possibly be and still maintain a
reputation for standing at the front of popular education, good manners, and good breeding.  This universal acceptance of' Reason on all practical questions, and
this universal rejection of the same sovereign power on




32               MORNING LECTURES.
all questions in religion and spirituality, constitutes one
of the most astonishing anomalies, one of the most consummate illustrations of imbecility, that ever started
this side of the upward " Fall" of the first human pair.
This doctrine of doing all worldly business on what
is termed " a paper basis" is, at the present time, quite
unpopular.  (It is not unpopular with me.  I like it,
and believe it will supersede the metals.)  But in the
world at large the plan is beginning to be rejected.
Consequently, one of these days the same spirit of
6 repudiation" will strike into the organizations of
ieligion. Then the kingdom of heaven will be appealed
to-through vigorous prayers-for an exhibition of its
supposed specie basis.
Is it not remarkable that people reject the idea of
Progress in religion, in all the spiritual principles of
human society, and at the same time accept it on almost
every other subject in the domain of human life? It is
everywhere held that man must not attempt to investigate the spiritual with his Reason. But, thank heaven!
Bishop Colenso has had the sublime audacity, in the
midst of all his labors in heathendom, to make soundings down through the so-called infallible Pentateuch.
He found and published to mankind, that the bottom
had fallen out long before it was ever put in-that is,
he broadly intimates that Moses is historically a myth.
According to the history, the chronology, the mathema-tics of the Bible, good old Moses did inot personally
exist. But we find that in the spiritual history of the
world the great Law-maker did live and does exist.
This interior reality is all that is necessary for mankind. It is of little consequence, for example, whether




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.           33," Faith, Hope, and Charity," were three young women,
excessively  beautiful, in first-rate health, with fine
digestion, good teeth, fine hair, and well acquainted
with the wants of the human heart, or whether they
were and are merely artistic personifications of interior
sentiments and natural human necessities.  It matters
little; it matters not at all.  The point is this: are
they faithful representatives of actual principles and
needs in the constitution of the human soul? All the
world say " Yea," and therefore, c "Hope, Faith, and
Charity," are idolized images in our parlors-beautiful
goddesses for the adoring soul to gaze upon- representatives of the internal, the eternal, and ever-present
necessities of the human spirit-hope, faith, charity!
So Moses is related forever to the spiritual life and
history of the human world. So is Jesus a spiritual
fact-independent of' history, mathematics, chronology,
and the Bible. Whether they lived or did not live, is
of little moment.  It will be of little profit to persons
who live so near the summit of the nineteenth century
to make inquiries as to whether certain historical characters ever lived' or not.  Some minds seem to think
that, because the old systems are so pervious to the
waves of thought and investigation, therefore old
theology holds no essential truth.  Many ministers are
thus troubled.  The miserable gentlemen! They are
affrighted at Bishop Colenso because they know nothing
of essential Spiritualism. They know nothing whatever of the fundamental prirnciples of the Harmonial
Philosophy, by which the essentials of all things are
saved; so that nothing worth saving is lost in history,
theology, or mythology.  If the world had more real
2*




34               MORNING LECTURES.
intelligent, scientific spirituality in its religion-in its
apprehensions of religion-it would never tremble if
the bishops and priests of all countries came out en
masse to-morrow and declared that the Bible itself,
from  end to end-in its literature, meanings, principles, and applications-was nothing but a worthless
"paper currency" bequeathed to mankind through the
Jewish Rabbi and early Christian Fathers, who firmly
believed in their own honestly mistaken judgments and
superstitions.
No; give men more knowledge of real spiritual
truth, teach them  of the philosophical depths of the
immortal spirit, and they will have no more silly fears
and hysterical tremblings lest the Bible should disappear and all Testaments be swept from the face of the
earth. Suppose a great consuming fire should sweep
across the prairies of the West and burn all the harvests that are garnered-with their fifteen to twentyfive miles of wheat and corn preserved in appropriate
buildings-would the world despair of future cereal
harvests?  Would farmers and laborers never hope
and believe that other corn-fields would again rustle in
harmony with the music of the heavens?  Would
mothers and farming-maids never again look with faith
for great thrift and burly health flowing up from the
under-world, which brings in the new shocks of corn
and fills the familiar scene with the affluence of new
harvests?  No, no!  ";Hope springs eternal in the
human breast." The soul of the world would still feel
assurance of future abundance. The summer comes,
and with it come also those beautiful invigorating
showers which awaken the slumbering principles of




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.           35
vegetation, and once more they bring oceans of food for
the waiting millions, and all are fed.
So, also, if the present great spiritual and historical criticisms should sweep violently over the earthrolling like the flood of Noah, sweeping Bibles and all
books on other subjects wholly out of the worldnevertheless the men and women who feel the depths
of these spiritual truths would not for one moment
tremble or be cast down, except, perhaps, in a passing
sorrow for the loss of so much property, representative
of the industry and education of the past-for it would
indeed be saddening to behold the destruction of the
labors of those who have lived before us, and who-have
worked faithfully both night and day for years and
centuries.  The regret on this point would be deep,
universal, and sorrowful; but there would be no
spiritual trembling or vague fear; for very soon the
divine harvests o.f Ideas would come again, more
spiritual books than ever, and far better Testaments
of truth, would unfold on the innumerable trees of
human life.  Singular, therefore, is it not, that men do
not seek to comprehend and apply the law of Progress
in their theologies and religion?  It is because they
fear, from the mere influence of their education, to use
that sublimest power, the harmony of all the faculties —Reason.
If there was ever a flower from the soil of heaver.
planted in the garden of the human soul, blooming with
an ever-increasing beauty and with an eternal fragrance, it is REASON.  Men instinctively dread the
absence of it in their children and in themselves; but
nothing human ever dreads or deplores its presence.'




36              MORNING LECTURES.
The most reasonable person is the one you are inclined
to love most. Reason always implies harmony of the
faculties, for it receives happy contributions from all
of the affections and sentiments.  Reason, in this high
sense, does not merely mean the power to think and
talk logically from premises to conclusion, or legitimately to go in reflection from the outside to the center.
It means the power to see not only outward facts, but
the essential principles, also, by which alone the real
significance of the facts can be comprehended. It is
the German method. It begins at the heart of things,
with fundamental Nature-is deductive, and goes thence
outwardly, like God, through all the infinite spaces.
God does not live and think on the surface of the universe as Bacon did.  The Divine is not strictly an
inductive philosopher. Every man of reason and every
woman of intuition knows that God is in the deepest
Heart-an inexhaustible fountain of Love, as well as
of Wisdom-expanding through all that illimitable
structure which we call " the physical universe."
Now God's method of living in the universe is the
method of Reason in mankind. Rooting itself in Intuition, starting up with the lightning flash of thought,
and with often an inexpressible conviction of what is
and what is not true-such is Reason, blooming over
the summits of the thinking and contemplative faculties-the first born, the last born-the perfect grouping
of all the elements and attributes that go to make up
the immortal human mind.
And yet men dare not trust Reason in religion 
Behold how all the pulpitarians and crabsterians use
Reason to prove that Reason is not to be trusted! Go




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.          31
to our logical clergymen-many of them are tolerably
well-educated in logic-and hear how they habitually
employ Reason, almost like thoroughly trained lawyers, to prove that Reason is most treacherous and
unreasonable, and that it is unworthy of consultation in
the presence of the Word of God!
Now I stand before you to announce the necessity
of progress in the world's religion, and hence my subject is: "6 The World's True Redeemer."
I. In the first place I affirm that there is implanted
in man a natural desire for knowledge.  Men say that
true human education did not begin until Christianity
was perfectly established.  It is astonishing that they
dare so assert, when it is known that Egypt and
Greece blossomed with institutions of learning, which
have not been exceeded by anything educational in the
present century-only we have more of it diffused
among the people, and hence hence have made great progress
in the adaptation of true education to human necessities. But in the fundamental germs of enlightenment
and civilization the world was largely supplied centuries before Christianity was established.
I repeat, men desire Knowledge. They have an
implanted desire to know more; they dread ignorance,
and they repel with indignation that which is a recognized discredit to the Reason with which they are
endowed. I know a perfectly honest, healthy, splendid-looking, wealthy proprietor of many whale-ships,
who very frequently blushes because he is not educated.
He began in the cabin, next went before the mast, and
then became second mate, and so on and up until he
went as sole master of his vessel. At last he became




38              MORNING LECTURES.
the proprietor of many whaling-ships and store-houses.
tle staid at home in his comfortable mansion by the
sea, and saw his many ships sail out and return to port,
bringing him wealth and luxury; but he knew nothing
of French, nothing of Greek and Hebrew, and so he
fancied, as he was not educated in spiritual principles,
that he was shamefully destitute of education.  He had
never acquired the power of flourishing his pen, so that
he could not even write his own name very well. But
that man was most trustworthy. HIe was the trusted
friend of every man who needed his assistance and his
benefactions. Still he would not accept the smallest
public office in his native town, nor assist in adjusting
public affairs, just because he was consciously deficient
in the rudiments of Education.  So he blushed and
remained at home, or rode quietly out in his carriage,
looking equal to any man that walks in the halls of
Congress. Thus the wealthy sailor lived, and at last
went completely out of sight -in' the midst of great accumulations of wealth-all because he knew that he was
not educated! I relate this case to show that people
naturally repel ignorance, and that most persons blush
when they know that they are not well-informed and
accomplished.  It is a voice illustrating the natural
desire of the human heart for Knowledge.
Now who shall say that Knowledge shall not travel
into religious matters, as well as into navigation, into
matters of business, into the banking arrangements,
chemistry, the actual or the speculative sciences? The
desire for Knowledge with reference to spiritual things
is just as powerful as the desire to know anything with
reference to other departments of human int.erest. I




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.            39
think this question answers itself in every man's intuitioin.
II. In the second place I mention that man has a
natural desire to make his knowledge Useful.  He
craves and seeks to acquire natural and useful Knowledge. When a boy sees a pair of skates, he wishes to
know how he can use them. If he sees a ball, he wants
to know how he can play with it; if a hook and line,
to know how he can fish with them. So with the man.
When he comes to recognize the facts of Science, or the
development of these great discoveries in the world, he'
yearns to grasp them at once with the hand of Use.
Why not carry that desire for Use into Religion?
Why shall we not make our knowledge in spiritual
things useful?  The question answers itself.  We can
and we must.  It is the inevitable tendency of the soul
of every born human being to outgrow ignorance and
to commence the investigation  of spiritual truths.
Mankind must make intelligent incursions through all
these temples of ignorance, and error, and superstition-and over them, and through them, and in the
midst of their demolition-he must acquire  useful
knowledge in spiritual and religious truths.
III. In the third place I will mention that-man has
a natural desire to be consistent in his Knowledge. He
desires this jewel above all, in order to show the world
that he knows the true use of his Knowledge, and to
show that his use of it is exactly logical and everywhere intelligent and symmetrical.  If a man knows a
spiritual truth, he wants to make a consistent application of it. If he knows a scientific truth, he wishes
also to be consistent with that.




40               MORNING LECTURES.
This illustrates the intimacy with which one kind
of knowledge is connected with another.  If a man
knows something of anatomy, he longs for a little physiology to make his anatomical science not only useful,
but consistent; and if he has a knowledge of physiology he says: " Now, chemistry is really necessary to
make my physiology at once useful and consistent." So
he goes into chemical questions and investigates as far
as his opportunities and prejudices will permit. If he
gets interested deep enough in chemistry, he begins to
look at the matter with a still broader view, and he
says, "'I must make these things useful in my daily life.
I must show that I hav'e real and positive knowledge.
And, in order to make that exhibition indisputable, I
must give it expression in my duties, in my daily avocations, and in my worldly career."
This illustrates the desire of the human to be consistent. In the Churches, both ministers and their
followers plant themselves on certain principles or
premises, and each one says: "I must reason correctly
from  my fundamental propositions."  If' a clergyman
believes in the Trinity, his doxology at the end of the
sermon and hymn will always be a logical conclusion
from his creed. If the minister believes in eternal punishment, he will conduct himself like Henry Ward
Beecher, who, although naturally anxious to discard.
the trammels of old theology, will, nevertheless, perhaps at the end of every third week's sermon bring out
a logical hell-fire conclusion in harmony with an
education received from his earthly father's orthodox
premises.
This desire to be "consistent," too often allies




THE WORLD S TRUE REDEEMER.           41
itself with the Satan of Pride., Some men having committed themselves openly and above board to certain
fundamental opinions in politics or in religion, are
actuated by the feelings of pride, so much so that they
cannot be honorably open and simple-minded enough
to know where or what a new truth is.  They desire to
stand by the old, and not to budge. They cling to the
time-worn falsehood very strongly; for they design to
show, by their adhesion to it, that they have indubitable evidence that they are not mistaken. Thus Mr.
ETI  -, a flourishing merchant of this city, in conversation
in Williamsburg several years ago, said to me that he
was "a believer in total depravity."  Then came the
question:; "What are your evidences, Mr. H.-?"
He answered by enumerating human evils, piling evidence upon evidence taken from history, quoted the
crimes of society, the sins of individual men, &c., &c.
Thfen we conversed concerning the hereditary and circumstantial causes of those evils and iniquities.
At length he yielded the point somewhat, and said:
"Well, to be sure, special circumstances and lack of
balance in phrenological organization, deficiency in the
strength of will to resist evil, and various temptations,
which flow in from the outside world upon the person,
no doubt do explain away the intentional cause of
many evils and vices;" and so he measurably yielded
the point that the. human heart was not totally depraved, seeing that so many iniquities and evils came
from the sphere of conditions and circumstances.
"Well," said I, "M ir. H, where now is your
evidence?"  That unfortunate question at once reminded him of his position, and also aroused his pride




42               MORNING LECTURES.
of logical consistency, and said  he: c"I have, Mr.
Davis, an unfailing  evidence  of total depravity."
"Indeed?"  c" Yes."  " Well, Mr. H  -, where do
you find that unfailing evidence?"  "In my own heart,
MIr. Davis."
I told him I admired the self-sacrificing spirit he
manifested, but I detested the pride which caused him
to do it; for he probably knew that he owned as good
a heart as anybody, and it was not true that he went
to his heart to find c" total depravity." It was the ambitious desire to be "consistent" —the Devil of Pridethat held him to his first propositions.  The imp of
darkness thus shut down the vail over the good man's
eyes, so that he dared not see the higher and more
simple truth with all its rosy splendor. And so he
became the zealous editor of the Churchman.  Hiis unfailing evidence of total depravity was simply the sacrifice of his own mind to his own avowed theory. -He.would rather stand before me a self-acknowledged
spiritual criminal than to say that he really had no
absolute, evidence of total depravity.
Now the world is just in this condition of pride and
fear with reference to the Trinity, or the doctrine of
eternal punishments.  The people.and priests have not
yet simple, spiritual, and interior childhood enough to
acknowledge that facts, heretofore accepted, are perfectly invalidated by new scientific and historic evidence. They are not large enough to receive the new
truth, and to welcome it, as happy mothers receive the
new-born child.
Men love, in their pride, to be  consistent."  But
in such passion they make great life-long mistakes. If




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.           43
I had labored to be logical and 6"consistent" in any of
my discourses, no doubt I should have been, if possible,
less useful to you than I have. It is a remarkable fact
that I have sometimes attempted to teach you, but at
the end of the Lecture I found, not unfrequently, that
I knew much more than when I began, and was, perhaps, more benefited and more instructed than any
other person. It was because a new phase of a great
principle had been revealed to the interior, showing me
that my internal life was still sensitively awake to the
New, and that I was and am not wedded: foolishly and
indissolubly to the past, either personal or general.
Now I wish to call your attention to the points
gained in this discourse: First. Internal desire for
Knowledge; secondly, for Useful Knowledge; and
thirdly, for Consistent Knowledge.
What is it in man that thirsts for knowledge?
This inquiry answers itself in this way-that the harmony of all the faculties and attributes in the human
soul constitutes what we call Wisdom. The Author of
that harmony is also the Author of Wisdom.  Persons
who are yet not harmonized in spiritual principles, have
only glimmering intuitions of Wisdom.  It means the
axis of the human mind coming to a parallel, so to say,
in the plane of its orbit, with reference to the harmony
of Deity.  The unity of man's spirit with God's spirit
is felt instantly when the fullness of wisdom is reached.
It is the new birth.  You then feel that your spiri t is
attuned to the harmony of eternal principles.  The
harmony of love shows you at once that you are part
of an indestructible Brotherhood.  Yur partialities
and jealousies die down, your little feelings and selfish




44              MORNING LECTURES.
traits depart, and the spirit of Fraternal Love, like the
dove that went forth from the Ark, wings its way from
your soul towards every son and daughter of the world.
If you can rise to a feeling of that kind even once in a
month, you, have evidence that a new birth is taking
place within you.
Furthermore, when you rise to see that the law of
gravity is not merely physical, but spiritual also; that
the laws that regulate mechanism and chemistry are
spiritual as well as physical and mathematical, then
you have attained to some perception of Wisdom.
Wisdom sounds through the physical and reaches to
the profound depths where God sleeps and wakes every
instant of time.
The penetration of the chemist is but a physical
approach to the interior of things. He will take a substance into the laboratory and analyze it.  He arrives
at its constituents and names them; and they are thus
marked and classified.  And he finds that, by recombinations, they make this, that, and the other substance.
But just where the chemist leaves off, the soundings of
Wisdom  commence.  The chemist fails to touch the
vital principle by which constituents are united to
make the various compounds. He knows that he fails
to reach the point where spirit moves the body, and so
he goes once more to the threshold of inquiry. When
he arrives at that place he stops short, but Wisdom hospitably opens the door into the vestibule of the immortal temple, just at this particular critical point; and
thus, where the chemist, with his material methods of
probing and analyzing, must, per force of his material
methods, cease, there the penetrative spiritual philo



THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.          45
sopher commences his investigations. And thence he is
led out through an infinitude of spirit culture.
Wisdom commences, I say, just where Science fails
in its power to go. You know there are persons who all
the time are in bondage to the sense. They behold gravitation, but to them the law itself is physical. Look at
our material orthodox clergymen.  They read the
ponderous religious quarterlies-or the monthlies —
which are lumbering and tediously elephantine in the
treatment of things; what kind of knowledge have
they? Talk with the most learned of these gentlemen,
who day after day visit our best public libraries —men
who dig through the great volumes that come across
the Atlantic-and you will see how utterly destitute
they are of internal perceptions of scientific and philosophic truths. Being without knowledge in these matters, many of them are skeptics; and although they
attend church Sunday after Sunday, and go through all
the forms, yet in their judgments they have no faith
either in theology or religion.
THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER IS WISDOM, because
it passes through the dress to that which is essential,
to the spirit through the body, to the life within the
law, to the science within the substance; and not only
so, but makes all of its discoveries at once consistent;
useful, and desirable.  But Wisdom  seems, to most
people, to be vague and abstract. Men do not see how
they can put the teachings of Wisdom into operation.
Well, then, let us see if we cannot make this truth useful, consistent, and- practical.
Wisdom  recognizes, as a central principle, the
balance of things-the equilibrium of forces, the adapt



46               MORNING LECTURES.
ation of one substance to another, of one force to
another, of a fish to the water, of a bird to the air, of
light to the eye, of sound to the ear, of flavors to the
taste, of odors to the sense of smell, of substances to
the touch, and so on throughout the whole system.
What is the image we see represented in poetry and
in art on this subject? The image is JUSTICE. She
holds the scales, which; represent equality of proportion. Justice is the central law. It is recognized as
the finest, most universal, and the highest expression
of the Infinite Mind. The entire harmony of the planetary worlds, by which the stars move on in their sublime courses, never varying from the moment the
pyramids were built to the present hour!-in all these
splendid, vast, and incomprehensible systems, which
make up the heavens-comets burning their way
through space, crossing each other's paths beautifully,
like well-trained dancers waltzing on lines most
familiar to their minds; and the planets, too, moving
on like respectable citizens in the high walks of the
sidereal heavens-all in never-changing harmony with
the original design.  What causes that?  It is what
Wisdom recognizes as God's central law-JUSTICE.
Bring it to the person, and what does it do?
It gives us the two hands, two feet, two departments to the brain, two eyes, two ears-doubleness,
duality throughout-all expressions of God's central
law, JUSTICE. The foot cannot repel the head, nor the
head the foot. The cerebrum cannot repel the'cerebellum, the cerebellum cannot do without the cerebrum.
Love warms Reason; Reason cannot exist and flourish
without Love. How is it that a man can raise his




THE WORLD S TRUE REDEEMER.           4.7
arm? It is done by the laws of contraction and expansion-the two systems in harmony with each other.
Justice breathes throughout all the system.
Again, we find in the world what is called warmthred warmth —warmth which is mellow, which is penetrative, invigorating, and expanding.  Wherever you
find balance, you find warmth. What is it? It is God's
central principle-LOvE.  Not the physical universe,
but that which gives us a physical universe, is naturally
full of warmth, flowing from the center through all
the minutest ramifications of the system-LovE.
Now what is this all-pervading Love? Is it a Love
which stops with a substance? Does it exist only in
one heart? Does it take no interest in anything outside of itself? You know that the selfish love of the
spirit brings no happiness to itself.  Its happiness
comes from its dependence upon the corresponding love
of another, then the two depend upon a third, and the
three upon a fourth, and the four upon the existence of
the whole world without.
The system  of human life and society is entirely
dependent.  One part is warmed by contact with
another, and the heat is expanded and removed according to the principle of equilibrium. This is the divine
LOVE. It is central with Nature, just as Justice is central with Deity.
Deity and Nature are counterparts, equals, and
compeers; they are husband and wife, father and mother, wisdom and love, and are perpetually.bearing
children.  The warmth and the.balance go hand in
hand, arm in arm, their arms about each other's necks,
working without discord through the illimitable spaces.




48              MORNING LECTURES.
Hence LOVE, which is not limited and selfish, and
JUSTICE, when married, constitute LOVING-JUSTICE-the
best practical definition of' the world's true Redeemer.
Justice without Love is the sun without heat-without its power to fertilize, and beautify, and adorn the
world; and the world without its Justice would be the
sun with only heat, that would burn, and parch, and
consume, and destroy all things. The balance of the
universe itself would be destroyed, so that where harmony dwelt, discord and conflagration would prevail.
Thus it would be in a world full of Love, of warmth,
but without Justice and light.
Try this principle in your homes. I know a young
man in one of the avenues of this city who has been so
petted and caressed by an over-loving mother-a maternal soul, who had Love in abundance, but not a
corresponding sense of Justice-and that misdirected
son is now the source of her daily anxieties and momentary miseries.  She is every week put on the cross, and
is sorely tried like one pulled joint by joint on the rack
of torture.  Why?  Because when a little baby and a
child he had all things given him that he wanted;
never was practically instructed b.y Justice to recognize
the rights of another child. Justice was left out of her
Love. Thus the little one came up under the arms of maternal warmth; and this very day that son, now a young
man in the city of New York, is carrying poignards and
stilettos in his disposition.  He is to his mother a serpent that was nurtured in a house full of Love without
corresponding Justice.
Try this principle with vegetations of any kind.
Let them have the warmth which the sun might give.,




THE WORLD'S TRUE REDEEMER.           49
but without its regulating, adjusting, and balancing
power, and soon you will findl that the beautiful plants
and harvests would disappear, crisped, parched, and
destroyed, because the sun had not given down its cooling  and  harmonizing  power, which  would  bring
balance, and equilibrium,; and proportion, and beauty,
and symmetry, as well as the all-important results of
warmth.  I think you perceive that the world's true
Savior is LOVING-JUSTICE, and that Wisdom  is the
apprehending and applying faculty.
How necessary it is that men should apply this
principle throughout. I will not detain you at this
time by describing its influence in the various departments of human interests.  If, for example, these
fashionable ladies could be made to see the injustice of
their styles, with reference to other equally good ladies
who are circumstantially unfortunate, they would not
be guilty of another departure from wisdom.  These
fashion-ladies have been brought up under the warmth
and wealth of the heart, without the cooling, regulating, and equalizing principle of scwial Justice.  They
have learned their arts from Mother Nature; but they
have none of the wisdom of Father God.
So they are all fashionable ladies! They go to the
churches. They would not attend a Progressive Meeting, lest it might impress an everlasting spot upon
their reputations!  And yet they do openly and unblushingly that which I believe not a lady in this cause
would do. There is in nearly all they do a terrible
wrong, which badly affects the domestic who gets the
dinner, and the boy who serves at the table, and still
worse, the children', who are readiest to imitate the
3




50               MORNING LECTURES.
conduct of adults.  I attended a party on one occasion where there were forty ladies exquisitely arrayed
in the fashionable dresses of the day. By a careful colmputation I made out exactly 720 yards of silk and satin
and costly brocade. Think of it, ye Christians! Seven
hundred and twenty yards of most expensive cloth, on
forty New York church-going women! I have also seen
a party of forty faithful and industrious women, who had
scarcely ten yards over the mere necessities of passable
dress.  They had scrimnped themselves to just that pattern which was necessary for convenience-of course
according to the style, so as not to be peculiar and
conspicuous; but the calico they wore was way down
in price, and they were ashamed to appear amlonlg the
finely dressed. Yet these costly pagodas, these fashionable religious temples, are flashing and sparkling with
Stewart's iniquities. Alas! thley have not yet heard the
central gospel of God-JusTICE —down in the heart deep
enough to regulate their habits and characters. Therefore, with all their religious priofessions, they are not
friendly to the kingdbmn of righteousness.
Finally, I suggest to clergymen and to all teachers
of public morals that they at once abandon the vicious
doctrine of tie vicarious atonement, as well as the
preaching of all other mythological Inethods of getting
rid of sin and evil, and come imnmediately on to the
everlasting basis of LOVING-JUSTICE-the world's true
Redeemer.




THE END OF THE WORLD.
_-_  "The original
Of all things is one thing. Creation is
One whole. The differences a mortal sees
Are diverse only to the finite mind."
The cheerful, yet solemn subject, announced for this
morning, should have attracted the editorial staff of
" The World," but it is more remarkable that there are
not present editors. of other and more loyal sheets who
take an interest in the end of the "c world."
My subject is the great question that frequently
agitates thousands of honest religionists. In treating
upon this subject I remark:
First, That the human mind begins to reason by
taking a literal view of everything, whether spiritual or
material.  Its first apprehensions are confined strictly
to  the  apparent-to  what appears-to  the seeming.
Wisdom, mounting on the wings of untrammeled Ideality, penetrates to that which lives within. This state
of mind judges "not from  appearances, but with a
righteous judgment"-that is, from the core outwardly,
and not from the mere husk, burr, clothing, protection,
appearance, or representation; thus wisdom renders an
infallible verdict concerning that which is interior,
spiritual, and eternal. To think or reason sensuously,
is an error-a mistake-which is scarcely reprehensi



52              MORNING LECTURES.
ble, hardly blameworthy, because it is the inevitable
step of the human mind when beginning its progress in
experience, thought, wisdom, and intuition.
Hence there prevails a universal externalism among
crude religionists with regard to the'"End of the
World." There are scores of persons, who, judging
from  the Bible sentences, fancy they read the fiery
doom of the physical universe.  All who live and move
and have a being within the world, save c" God and his
holy angels," are marked down for a resurrected
destruction.  " His holy angels," according to the
theory, will be manufactured out of certain earthly
religionists, as their eternal reward for having believed
the delectable creed in advance of their skeptical neighbors, even though the latter class may be respectable
members of popular churches. The holy and sacred
class are called " Second Adventists"-very pugnacious, warm-headed, discussionary characters, energetic
and truth-loving, over-fond of debate —especially from
a literal apprehension of the teachings of the Testaments.  Taking the sensuous interpretation as the basis
of all their reasoning, they have erected a system of.
theologic thought (based wholly upon literal apprehensions,) which they imagine logically leads —mathematically, prophetically, figuratively, and according to the
biblical almanac-directly to a tragical and chemical
termination of the physical world in which sinners now
live. They fancy that they recognize the prophecy to
be straight from God-of course through the mediation
of the old prophets —and think that Christ announced
the same awful fact whenever he spoke of the "' end of
the world."  Beholding this unbroken chain of an



TIE END OF THE WORLD.               53
nouncement, this concatenation of prophecies, this
unmistakable literalization of the promises of God, the
Adventists naturally work themselves up to believe
that, in a very short time, the dissolution of the globe
and the end of all physical things will surely come to
pass.  All this religious imagination is based on the
fact that the mind first takes a literal view of ancient
spiritual writings. It is the mind's first step in theology,
in spirituality, as in everything else it encounters on
the  road  of progressive  thought, experience, and
wisdom.
The next step the mind takes as it expands from
intuition, is a. figurative view of the Bible language.
Minds in this state apprehend that the old prophets and
the new apostles spoke in metaphors, wrote emblematically, with great opulence using figurative expressions.
Bible-believers, thus thinking, throw off the literal
letter and the materialistic conception, and swim out
into the open sea of pictorial and figurative interpretation. They now seek for examples, correspondences,
contrasts, and analogies. Swedenborg, for illustration,
being both a scientific thinker and a philosophical religionist, started more systematically to give to all figurative, emblematic, mnetaphoric, and symbolic expressions,
the basis and dignity of a Science-reducing, in his
own opinion, all scriptural externalisms to an it.elligible spiritual account.  His principle of translation was
somethilng more than analogy, sometlling more than
mere comparison, something different from  the purely
figurative, something different from the simbol-it was
what he called the. ScienCe  of Correspbndence"meaning that the internal of an object, person, thought,




54               MORNING LECTURES.
affection, subject, or thing, is always represented in its
externals, and vice versa; that while a sheep will represent nothing but a sheep to the external eye looking
over the fence into the field, at the same time to the eye
of the spiritual mind the sheep naturally represents and
really seems to be nothing but the sentiment or principle of innocence.  De Guay, in his "Letters [No. XII]
to a Man of the World," gives the following familiar
examples: " The earth in general corresponds to man;
its different productions, which serve for the nourishment of men, correspond to different kinds of goods
and truths-the solid aliments to various kinds of
goods, and the liquid to various kinds of truths. A
house corresponds to the will and the understanding,
which constitute the human mind; by house we here
uunderstand all that serves for lodging or retreat, the
palace as well as the hut.  Garments correspond to
truths or falses, according to the substance, color, and
form, which they present.  Animals correspond to the
affections; those which are useful and gentle to good
affections, those which are hurtful and bad  to evil
affections; gentle and beautiful birds to intellectual
truths, those which are ferocious and Ugly to falses;.fishes to the scientifics which derive their origin from
things sensual; reptiles to corporeal and sensual pleasures; and noxious insects to falsities which proceed
from the senses. Trees and shrubs correspond to different kinds of knowledges; and herbs and grass correspond
to various kinds of scientific truths. Gold corresponds
to celestial good, silver to spiritual truth, brass to
natural gbod, iron to natural truth, stones to sensual'
truths, precious stones to spiritual truths."




THE. END OF THE WORLD.             55
So Swedenhorg goes through the mystic sphere of
psycho-scientific research, and succeeds in reducing the
whole Bible, or at leastso much of it as, according to
his superior illumination, was correspondentially written, to a consistent system of interior interpretation.
It must strike every one as evident that the Swedish
Seer ever and anon struck the core of Divine fruit on
the biblical trees; almost every second step he planted
his foot on the basis of everlasting truth.  If he had
struck solid ground every time, the world would find in
him an infallible teacher.  Unfortunately for him, perhaps, but unqr.stionably fortunate for the  human
millions, Swedenborg touched spiritual truth just unfrequently enough to convince many persons who read
him that he was not infallible. Those who look at this
question independently, see that, although it is very
easy to think and say that a duck corresponds to a
doctor of medicine and a goose to a doctor of divinity,
still the so-called science is obviously arbitrary, and
may not be true universally.  For your spirituallyminded brother in Scotland, looking at the duck, may
not think of seeing therein represented c" a doctor of
medicine," and not always in the goose a "doctor of
divinitsy'  on the contrary, these twaddling birds or
gawky fowls may represent very different affections,
thoughts, persons, or professions, and may continue
through all time to suggest something different from
Swedenborg's meaning.  And yet I hesitate not to say
-that the " Science of Correspondence" is the closest
approach to a great discovery in the substantial sense
of spiritual communications recorded in the Old and
New Testaments.




56              MORNING LECTURES.
But there have been, and are, persons who have
conceived that, inasmuch as there was a spiritutul sense
tucked away in the literal Word, so it would be unfair
if there could not be found a celestial sense still more
concealed within the spiritual.  These ambitious souls
also think that it would be unfair for an hundred years
to pass away without producing some 6"celestial seer"
who could out-Swedenborgianize the Word.  Among
Spiritualists there is, or has been, a person who thinks
and professes to believe that he has seen a finer sense in
the Bible than Swedenborg saw, rippling all the way
through from Genesis to Revelations.  His first ambitious installment —  the Arcana of Christianity" —has
been published.
On the same principle, and by parity of reasoning,
you may apprehend that some other person will, by and
by, arrogate the discovery of a 6" heavenly sense" as
superior to the celestial; and yet another who would
say that there was a Scdeific sense" superior to the
heavenly, and so the absurdity might flow on ad infiniturn. The reasoning is deceptive and sophistical. They
take for granted what remains to be established. Thus:
Since the literal sense of your Bible is extinguished,
since the spiritual sense is not sufficient, and-tince the
celestial sense is already exhausted, is it not necessary
now, in order to have the celestial sense perfectly comprehended, to cap it all with the climacteric discovery
of God's own mind? I believe that no such religious
fanaticism will ever appear in a healthy human
mind.  Such anll ambition could bo nothinig less than a
parasitical development on the healthy faculties of human reason. Let us hope and pray that such religious




THE END OF THE WORLD.             57
monstrosities will never appear in the course of modern
spiritual development and philosophic growth.
Let me now ask your attention to the universal fact
that the internal and the external of all things are
married, and do literally correspond to and represent
each other; that what is true in the external, in anything, anywhere, is equally true of the internal in the
same thing and place.  Hence there cannot be such a
thing as a religious truth which is incompatible or
inconsistent with a scientific or a philosophic discovery
in a corresponding department.  There can be no
inconmpatibility, no antagonism, between what religionists call a "'revealed and natural religion."  Paul has
fully shown this; others have demonstrated it; and no
man can escape the laws and logic of Reason.  The
changeless God who ", built the palace of the sky," and
talks to men through various mediators, could do no
incohesive deed, could speak no inconsistent word; but,
when understood, both the Deed and the Word universally harmonize as do fellow-notes when speaking in the
highest music.
This statement is the internal conviction of the
world; the intuition of all peoples, both Heathen and
Christian.  If the people of Christendom would take
those documents, which, bound together, are called the,,Old and New Testamnents," as simply and only a portion of' the spiritually-written word of God, and hospitably accept the scriptures of all heathen nations with
just as much. reverence, and see that God spoke through
them all, even as he speaks through the organization and
habits of the meanest woorm that ever crawled in mud,
as through the beauty and perfections of the highest




Fl8              MORNING LECTURES
seraph that ever sung under the finite Fun, then indeed
would the earth rejoice in gladness; for all religionists
and Spiritualists would be enlarged and ennobled by
the presence and influence of perpetual and universal
inspirations.
But, on' the other hand, confine all authoritative
inspirations to a stereotyped volume-excluding all
God's words to the Chaldeans, Arabians, Chinese, and
the other nations who in past times have received truths
from  the same inexhaustible Divine source-do this, as
Christians do, and you exclude golden sunlight, pure
air, blissful health, and impartial wisdcom  from  you;
and, in consequence, you become miserable automatons
of a fashionable, popular, and outrageously expensive
religion, f'ull of dried creeds and dead men's bones.
The application of the principle announced would
be this: Just what is true in the world of science, we
~shall find equally true in the social world; what is true
in the social world, we shall find equally true in the
world of politics; what is true in the world of politics,
we shall find equally true in the world's laws and
governments; what is true in outward governments,
will be found equally true in the inter.nal history of particular races; and what is true in all these, will be
found equally true in the geology of the globe and the
destiny of the human family; what is true in geology
and the desti;ny of the aggregation of persons, you will
find  equally, intimately, delicately, eternally true in
every single component part of your mental existence!
Geology —a scientific knowledge of the earth —has
been practically born within the last quarter of the
present century.  It has already arisen to the com



THE END OF THE WORLD.              59
manding position of the wisest commentary that was
ever written on book-religion.  It is this day the profoundest expounder and pounder of Genesis; for the
authority of the book and the source of the authority
havse dropped out long ago to those who have had the
industry, independence, and talent to investigate. Perhaps, in this connection, it may be best to glance at the
outlines of the harmonial philosophy of creation in the
physical Universe.
The great original, ever-existing,.omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent productive power-the Soul
of all existences-is throned in a central sphere, the
circumference of which is the boundless universe, and
around which solar, sidereal, and  stellar systems,
revolve in silent, majestic sublimity and harmony! This
power is what mankind call Deity, whose attributes are
love and wisdom, corresponding with the principles of
male and female, positive and negative, creative and
sustaining.
The first goings forth or out-births from this great
celestial Center, are spiritual or vital suns.  These,
after due elaboration or gestation, give birth to natural
suns —those that become cognizable to the outward or
natural senses of man.  These again become centers,
or mothers, from which earths are born, with all the
elements of' matter, and each minutest particle infused
with the vivifying, vitalizing spirit of the parent Formator.  The Essences. of heat or fire-electricity, ga'lvo
ism, magnetism —are all the natural or outward manifestations of the productive energy, the vitalizing Cause
of all existences. It pervades all substances and animates all forms.




60               MORNING LECTURES.
THE PROGRESS OF FORMATION is from the lower to
the higher, from the crude to the refined, from the simple
to the complicated, from the imperfect to the perfectbut in distinct degrees or congeries. That is, the lower
must first be developed, to elaborate the materials, and
prepare the way for the higher.  Thus, after the sun
gave birth to the earth-and the same of all other
planets-the action of the vitality within the particles
of matter, and its constant emanation in the form of
heat, light, electricity, &c.-first from the great Central sphere to the sun, and thence to the earth, acting
upon the granite and other rocks, with the atmosphere,
the water, and other compound and simple elementsthen new compounds were formed, possessing this vital
principle in sufficient quantities to give definite forms,
as crystallization, organization, motion, life, sensation,
intelligence-the last being the highest or ultimate
attribute of production on our earth, and possessed or
reached to perfection only by man.
A glance at the progress of creation, in the production of our earth and its inhabitants, will serve. as an
illustration of the same process, and progress of worlds
in the vast expanse of the universe, that are perpetually
and continually being brought into existence, and ultimating the grand object of the whole-namely, to
develop and perfect individualized, self-conscious, everexisting, immortal spirits, that shall be in the "image
and likeness" of the Central Cause, and dwell forever
in the Summer Spheres.
I will now describe the process of the earth's origin. Within the circumference of the sun, elementary
particles of matter gather around a nucleus, which coln



THE END OF THE WORLD.              61
tinues to aggregate and increase in dimension and
variety of parts, in its perpetual and endless revolutions and evolutions, gradually advancing towards the
outer surface of this fiery orb, as it increases in complexity and density, until it approaches tile extreme
verge of the sun; when,;by the impetus or centrifugal
force it has attained, from its more compact structure
and consequent increase of specific gravity, it breaks
loose fromn its parent and flies off at a tangent into illimitable space. If a ball of lead and another of cotton,
of the same size, be tied each to a string and whirled
violently around until the strings break, the leaden ball
will fly off in almost a straight line, for a long distance,
before it makes a curve towards the earth; while the
cotton ball will perform a graceful curve fiom the moment it breaks loose, and soon falls to the ground. The
experiment will illustratethe movements of a planet,
when first thrown off from the sun (being much more
dense); or, in other words, it will account for the
eccentric movement of comets, which, in fact, are newborn and baby earths or planets. The extreme tenuity,
fluidity, and rarefaction of its particles, and its consequent feeble cohesive attraction, and its irregular
orbituary and axillary movements, give the new earth
elongated, attenuated, and many curious forms, as presented to the beholder on another planet.  Sometimes
it happens that the caudal extremity gets so 1" long
drawn out," and so far from the center of gravity-the
proper polarity or axis not being yet fully established-that a part or parts become detached or broken
off.  The detached parts become  satellites," or moons,
which continue to revolve around and within the orbit




6 2             6MORNING LECTURES.
of the new earth. Our earth has one of these parasites!
Other planets several..
In the lapse of ages, the attractive and repulsive, or
the centripetal and centrifugal forces, become equalized,
the particles of matter have formed more intimate associations, the outer surfaces have locked up a large portion of the free caloric within the embrace of their own
substance, and have consequently condensed and hardened-a globular form has succeeded the oblate sphere,
with its spinal extremity, and a regular orbit is defined
and maintained.  Oxoygen and nitrogen have united in
the proper proportions to form the.atmosphere; oxygen
and hydrogen have combined to form water; oxygen
and silicon have entered into an adamantine embrace to
form quartz rock;' oxygen and carbon have formed a
tripartite union with calcium, producing imiense beds
of carboniferous lime-stone. Numerous other combinations of oxygen with gases, metals, and other elements
-and these again combining with other simple or compound substances-have brought out of this vast amorphous mass of elementary materials-as they existed in
an intensely heated and rarefied state, when first thrown
off from the sun-new, and more solid, and more permanent forms.
In all this beautiful, harmonious, and ever-progressive flow of productive affinities, oxygen plays a very
conspicuous part, as a positive, energizing, vitalizing
principle.  It appears to have grasped, and to have held
fast within its embrace, the very germs of vitality. Phosphorus is another form of its tangible development, not
yet understood by chemists or physiologists. No living
plant or animal can exist without it.  It is always




THE END OF THE WORLD.               63
found in the seeds and germinal principles, in the substance of the bone and brain and nerves, and in yet
other parts of vegetables and animals.
In the course of time, when " the waters had subsided," the heat and light emanating continually from
the sun —upon the waters of the seas, and in rain, and
mist, and dew —acted.upon the surfaces of the granite
and other rocks, abrading, decomposing, and uniting
with their elements to produce other new compounds of
a more refined and perfect nature.  Thus large beds
of gelatinous matter were formed in shallow pools beneath the water-level, and a slifmy coating upon the
surfaces of the rocks above the water. (See second part
Great fEarmonia, vol. 5.) Thus soil was first fornled-a
preparation, elaboration, and combination of material,
susceptible of developing vegetable life, marine and
terrestrial.  The first vegetable forms springing from
these slimy rocks, were simple and not defined in their
structure, being licthens, or cryptogamous plants, about
seventy per cent. of whose substance is gelatin.
As one forcible evidence of the fact of vegetables
first originating from the elements of the rock on which
they germinate, and from the heat, light, atmosphere,
and moisture, is, that each rock of different chemical
composition, when exposed to these influences, will produce a moss peculiar to itself, and the same rock, in
any latitude where it can grow, will always produce a
plant of the same species, and each plant in its turn, of
the thousands of classes, orders, genera., species, and
varieties now in existence, will invariably produce an
animalcule, or insect, peculiar to itself. These are facts




64               MORNING LECTURES.
that have been abundantly substantiated by the most
scientific naturalists of the age.
The first forms of vegetation were brought into
being, and perfected in their kind-elaborating from
their own substance a germ or nucleus of vitality with
the impress of its own individuality, inclosed within a
receptacle capable of preserving and sustaining it, till
the favorable action of the elements (in heat, light,
moisture, and the soil,) could bring forth from each
germ  or seed " an image and likeness" of its parentthe organized substance or body of the original plant,
having performed the ultimate object of its existence,
dies, and the elements of which it is composed mingle
with the thin soil on the surface of the rocks, adding to
its substance, increasing its complexity, and refining its
particles; so that, with the return of the vernal equinox, and the genial rays of the sun, not only the seeds
of the old lichen unfold and expand into the same species, but a new and more complicated plant, with
distinct and marked differences (perhaps a fern,)
makes its appearance, and rears its graceful stem and
spreads its glossy foliage above the lowly moss.
Thus the ever-present and ever-active principle of
vitality and creative Energy, acting and reacting upon
the materials of our globe, started the kingdoms of
Nature, which have and will ever continue to progress-from the simple to the more complicated vegetable forms: animalcule, infusoria, radiata, molusca,
vertebrata, and Man as the Ultimate.  The lowest and
imperfect first, and the more complex and perfect after,
in regular progression, but in distinct degrees.  Each
new type being dependent upon all that preceded it for




THE END OF THE WORLD.              65
its existence, but yet distinct and different from its predecessors.
Thus it requires certain conditions, proportions,
anrd combinations of elementary inorganic substances
to produce a vegetable-and vegetable growth is
dependent entirely upon elementary regimen-while
animals cannot be produced or sustained in their existence by inorganic or elementary matter.  The organic
compounds of the blood, muscular -fiber, gelatin, skin,
hair, nails, or horns, &c., are all formed in exact constituents or proportions from the elementary particles
that enter into their composition by the vegetable. The
vegetable kingdom must, therefore, have existed before
the animal-the vegetable realm being the steppingstone, or connecting-link, between the elementary or
mineral kingdom  and  the animal.  Hence, if the
vegetable kingdom should by any cause be blotted out
from the face of the earth, the animal would soon be
annihilated.
All types in the endless chain of inorganic and
organized substances, are but links in the one system
of cause and effect, and each type or species is so marked
and distinct as easily to be distinguished, and each
variety and unity of the human species is so indelibly
stamped with its own perfected individuality, as to be
recognized from the myriads of the species.
Thus, fixed, unvarying, and universal laws of the
Father govern and regulate all his works.  From  the
first fiat that was sent forth througmhout all the ramifications of the Universe, spiritual, physical, and celestial, eternal unity, order, and  harmony  reigns —
conception, development, progression, and perfection,




66              -MORNING LECTURES.
mark all His work, and all point with the irresistible
force of reason and demonstration to the immortality of
fhe Soul.
In taking this philosophical view of the plan and
progress of Nature and the works of Gcd, how grand,
how sublime, how comprehensive, how  rational and
satisfactory-to the independent-thinking and inquiring
mind, who wishes to "have a reason for the faith that is
within him"-how perfectly are the love and wisdom
and justice of the Father and Mother conjugated  and
displayed! And how real, conclusive, and overwhelming the evidence —appealing directly to the senses, the
intellect, and  the  affections-of the  self-conscious,
immortal existence and progressive happiness of the
6"spirit" that is within us!  The human species being
the last..and highest Type upon our earth, and the only
one possessing reason and intelligence that examines
and investigates all that is beneath and around itself,
and that has a consciousness of the future —endeavoring
to raise or draw aside the thin, semi-transparent vail
that hangs suspended between the physical and the
spiritual existence —analogy, " reasoning from  what
we know," points directly not only to the probability,
but to the absolute certainty and necessity of a future
existence-in short and finally, to the Summer-Land!
All organic forms below man not only produce their
like, but the substances of their material forms mingle
with previously-formed compounds, to produce a new
and distinct type superior to itself. But the human type
has no superior development, and there is no retrogression in the works of Nature. Each new unfolding is
superior to the preceding. Man, then, is destined for;




THE END OF THE WORILD.             67
other and higher Spheres.  In those Spheres, or new
states of existence, man's spirit must present not only
an,'image and likeness" of Nature and God, but a
consciousness of identity  and  individual selfhood.
Feeling and knowing this, he should so live while in
this rudimentary and preparatory state of existence,
that all physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual
structure, formation, growth, and maturity, be fully
developed, cultivated, and perfected; so that when the
s" mortal puts on immortality," and seeks " a home in
the heavens," it can expand into a celestial being without spot or blemish to mar its beauty, or impede its
progress in bliss and glory.
Thus Geology teaches, among her first lessons, the
rise, perfection, blossoming, decay, and disappearance
of' various classes of vegetation.  She teaches that the
simplest forms-gelatinous fibers oozing out from the
lonely margins of early seas-crept over the rocks,
gave out their effluence, laid the foundation for something better, gathered the electricities of the air,
absorbed carbon, became hard; then the rains washed
them down into deep declivities and spacious valleys,
and carefully packed them away for the people to dig
out in the form of "6 coal" many hundred centuries afterwards! Those primeval mosses and early vegetationsthe original plants and early trees, once the only glory
of the physical world-are all gone into dense blackness, fit only for the stove, the grate, and the igneous
stomachs of Monitors, iron-clads, ocean steamers, and
locomotives.  Then the earth brought forth higher
orders-grand, large, immensely  high trees, which
packed away in their capacious trunks centuries upon




68              MORNING LECTURES.
centuries of growth and chemistry. Regally, supremely,
these trees flourished.  But at length, gathering their
forces more closely within —deeper, with greater concentration —took fire and burned themselves to death!
Soon out of sight, they became a portion of the floral
history of that epoch.
Then, in the depths of the many warm seas, gelatinous compounds were slowly developed up into points of
"c life." The early minute fishes flourished in myriads
throughout the seas, and also through infusorial organizations, propagating incomprehensible harvests of finer
organizations, and then decomposing, becoming in hundreds of centuries petroleum for the machinery of the
world —filling all the little crevices of rocks and valleys below the earth's surface, wherever they existed,
and died in large abundance in the era of their greatest
glory —now  only oil, to-day being pumped up and
burned in our most fashionable parlors.  So the early
points of life died, and though they were honored with
no tombstones *to mark their graves, they have arisen
from the rocks and live in the world's best uses.
Let us go on through the animal kingdom, where
yet more distinctly the same lesson is taught. The first
animals were huge in physical organization —ponderous
and immense-slow  in  their  motions; they  were
filled with indolence —mere gastric receptacles or stomachs for the digestion of dense forms of vegetable
matter-built for the reception and impartation of particles upon which they fed to form the basis of somethling
better.  Thus, primeval animals served for steps in a
flight of stairs-for laws and materials to walk upward
to the plane of finer organizations.  You remember




THE END OF THE WORLD.             69
what Geology teaches with reference to the megatheriums, the mammoths. and the ponderous saurians that
once roamed over the earth-the vast elephantine animals that were once so numerous and powerful that
nothing short of an earthquake could extinguish themnow all gone, save those vestiges and remains of
nobility which continue in the modern elephant, the
camel, and in the various squirming vipers in the fields
of civilization and far off on mountain-sides, each
declaring itself to be nothing more than the relic of
vast viprous and animal populations long extinct.
These great lessons come from Nature's and God's
word. Say not, therefore, when you go fiom the reading of this Lecture, that you have been where infidelity
was taught; but when asked: 6, What have you been
reading?" you can in truth reply:  "I have been learning lessons from the word of God." These truths are
words of Deity, because they are written on the everlasting rocks and upon the beautiful hills, which show
their secret instructions to those who will read and
have "a heart to understand" God's infallible ideas
written in the wondrous volume of Nature. Always
the wisest mind is the best reader-the fastest learner,
and the happiest.
It becomes now particularly important to observe
that the higher grades of animals-those which exist
on the earth to-day —are not the everlasting coinpanions of the world. You know that it is even now
difficult to keep certain animals in the world. Already
science is concerning itself with the propagation of particular fishes. These animals and fishes are growing
fewer, not simply because mankind feed upon them with




70               MORNING LECTURES.
such unbridled rapacity, but because, although they
show  the usual large preparations for future progeny, yet only a small percentage of their young are
matured.  Certain species of fish are, for this cause,
almost utterly extinct. Certain birds, too, are growing
"beautifully less" and less numerous, showing that
their type is slowly becoming extinct.
On this island of Manhattan, on which we exist today, the time was when wild beasts-more wild than
the worst people in their passions-roamed through
thickets and dank swamps; the red man was lord of
all; and fishes worked through the murky waters, and
loathsome worms wriggled their happy lives away in
the dirt and slime beneath.  Behold, now it is a resurrected Isle!  Like the new "Atlantis" prophesied in
early Platonic history, bounded by the sea on all sides,
opulent with science, and art, and happy homes, adorned
by beautiful persons, filled with wisdorm and affection,
and bound together by united -interests.  These things
for New York are prophesied on the basis of what now
exists, because the departure of the wildness from the
lower parts of Nature in the Island is a promise, in an
internal sense, of the advent of that which is better,
higher, grander, in whatsoever is human-in society
and in government.
Many vipers that once lived and propagated in
fearful abundance can now scarcely be found.  Civilization mnarches onward and exterminates them.  What
is civilization?  Is it the especial intention of the pioneer who. goes to the far west,- to destroy poisonous
serpents or to kill wild animals?  No.  Civilizatiou
does not come of intention; it is the impulse of the




THE END OF THE WORLD.              71
great law of Progress which gives to man's instinct
two expressions: one to kill for purposes of hunger,
and the other to kill to gratify the desire to overcome
-to  give the pleasure of extermination.  Nothing so
much as man is endowed with this double motive to
kill. The animals beneath man kill only to satisfy the
demands of hunger. But man kills by the force of a
higher propulsion-to destroy whatever is inimical to
his hiohest material interests, dangerous to the children
that play at the door, and baneful to the progeny that
will comnf after them.  A man is not'made to stop and
think, when he' is first called upon to kill a bear or a
lion, whether it would be likely to destroy a human
being, or not, if left with life.  It is the inevitable
voice of conquest that cries within him-the irresistible, sturdy impulse, to convince his own faculties-to
show by skillful marksmanship that he can destroy the
enemy or animal before him. I say all this is testimony
that the law of Progress-welling up through the human faculties and blundering through the stupid head
yet clear eye of the marksman-is exterminating all
serpents and animals which are incompatible with the
coming grand future of this planet.
Time is a fine-comb, and Progress is the strong iron
hand that grasps it-drawing it through all parts of
the head of humanity; and it will comb it clean! All
ferocious and venomous animals, all poisonous plants,
all meddlesome bugs, all summer flies, all wasps that
sting-everything that comes out of filth and opposes
refinement-everything that shocks civilization, that
comes as an insult and slight to the mind's higher sentiments -is destined, like these elder animals, and




72              MORNING LECTURES.
fishes, and primordial trees, and early submarine vegetations, to go down and die out of existence!
You cannot escape the conclusion that the human
race is destined to pass through a similar experience.
The theologic, or intuitive dream of the c" End of the
World," is based in a fact as well as upon a figure of
speech  it is the upshot of a principle as well as a conception of its open manifestation.
When the early vegetation died out, to them it was
the end of the world. When the early saurians withdrew, when the vast birds died, when the old dragons
and manmmoth-bats which once roamed and flew through
the world became extinct, to them it was the end of the
world.  When these various modern serpents, these
ferocious animals, these poisonous plants, become
extinct, to them it will be the end of the world.
Races and nations rise up; they flourish, grow opulent; they reach the maximum of material happiness;
they slide down a rough declivity toward the sunset of
history; and where another and a new nation is born,
there those once great nations are sepulchered. To the
dying nations it is the end of the world. The early
Aztecs thought that once the world was literally
destroyed by a mighty Whirlwind. The Chaldeans,
the Chinese, and others, have a myth that the world was
once destroyed by a general Flood.  (I believe there
is a very similar myth recorded in the Old Testament.)
The earliest Greeks taught that the globe was once
destroyed by a Fire. Perhaps it will help the myth by
saying that many Greeks were Alchemists and believed
much in fire! Famine was the means which hungry
races supposed the gods used to destroy the world. A




THE END OF THE WORLD.             73
few tribes of Indians in North America believed in the
destruction of the world by famine. There are, in fact,
some twenty-five to thirty different doctrines in the
world with regard to the means by which the physical
world was once destroyed.  Christians take one plan
of destroying the world's population —that of water.
By the amouut of imperfection and corruption still
remairling, one would be justified in saying that the
water had been withdrawn several centuries too soon.
It seems to hlave left the creed portion of the world
muddier than it was before. World-makers and worlddestroyers should not undertake to kill a population by
water unless they can do the work universally and
thoroughly.  Th'e world was not yet quite finished
when that great Flood swept over the mountains and
destroyed all; and yet the drowning was not sufficiently thorough; it did not destroy the evil conditions
which caused the American rebellion! There was left
in human nature a whole nest of evil eggs, which, when
incubated by the law of Progress, will bring out, in the
future of this country, the enactment of another Rebellion like this thing which is to-day startling and
upturning all the nations of the world. And why?
Because no literal Flood, however universal, however
high over the peaks of the Andes it might have been,
or may be, could not and cannot quite kill out all human
imperfections. " Perfection out of imperfection comes,"
as flowers bloom out of the dark, dreary, and unresponsive earth.  That is the reason why the end of the
world does not come in haste. It is the infinite method
of doing finite things —the perpetual going over dreary
4




74               MORNING LECTURIES.
wastes and imperfect conditions-up to that which is
blooming, beautiful, and perfect.
Now the physical globe is to follow this progressive
law. If a nation rises and matures, if it gathers around
itself all the arts, and sciences, and splendors, and
finally decays and dies; so mankind -may surely expect
that the globe itself, after its mission is all accomplished, will mature, decay, die, and disappear from
space!  Astronomy, geology, chemistry, and all the
sciences, show that this earth began; tiley demonstrate
with equal certainty that it will also grow old and be
dissolved.  Its chemical affinities, in a few  hundred
thousand years, will become antipathies. Its atoms will
rush to the embrace of thousands of other bodies.
The human race, properly so-called, is scarcely
forty thousand years old. Htow old that is to a planet's
population, you can judge by the aspect of the planet
itself.  What means it in this Temperate Zone, right
between two great extremes, that we have these changeable seasons-these excessively curious exhibitions of
climate and of temperature?  Because, I reply, the
earth itself is yet new  is not yet out of its teens!  In
its waters, in its mountains and valleys, in its chemistry, the globe is yet all undeveloped. Its treasures are
yet locked up in trunks of trees and fastened in recesses
far down beneath the soil.  The atmosphere, even in
the temperate belt, is yet rampant with a thousand-fold
eccentricities; it is daily giving grotesque expressions
of its innate, uncouth barbarisms; is not yet civilized
cnough to keep out of your doors even when you have
locked them; not decent enough to cease, blowing you
up" when you seek to comfortably and peaceably walk




THE END OF THE WORLD.             75
through the streets or open fields. Why, our uncivilized  atmosphere is producing terrible  havoc with
navigation-is interfering every day with the commnerce of the world-like a barbarian not yet wise
enough to follow the ways of wisdoni. The globe is like
a wild boy.  He tumbles down stairs when he should
be walking, and falls through the ice while skating,
when he ought to be self-poised and too wise for accidents. The atmosphere is like a powerful wild horse
not perfectly trained.  Ever and anon it gathers up its
black powers, stands before a chasm with accumulated
vigor and tremendous energy, and bounds to the opposite side with all the madness of unemployed power.
A wild horse sweeping over the prairies: that is the
earth's atmosphere. This all explains why the elements play mankind such pranks, unroofing houses,
tumbling over chimneys, and paying no more respect to
a church-steeple than to the pole of a hay-stack!
When Benjamin Franklin sent up his card, he simply obtained a slight indication that Mr. Lightning
would, one of these days, be sociable and come to tea.
He did get some of the fearful fluid bottled up; just
enough to talk with it-nothing more. Now Mr. Lightning is social and chatty.  He tells all the truth, and
nearly all the lies, about the present war.  "c Electricity," alias "Lightning," cuts awful pranks with people
in cholera times, and causes all kinds of unutterable
mischief; according to recent discoveries, in the diseases of animals throughout the country. All because
the fluid is not tame-it is wild, barbarous; it has not
come into the best society; and it does not know how
to behave among folks.




76              MORNING LECTURES.
All this is equally true of the globe. The earth is
eccentric; it is sidewise in its orbit; it does not yet
know enough to get down and lie straight in its bed.
Now it rolls in its path almost wrong end foremost.
VWhen the poles of the planet shall come into harmony
with the plane of its orbit, then how beautifully the
sun will cause all parts of it to bloom! The globe is
not yet sufficiently good to be so blessed. It will not
be so blessed while this orbital inequality continues to
exist.
Mankind must not soon expect our oceans to be
calm, nor our lightnings to save the churches, nor hurricanes to respect haystacks, or people, or cattle, nor
that the atmosphere will soon be civilized enough to
favor men in their Arctic explorations or coast-line
navigations.
Men sneer at the fanatic who thinks he can ride in
the air. Are you quite sure that the man is a fool who
thinks that one of these days we will rise up in the air
and be as safe, more certain, and far quicker, in our
voyage, than when shipping for Europe on the best
steamer?  Men laugh at those who dare suggest its
scientific practicability. Most people belong to the
race who have the power and the pomposity to laugh
at fanatics, until their children adopt the inventions of
those fanatics, and until mankind enjoy all the luxuries which such improvements diffuse throughout the
world. Now, I say, mankind are not yet old enough
on this planet, nor is the atmosphere old enough, nor
is electricity tame enough, and the mental world itself
is not large and good enough, to realize aerial navigation. Therefore it will not come right away. But just




TIHE END OF THE WORLD.             77
as sure as I am now speaking —as certain as birds flyso certain will safe, swift, and delightful air navigation
be man's achievement.
The earth is yet very young.  It is now only a few
millions of years old-in its early teens-has not been
in existence long enough to prepare the human race for
a higher degree of civilization. Only a few years ago,
across the Atlantic, in France, a man, although starving
to death, gave to the world systematic intimations and
lofty demonstrations to the effect that a higher social
order would inevitably come.  Of course it is popular
to slander him, and to blacken his character out of
sight; but the
"' Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again."
Not all that Fourier or Swedenborg said is true; not
all that I say is true.. True men make their words as
near truth as possible.  Mankind must be catholic and
all-emibracing; instead of excluding all the conflicting
creeds, better take theni all in and pulverize them.
When you go upon the mountain hights, and with
your visions sweep the plain, and the whole horizon of
thought, can you not take the pictures home with you,
and tell your wife and children what you have seen and
enjoyed on the summit? Perhaps your wife and little
ones live in the valley of thought.; they may look out
only through the open door, or through some panes of
broken glass, and see only a few pigs or the dirty fowls
that are squawking for something to eat, and crying
children that need bread to keep them still: this, perhaps, is what the valley-minded woman sees in her
lowly estate.  Or, perhaps the wife is the progressive




78               MORNING LECTURES.
member of the house.  If the better-minded woman
goes, I pray that she will try to attract upwards with
her that ponderous being called "a husband.."  Go on
together, if it be possible; sweep the horizon of Progression, take in the thoughtful scene; then, on returning, tell your listening neighbors, who have not- yet
gone up, of the rivers and mountains, plains, farmhouses, and  beautiful  trees-all  the  picturesque
vision of higher forms of truth.
The mental world, I repeat, is young.  The physical globe, too, is so young that it cannot be speedily
called to order.  The tempests of the physical world
are only what we see mentally breaking out in the galleries of political conventions.  Hurricanes are but
parts of what occurs in the State Legislatures.  Where
political heathenism exists, there will be tornadoes and
hurricanes! It is natural for people to be dirty until
they are washed. People will be covered with political, social, and religious vermin, until they are perfectly cleansed and civilized, purely clothed, and
thoroughly combed.  All- this is applicable to the physical world.
What of the races?  The nations and peoples are
not prepared for a higher order of society.  They have
not lived up to their present knowledge, and of course
they are not ready for a grander social or political
development. Best minds are ready only to say and
believe that something better is possible, and that
is all. But c" humanity sweeps onward."
The great world is grand and sublime, because it
rolls progressively away toward the coming centuries! The human race, about forty thousand years old,




THE END OF THE WORLD.              79
has but reached its thirteehth year in true civilization.
In its politics, in its republicanism, in its democracy, in
its poetry, in its music, and in its spirituality, the race
is yet very young.  Much will happen when 100,000
more of these rolling vears shall have passed away!'The notes of music which come through spiritual communications-from the lofty summits of heavenly inspiration-enable us to catch but imperfect glimpses of
the 6" good time" when the earth shall ripen and blossom as the rose. All this shows what the world is fast
conling to see.
-When mankind shall have grown spiritually larger
and finer in body, they will. have fewer and fewer
children.  Down in the lower strata of society behold
how populous! Take the early races: they propagated rapidly. Earth's mothers have been broken down
by their exceedingly numerous progeny.  Rise higher
in the scale, and' the married have fewer children and
less frequently. Rise still higher and higher in the
mental scale, and vou can easily believe the time will
come when reproduction will cease. There will theni
be fathers and mothers with their descendants; and
the progeny will become as the angels —" neither martying nor given in marriage''-having arisen above the
mission  of propagation-all ready for the wondrous
apotheosis which will close the scene of the human
lrace.
In the vast future (I wish I had another hour this
morning, in which to speak of what will happen between
this and the future,) when the race itself has grown to
the highest point of maturity.  Behold at last a family
group ascends from the ", perfect sleep" into the Upper




80              MORNING LECTURES.
life! They close the terrestrial drama, and the curtain falls.  The great bell of chemistry is now struck,
and instead of a conflagration, as the " Adventists"
believe, slow decomposition-dying like a puff —decaying and dropping asunder like the stump of a tree without vitality-then spreading its atoms over millions of
solar bodies that are ready to grasp these chemical
opportunities-thus this planet will cease, and its population, all in the Summer-Land, looking down upon the
closing of this sublime tragical drama!
The cerebellum, I again remark, will one of these
days cease to have any function with reference to reproduction.  The finest, most poetic and spiritual mind,
gathers nearly all of its propagating powers and essences into the front-brain and t6p-faculties. Such persons
have few children. Men who are yet full of the world's
blood, and women who are full of similar vitalities,
still believe that many children, better propao ated,
would be great blessings to the world. Only friends
of Progress dare to speak the whole truth on this sub.
ject. Not a church-minister in the city, with the vast
organization of moneyed men to support the pulpit,
dares to speak the truth which lies at the basis of
the happiness of mankind.
But friends of Progress are free to speak.  We
sing new songs.  We have new wings of great principles just starting.'We are ready to soar wherever the
truth shall attract. We have free feet ready to scale
the highest mountains.  We are a glad and cheerfiul
people, with  unbounded  hope.  To  our eyes the
heavens are open, and our souls are filled with the
attractive inspiration of the future.  All this brings




THE END OF THE WORLD.             81
us joy and peace in the midst of carnage and confusion
in the physical world. The true harmonial progressive Women  and  Men  stand  unruffled  and
unchanged.  They know that, in the far-off future
time, the better will dominate what is merely good;
that the best will dominate the better; that fruits and
flowers will yet blossom in the wilderness; and that.
from out of the earth's dark places, the white lilies of
peace shall bloom with an immortal beauty.
4*




THE NEW BIRTH;
OR,
THE SPIRIT'S PROGRESS IN TRUTH.
"To commune with God amidst the beauty of earth, in thanksgiving,
For life, health, our daily bread, and, by second birth,
A home in heaven."
The first view of this question that comes before the
ignorant mind is the supernatural.  It is incorporated
with all religious education, and has been strengthened
by the psychological influence of all ecclesiastical teachers.  Hence there exists in almost every mind an undefinable conviction that the new birth-"; a change of
heart"-is a supernatural effect, produced by instrumentalities differing wholly from those laws of growth
which bring mankind into existence, which cause the
flowers to burst into blossom and the sun to shine; that
in order to understand what is meant by a new heart,
or to  have the  mysterious experience  of such  a
c" change," we must come into a state different from the
whole system of laws, causes, and effects, which characterize and regulate the unchangeable universe.
Dr. Bushnell, a most classical expounder of the
popular theory of the supernatural, holds the conviction
that, above the will and reason of every person, there
is a super-plane, an extra Divine sphere, differing from
all the fixed natural laws and mathematical principles




THE NEW BIRTH.                  83
which move and systematically distribute the ponderable bodies of space. The supernatural, he would say,
is the great voluntary system of God; the involuntary
portion is the system of Nature, which is an organization endowed with laws, and with characteristics and
attributes and forces, without inter-consciousness to
operate throughout the interminable periods of tlhe
future, as it has through all past eternities, in unvarying accordance with the fixed plans of the Infinite
Alind.  If anything should occur in the departments of
human nature contrary to the established laws and
legitimate effects, it is a "6 miracle." It is furthermore
held that God reserves to himself a realm of voluntary
powers, with which, whenever in the depth of wisdom
and love it seems best, he volitionally interposes, suspends, repeals, reverses, subverts any of the fixed laws
of Nature-breaking them utterly —otherwise miracles
would never occur, and the supernatural world would
not be revealed and vindicated. Dr. Bushnell has
probably given as complete an exposition of that side of
the subject as can be found in the language, although
necessarily very unsatisfactory and irrational, because
the subject itself is involved in mazes of the greatest
obscurity and superstition.
No miracle is possible without conflict with the
established atomic laws of the physical universe.
Whatever occurs in harmony with the requirements of
any of these laws, is no miracle; though the occurrence
might be a higher manifestation of the same general
plan, not before fully understood.  The definition of a
miracle would be the development of something in con



84               MORNING LECTURES.
tradiction, in antagonism, with the immutable atomic
affinities of the physical universe.
The controversy between Progressive minds and the
Church-people turns exactly on this one point, viz.,
whether Deity ever contradicts the established laws of
the physical and spiritual universe?  Did he, or does
he ever suspend the operation of natural principles, in
order to accomplish anything for the especial benefit
of any class of people, or for the sake of any particular
person?
Desiring to ascertain the exact truth of the question, we have gone into investigations of what, in the
past, have been accredited as "miracles," and which
have ecclesiastically been and are yet considered marvels absolutely necessary to substantiate the peculiar
claims and Messiahship of' Jesus.  The theory is, that
he depended very much on these 46 signs and wonders"
to arrest the attention of the people, and thus lead
them, through their marvelousness, to a perception of
higher truths.  The different Churches say that the
test of his Messiahship —the evidence that he was sent
as the only begotten of' God to humanity-is the supernatural power displayed in his miracles!
Now, we have investigated and analyzed this chapter of Bible-miracles, which these churchmen dare not
do.  They sometimes coifess that they dare not take a
miracle and probe it to its primal elements. Some
clergymen cannot always afford to follow the plain
truth; others are constitutionally cowardly; and others
are intellectually incompetent; whilst many of the
evangelical school eat too much, and are indolent. But
Progressives have freely examined the question of




THE NEW BIRTH.                85
Bible-miracles, with a sincere desire to know "S what is
truth," and they find that there is nowhere recorded,
either in the Old Testament or in the New, a transaction which, in any possible degree, violates the established order and fixed laws of Nature.  If any one
among you know of miracles, or fancy that you know
of positive events, in direct contradiction to the
unchangeable principles of human nature or of the
physical universe, you should at once give a full exposition of what you think you know on the subject.
6"A change of heart"-in the fact of which we
firmly believe-is no supernatural manifestation of
God's grace.  We very earnestly believe in a "Cnew
birth;" yea, in a succession of new births. We believe
that there are many individuals who need to be- born
again and patched up a good many times to be anybody
worth mentioning. This is true because there are so
many persons who seem to have been badly born from
the first —" conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity."
But there are other natures born in righteousness.
We thank heaven for these -beautiful bows of human
promise, even though they come without especial
intention or merit on the part of their progenitors.
Halos of immortal effulgence now and then flash forth
through the beautiful birth of approximate Saviors. In
music, in art, in science, in philosophy, in every
direction towards which human interests tend, or from
which human needs are supplied, we behold well-born
and highly-endowed sons and daughters of wisdom and
liberty. A highly endowed person may be surprisingly
"well-born"  in one particular respect, and yet may




86              MORNING LECTURES.
remain unconceived in almost every other department
of mind and soul.
No, we do not accept the doctrine of a supernatural
spiritual conception, nor a new, miraculous birth.  We
hold that man's mind is so constituted as to desire
sensuous Knowledge and also beautiful Wisdom, or
wise Knowledge, -which is spiritual Understanding. It
is natural fo' man to desire to expel ignorance from his
mind.  The soul throws a power from the center of its
being, saying to ignorance: "Get thee behind me!"
and then, turning to heaven, it says: 6" Give me understanding, I entreat Thee; and give me also wisdom;
and oh, give me power, and true knowledge also, by
which that power can be made executive and practical."  The desire to know, is the first implanted ambition of the intellectual faculties.  Useful knowledge is
the next demand; then knowledge that is consistent, as
well as useful; then beautiful knowledge, as well as
consistent; then spiritual knowledge, as well as beautiful; then knowledge celestial, as well as spiritualthese are the gradually awakening prayers and undefinable longings of the perpetually-borning human
spirit.
There are persons who pass on for years, feeling
only a feeble desire to know more-to have less ignorance in common, every-day concerns.  It is not
important to them  whether they know  " the whole
truth," so long as they have the common-place exchanges of a talkative society.  To this end they take
the established Quarterlies, read the political pamphlets
and the fashionable periodicals, and peruse such portions of the daily papers as inform them concerning the




- THE NEW BIRTH.              87
common doings of the world. Such information seems
to be a complete gratification to many minds. On
Sundays they attend some established church, and
during the brief moments spent there they hear music,
and come under the influence of devotional prayers, or
listen, it may be, to an eloquent, a beautiful, and perhaps a spiritual sermon, and, for the time being, such
minds feel vague longings for something more "interior" which they do not consciously possess. But they
hasten home to dinner.  That settles all the fine emotions that were excited. Down they drop into their
newspapers, and presently into a solid, snoring nap, and
on waking, find themselves the persons they were after
business hours on Saturday night.  Others become
excited.  They feel enthusiastically warm all throughout their beating hearts.  They feel that the physical
dinner cannot come between them and the blessed truths
of heaven. They go devotionally to their rooms to seek
the Lord in prayer. Then they come under the influence of a new psychology; a finer feeling has commenced to flow from the mysterious fountains of spirit.
They wish to know the will of their heavenly Fatherbeautiful, loving, saving justice, power, purity, and
truth, which are God. Holy emotions rise from the
depths of the spirit and set the moral faculties in action,
and the whole religious group of organs bow themselves reverently before that newly-awakened desire to
be at peace with God. With deep sincerity such minds
go to their closets, shut the door, and prostrate themselves in prayer, or pray themselves into prostration.
They attend the revival-meeting both day and night,
until, like one of our celebrated pugilists, the over



MORNING LECTURES.
joyed heart rises and boldly declares itself c" saved by
God," through the supernatural interposition of the
sanguineous sweat of the Vicarious Redeemer.  And
the upshot of this excitement is called 6" a change of
heart!"
Some are only spectators. Some have been through
the mill.  Others have been converted and  i" born
again" a good many times.  There are persons in all
communities who have had-the mysterious bewilderment
of this experience, and have come safely and reasonably
out of it; and they testify that, while in it, they were
happier, but did not know' as much; were not large in
thought nor liberal; but they felt warmer, felt kindlier, felt a closer connection with something incomprehensible and mysteriously sublime. Young hearts,
between the ninth and twentieth year, are especially
susceptible to such Methodistical conversions; just as
between the cradle and the twelfth year the physical
system is susceptible to measles, mumps, whoopingcough, and kindred infirmities. I say there is an
impressible period in each human life when a theological change of heart-a church-rousing among the
young men and maidens-comes about and produces its
devotional and probational effects as naturally as the
little distempers of childhood afflict the tender physical
organs.
A man just begins to be somebody when he is
plumply forty-five years of age.  Before that time he
has an uncertain history and an unsolidified character.
A woman truly begins to be-when she is forty. There
is then womanly beauty and practical strength.  Theorb of life is truly balanced at this age in its path




THE NEW BIRTH.                89
around the sun of Duty. Hopes have been disappointed
and buried, and they have been also resurrected and
educated.  Ambition and vanity have been checked
and chided many times; and baseless expectations of
worldly victories have been driven and punished out
of the temple.  The person begins to comprehend the
solid facts of life, and to feel largely and sympathetically acquainted with the current wants, impulses, anld
experiences of human nature in general.  After the
fortieth year there occur few sudden conversions.
Almost every religious person in Christendom  can
remember to have experienced something like " a change
of heart."  Now and then, however, some one has
dropped over-board in the voyage, or stranded upon
some cliff by the way, and therefore she or he has never
sensibly drifted into the ecclesiastical current.  Some
have stood upon the shore of religion and contemplated
the mysterious voyage in which others were embarking.
They stand to-day and remark: 4"I never was taken
into any Church; I never was converted; I have tried
to be, but never could be."  This is the experience of
a few religious souls in Christendorn.  Large numbers,
on the other hand, testify that they have passed into the
mysterious experience of feeling a oneness with Deity,
and a certain conscientious reconciliation with tihe
spirit of the historic Redeemer.
If you were intimately acquainted with the religious
experience of the Maahommedans, Chinese, Chaldeans,
or Persians, who have nothing essentially at war with
the spirit.of Christianity, you would recognize your
own human nature with the same mysterious, subjectively spiritual experience, under the identical latw




90               MORNING LECTURES.
of psychological contact with Deity.  They also obtain
and experience the c" new birth," or " change of heart."
Miany religious souls have had this experience who
never heard'the name of Jesus-that "namrne" which
many Christians consider essential to the ultimate
safety of souls.
That celebrated religious phenomenon, which Unita4ran missionaries obtained in the Eastern world-I mean
iMr. Philip Chunder Jogut Gangooly, who probably
cost about five thousand dollars to get him squarely
converted, educated, and shipped  to this countrytestified that Christians, not excepting Unitarians, were
in need of true knowledge relative to the leading doctrines and ceremonies of Ilindooisrn.  HIe found the
American people religiously ignorant-found that we
knew but little, and what we did know was, like superficial drinking at the Pierian spring, caleulated  to
make all a little drunk with religious feeling and conceit. His influence, however, had the effect of rendering
our missionaries more eloquent and our bumps of
benevolence more susceptible.  Mr. Gangooly said
nothing remarkable about a c; change of heart."
Bishop Colenso is a convert to God's preaching
through the unsophisticated, but highly religious nature,
of those far distant heathen children.  They put questions to him which lhe would not answer dogmatically.
The noble bishop would "; once more think of it." Once
more the teachable teacher felt that he nlust study his
own theories-go back again to the cardinal propositions of his Church-down to the primal principles of
his own long-cherished doctrines.  And this accomplished and noble-souled gentleman was sent by an




THE NEW BIRTH.                    91
evangelical institution to teach its religious dogmas to
the heathen, by which they were to be led to God! But
the entreaties of the heathen children led him prayerfully to a re-examination, to a new analysis and measurement of his creedal propositions, and lo! the result
is,, conversion"- a new birth in the heart of the good
Bishop Colenso.  And then Bishop Rochester attempts
to send the news to the kingdom of heaven, through his
formal prayers, and advises all the prelates and priests
of that region to send like word, that poor Bishop
Colenso has strayed from  the fold of truth.*  "cPray
for him!  lHe  is  laboring  under a snul-destroying
heresy!"  What evancgelical ignoramuses! what consuminate  twaddlers!  what accomplished  imbeciles!
Why, the priests and prelates are asked to pray against
the very truths which those simple children of the Most
High put to the susceptible and honest spirited Colenso!
The heathen converted the Bishop to a higher knowledge of God.   Let all men and women see in the
teachable spirit of that excellent minister a beautiful
example, and let them not be behind him  in simplicity
and integrity.  "Are  you quite  sure"-they  asked
him —" are you quite sure, Bishop, that all who never
heard the name of Jesus will eternally suffer?"  He
could not reply, for he was not quite sure!  Sent by a
great ecclesiastical power to teach the heathen, yet he
* The Bishop of Oxford has recently addressed a pastoral letter to
his clergy, in which he laments that Dr. Colenso has resolved to persevere in the course on which he has'entered, and adds, that while it
is a matter of deep thankfulness that no leaven of this unbelief is to be
found in the Oxford Episcopate, it is not best to be contented with
mere immunity from error. " ]Rather," says the Bishop, "let the sight
of a brother so misled humble and watrn us.97




92               MORNING LECTURES.
was s" not quite sure"! Let us thank God-God does
not want us to thank him-well, l-et us be grateful to
the Heart of all principles, for the teachable, the
beautiful, and child-like spirit of Bishop Colenso, which
caused him, with power, to say: "' Dogmatism, depart!
These heathen children ask me if I am quite sure of
eternal suffering for all- who have not accepted Jesus.
No! I am not sure!"  Then he goes to his New Testament; goes in deepest prayer; he prayed as good as
the best of you can pray, and with as sincere a heart;
and he finds therein what he never found before, viz.,
that the Divine never designs to cast off anything pertaining to the constitution of the human soul! He finds,
on the other hand, that the truths and real revelations
of the New Testament are worthy of the paternal Soul
of the universe. He says, therefore, to all the world:
"1 am a new man."  And we respond, Amen! He has
experienced a "new birth."  And yet the dogmatic
Church, which holds that the new birth is essential for
a sight at the kingdom  of heaven, is bowed down in
lamentations over his conversion!  Presently another
class of religionists will undertake to wheel the Bishop
into line with their peculiar forms and notions.
If I were able, I would speak with. an emphasis of
ten tons to the square inch, so that the whole world
should hear that the system  of  Christianity-I say
6" the system," not the spirit, remember-as it is to-day
preached  and presented  to mankind, is, generally
speaking, just as monstrous a piece of quackery as any
practice we find in the discordant world of medicine.
Christendom is filled with ecclesiastical quacks and
charlatans on this very subject of'"the new birth."




THE NEW BIRTH.                93
You cannot in American cities walk over five hundred
yards without noticing a new sign up, announcing a new
method of introducing you into the kingdom of heaven.
The Methodist differing from the Episcopalian, the
Presbyterian from the Baptist, the Quaker from the
Universalist, the Congregationalist from the Unitarian!
Every one who reads the Bible-as I am glad every
educated person can in the independence of consciousness and reason-sees in it precisely what his or her
state of mind makes apparent, and that is all.  A man
will see its teachings literally or figuratively, symbolically or spiritually, Swedenborgianally or quite otherwise, in accordance with the elections of his state of
mind.  And he will furnish the "class-meeting" with
descriptions of his religious and spiritual development,
or new birth, in accordance with his intellectual caliber, education, and worldly experience. If his priest
has impressed him to be a dogmatist, he will hold up
the stupid sign and say: c" Lo! this is the only way to the
new birth, and the shortest route to the kingdom of
heaven."
Friends of Progress should help men over all this.
Let them understand that, by means of true spiritual
growth, they can become united, and thus destroy the
monstrous mistakes and expensive theological quackeries which infest Christendom.  No wonder so many
honest souls get so badly-born in the conflicting
Churches! No wonder so many come out sanctimonious and hypocritical, but not sanctified! True, many
tender-hearted converts in the Churches are inclined to
be spiritual, and some of them are permanently im



94              MORNING LECTURES.
proved and benefited for life by the mysterious shock,
coupled with the institutional or societary check; but
a far greater number, on the other hand, are rendered
permanently small and limited in their understandings
of the human world, of the great truths of Christianity;
and the life-long moral consequences are-bigotry on
most questions, narrow-mindedness, social bitterness,
and  a squeamish or malignant protest against the
onward work of Reformers.
Now, all interior and common-sense men have practical and similar understandings of the origin; nature,
and validity of the "; new birth."  Many of them, however, becoming utterly disgusted with supernatural
theories, have gone to reading books of Medicine, or to
Reading Law, and have resolutely given up all speculative thoug'hts and the cultivation of' all sentiriental
inclinations toward the popular Church, and toward
spiritual things in general. Some of them still- hold to
progression and improvements in moral reforms, and
such teach that the truest new birth consists in a true
generation and a true exodus of both body and soul.
"c The ttrue practical birth," say they-the only one
which will save the trouble of all the pseudo-regenerative processes which the Churches have inaugurated,
and do away with all the mysterious strugglings to get
born again-" is to be perfectly born from  the beginning."  These results rest directly with the mother and
the father-the true Joseph and the true Mary —who
are to bring the gentle human Saviors into the world.
The Christs are to be born from the spirit, without.
miracle, through the organs of human reproduction.
There is to be a multiplication of Saviors, s" both male




THE NEW BIRTH.                  95
and female." Instead of one being born every ten centuries or two thousand years, there will eventually be
one born every ten years, and ultimately, every time a
child is born the angels will sing  "glad tidings of
great joy,"' for each child will be a Christ-spirit and a
Savior.  Let us, therefore, exalt woman's mission and
situation, and esteem man.as the all-embracing, externial, protective, and positive sphere in which Woman
secretly performs her allotted duties.  She is to be the
Savior in the sense of being a fountain from which a
stream, a river, a lake, a sea, an ocean of purer bodies,
and souls will flow for the progress and purification of
the world.
Is not this a practical doctrine of being born again?
You know  that few  people are well-born.  Their
spiritual genesis is defective; their deformities are
numerous-not only physiological defects, but also
mental and moral. Henry Ward Beecher is physically
hearty and morally stout enough-I am so glad that he
has made himself also popular and sufficiently acceptable-to convert a Congregationalist pulpit into a public
Sunday rostrum!  The accomplishment of that c" newbirth" in the functions of a pulpit is a decided indication- of his great inherent power, and of his great
mastery over the feelings and thoughts of his hearers.
And in the freedom of his Congregational platform, he
says, that a man born right the first time is very superior
to the man who has been s" converted" under. the influence of religion. (See PROGRESSIVE ANNUAL for 1862.)
The converted man-notwithstanding the restraints of
the Church and of Paul's gospel, and the additional
checks to bad morals constantly dropping from the




i96             hiMORNING LECTURES.
eaves of the sanctuary-is not so good a man as a man
who was born good and rightly trained from  birth.
That is to say, a naturally good man is superior to a
converted bad man in the Church. I am so glad HIenry
said it! I wish all gospel-ministers were sufficiently
stout in stomach and fearless in brain to make progressive platforms out of their pulpits, and then preach
the wisdom thereof to their astounded congregations!
Pity they are not more morally vigorous.  They have
not the power of God with them. That is the cause of
their feebleness and bigotry. It would take twenty
Trinities to give Protestant clergymen moral courage
adequate to preach, investigate, and enforce new principles of human regeneration. But my Brother Beecher,
on the Sunday Rostrum, notwithstanding his substratum of skepticism as to the existence of the Trinity
itself, is yet enabled to announce a most thrilling principle of redemptive Truth. He is not afraid to tell the
people that they had better propagate their children
right from the start-not in E" sin and in iniquity," but
with the pure, beautiful, celestial principles of health
and harmony in the body, and with the balance of
righteousness in  the spiritual organization.  From
thence goodness in the subsequent individual flows as
from a fountain, while "conversions" do nothing more
than modify and patch up that which, after all, at heart,
is out of moral shape and due working proportion, and
the crookedness of which cannot be straightened for a
lengthened period in the Summer-Land. I wish my
Brother Henry had also said that the morally misshapened  and  intellectually crooked  do not quite
recover until the Sunmmer-Land pours its fine discipline




THE NEW BIRTH.                 97
and its healing magnetism through and over the affec.
tions and character.  But he has not got so far.,
In the New Testament, in the third chapter of John,
we find a most practical view of this question of a new
birth, and yet it was given to mankind, as it were, acci,
dentally, or as part of a common conversation.  It
makes one feel as though Nicodemus ought to receive
the thanks of Christendom for the spiritual answers
which his materialistic interrogatories elicited. Nicodemus was a distinguished Pharisee.  The Pharisees,
you know, were almost all dogmatic men, just like these
American religionists and doctors of divinity.  They
held high positions, and filled all the important offices
in Israel.  Nicodemus was a Ruler.  lHe had heard
that the "c young man"> was' teaching strange, mysterious
doctrines through the country; and, being a Ruler,
like the Governor of one of our States, he went to the
6" young man," and very politely asked him to "C explain
himself." The Israelitish gentleman did not wish to be
conspicuous in such a matter.  Therefore, somewhat as
Mr. Lincoln left Baltimore for Washington, so the
Ruler put on an unusual coat, and a different hat, and
away he stealthily went to have a religious talk with
the son of Mary and Joseph.  Said he to the spiritual
man: " What is this doctrine of being born again?
What do you mean by it?"  So spake Mr. Nicodemus.
The "young'man" held up the doctrine, plainly, substantially, that, " unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven."  Nicodemus first paid
him a compliment; for, said he, You are a very influential, successful person; you must be A" of God." You
do these wonderful things-you accomplish these so



98              MORNING LECTURES.
called miracles among the people-consequently, you
must be a Son of God, and I am willing to call you'"Rabbi," or master.  (Now-a-days we say "Mr.,"
instead of 6" Rabbi.")
The Ruler was investigating 6"for himself." Said
he: ", What is the meaning of all this?"  Jesus gave
him an obscure answer: c" Except a man be born again,.
he cannot see the kingdom of heaven."  Now, merely
seeing the kingdom of heaven is not always satisfactory
to one's spiritual cravings.  You might see a very fine
dinner in the next room, with a strong window between
you and it, and you hungry and without money. Would
seeing the dinner be calculated to satisfy the cravings
of your appetite?  Mr. Nicodemus did not seem to
get much satisfaction out of the answer to his question.
The theme itself was so extraordinary. "' How can that
be?" he thought. He took things literally.  Said he:
6I"How can an old man enter back through physical
organs and be born again?"
Nicodemus naturally enough supposed he had the
" best of the argument."  His common experience and
materialistic views, assured him. Says he: "That is
absurd; I can bring medical books to show that the
thing has never occurred." Jesus, on the contrary, did
not need any medical books to convince him. He knew,
by the light of Intuition, that the new birth in the
Ruler's -mind was impossible.  Miracles never occur.
Jesus did not pretend that there was anything miraculous in his gospel of the new birth. He did not say
that a man could possibly return and be born a second
time through the physiological organs. He knew that
such an event could not happen, any more than an




THE NEW BIRTH.                99
elderly man could swim back to the baby year and
begin life again-any more than any event which has
happened can be annihilated from the history of the
past.
Jesus did not admit that Nicodemus's thought was
possible. But instead he said:;" Unless a man be born
of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom."  That is something more comprehensible.  A
man cannot come to dinner unless he pays the price..He cannot come to this feast of fat things —cannot
drink the wine on the lea well-refined-unless he walks
through water and in the Spirit.
Now of' all this I believe that I never had any
doubt. I believe it, and have long believed it, because
it is utterly without miracle, and because the conception
is so beautiful in itself. No spiritual person ever questions that beautiful reformatory principle divulged in
the third chapter of John.
But Nicodemus was evidently astonished. He might
have said: 6, I cannot make anything out of what you
say; it is all incomprehensible stuff to me. I cannot
comprehend your ideas about water and the Spirit."
Then what did Mary's spiritual son do?.Why, he cited
a very interesting illustration of it-that is, interesting
to commentators who make it their business to expound
Scriptures, but very obscure to those who ask the question.  Said he:'"You do not understand the wind's
mysteries, neither do you understand this. You cannot
understand whence the wind cometh, nor whither it
goeth. So of every person born of the Spirit." That
limpid explanation must have been very unsatisfactory
to Nicodemus. Hfe very naturally said:," Well, I shall




1 00            MORNING LECTURES.
never succeed in being born again. If I cannot understand the process anymore than I can understand the
wind, then T am a gone case; for I certainly don't understand either how the wind comes or how it goes."
And so he went away no wiser.
Missionaries who go out to teach the heathen, do
not know any more about spiritual regeneration than
did Nicodemus.  When the affections of men are bordi
again, the third chapter of John is of little moment.
All truth is read with new eyes when the spirit is wise.
If you be really c" born again," the world's Bible, as
well as Nature, will be new volumes to you. But you
must be first born again, independently of the Bible,
and become something within yourself, and then the
Bible and Christianity will mean something more than
a book and a system. The world also will become a
new development to you from the day you become harmonious and new within yourself. The doctrine is
plain and beautiful, that the new birth is not possible
", except a man be born of water and of the Spirit." I
am glad the account does not read " brandy and water,"
or- bread and wine;" for then, to follow authority, we
would have to spread a table and proceed to celebrate
the Eucharist.  He did not say a man cannot be born
again, except through the use of bread and wine, which
is only a Hebrew act of commemoration.  That will do
as a Passover.  (I always pass it over!)  A human
heart is not born again by means of brandy and water,
nor alone by means of the " spirit." In some Churches
they dip cc converts" into a large tank, simply because
the Bible-text reads s" water"; and so baptizo becomes
a very influential mystery in the regenerative vocabu



THE NEW BRTH..      101
lary.  I am so glad that Jesus was led into Jordan. It
seems to promise that, one of these days, people will
adopt the rational means of securing physiological perfection. There will be sweeter people on earth when
bathing becomes universal. Swedenborg and all spiritually-minded people say that water is a beautiful emblem
of purity, renovation, or regeneration. What a sparkling element it is, going through the world, with immortal music on its bosom, flowing down mountain-slopes
and forming cascades, and forever hymning gratitude
and praise to Deity! No man can enter into the kingdom of harmony unless he be born, first, through physiological harmony, or "water," and, second, through
the balance of his affections and faculties, or through
the "' spirit" of wisdom and justice.
Many of us will know something mnore substantial
about being "nborn again" one of these'coming days.
Mary's son put s" water" before c" spirit," and so do we.
It is true physiological reform.  There is no miracle or mystery in it.  He said:  "A man (that is,
anybody,) born'of water' —of physical cleanliness,
physical neatness, physical harmony, and away from
disease-and' of the spirit' —-that is, of' the balance of
the powers of the heart and faculties of the brain- such
an one can enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Have
you tried it? If you have not, suppose you begin to
test the truth of it to-day.)  He says the Son of Man
shall be 6"lifted up"-the only begotten of God. What
is the only begotten? It is the spirit of Truth issuing
from  this beautiful marriage between  "water" and
" spirit"-the  nuptial union  between  "body" and
" soul."  The power and the spirit of Truth rise out



102             MORNING LECTURES.
the only begotten-and thus the individual is 6"lifted
up." Then what? No man can be lIfted out unless he
be first immersed in something.  What is he lifted out
of?  Out from his personal Satans —out of sympathy
with his unclean spirits-out of the pit of his demons.
What are they? Passions, appetites, and inversions.
s" The only begotten" is the principle of Truth-rising
out from the secret recesses of the superior faculties,
and 6"lifting" man out of his passions and appetites,
which are demons and unclean spirits.
It matters not how great a man's reputation may be,
if he is, to any extent, in bondage to his stomach, to his
passions, to any bad habit or acquired appetite-such a
man is not c" saved."  He realizes nothing of the new
birth.  A selfish man, a deceiver, a hypocrite-a man
who lives in his family like a beast and before folks
like a gentleman-has not experienced a change of
heart.  A swinish character always gets ", lengthwise
in the trough." He stretches himself at full length in
the advantages of his home, and closes out the choicest
friends of his wife and children.  Or the fashionable
religious woman, member of whatever Church, who will
require the coachman to go out in the storm to drive
her to Church, is not born again. And these women
who work and slave, who are deprived of their just
rewards, who labor in the kitchens, and who garnish
the rooms where maidenly attentions are most required
-these are cheated of an extra twenty-five cents a
month by persons who go to some graceless church.
And are such born again?  " Can't you work in my
kitchen early and late for six dollars and a quarter a
month?" Bridget thinks she deserves seven dollars.




THE NEW BIRTH.               103
Who would labor for less?  (I would charge  twenty,
if 1 were Bridget.) It is the hardest thing in the world
for an intelligent person to be Bridget, and to do
Bridget's work.  She ought to have ten or twelve,
instead of six and a quarter dollars per month. But
the favorite orthodox minister gets all the extra money
which Bridget ought to have for her tedious labors.
All because the religious lady of the house is not justis not s" born again" —but is under the dominion of
popularity, style, fashion, churchianity, and orthodoxy.
Look up these opulent Avenues, so full of dressings
and great mansions.  Do they not administer to the
destruction of the principles of human liberty, justice,
happiness, and fraternity?  Persons who live in them
lose much of their simplicity of character, and they are
not teachable. They are unhappy and in s" outer darkness." There are'" weepings" in the basements, ", wailings" in the bed-chambers, and c" gnashings of teeth"
whenever the large bills come in for payment. I do
not wonder that they live in outer darkness, nor that
they go to church to see whether there is anything
"cheerful" in the prospect after a death by gout. The
man who needs a Church, or the woman who needs a
Minister, or the bishop who needs a Bible, or the religionist whose feeble faith needs the bolster of a Miracle, is not born again.  Such may have the form-the
signs and symbols-but not the spirit of Truth.
A new birth lifts the mind above dependence upon
externals, for the "c only begotten" in the spirit begins
life by drawing upon the Infinite Father for truths and
principles. A new birth, therefore, consists in a marriage between the affections and faculties of the social,




104             MORNING LECTURES.
intellectual, and moral nature. The spirit will produce
its kind.  Jesus also said that.  Did he not say truly:
"6 That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; that which
is born of the spirit, is spirit"?  Don't you believe it?
If the Nazarene were in New York to-day, he would
undoubtedly be thankful for an opportunity to reannounce that beautiful principle. Spiritualists would
all enjoy it, and each would say: "Well, I have heard
that before-a thing produces its kind."  The physical
body, however healthy and perfect, will produce only
physical happiness. Aromal emanations from the pure
body are always precious, life-giving, and beautiful,;
but the harmonious human mind gives off far sweeter
aromal fragrances which elevate and chasten all who
come within their celestial influence.
Now the body —" water" —and the soul-" spirit"
become balanced and married.  That is the true
relation. When there is marriage between body and
spirit, what is the result?  Progeny.  Next comes a
", new birth." Unless that true, private, interior marriage takes place, you will experience only an illegitimate birth.  Many obtain  such  births in  revival
meetings.  They deem themselves "converted."  But
think the subject all over, and see if you do not decide
that all such "c conversions" are illegitimate births from
the spirit. Let there be a true marriage between the
body and the soul-be blended by "water and the
spirit"-and then observe how purely the offspring is
legitimate Truth. Then, truly, you begin to comprehend high motives and ideas.  First, whatsoever is
good; second, whatsoever is useful; third, whatsoever
is consistent; fourth, whatsoever is beautiful; fifth,




THE NEW BIRTH.               105
whatsoever is slpiritual; sixth, whatsoever is celestial;
seventh, whatsoever is heavenly and eternal. The truer
your marriage, the higher and more beautiful your
spiritual children. Just in proportion as you grow independent of externals-just in proportion as you rise out
of passions, appetites, unclean spirits, and demons-in
that same proportion you enter into the kingdom of
harmony. No matter where you reside, or with whom
you live, that glorious emancipation and consummation
will be the result of your interior growth.
Now, therefore, let us all go to work with c" water"
-I mean, let us cleanse out our affections.  Water
means purification.  Regulate your bodily appetites,
discipline your hidden passions, harmonize the action
of your thinking faculties. Erect for yourself a high
standard! Set out for personal harmony! You have
a watch in the spirit.  Just wind up that spirit-watch,
and see that every second of time is kept right.  Wind
up your habits, and set your house in order.  When
you attain to "inward peace," you are born again.
Then you can each live a spontaneous, easy, free,
orderly, happy life. What will be the result! TRUTHS!
Beautiful children are they! and ever and anon another c" new birth." There is recorded on the blank
leaves of th.e old Family Bible, by our parents, a
memorandum, thus: "Born on the --  day, in the
year of our Lord," &c.  But there are theological
births which occur under the psychology of the orthodox minister and pulpit. These theological births are
seldom  recorded in any book under the sun-most
rarely in the "book of life."  As before admitted,
sometimes such a birth is a true one, and the person
5*




106              MORNING LECTURES.
does begin to live a well-ordered and more beautiful
life.  Such cases are extremely rare.  The rule is, as
my Brother Henry truly said, that a man who was
good before, is essentially no better after his "conversion."
There are many c changes of heart" in one's lifetime, and very many "new births."  The marriage of
the body to the spirit-this is a delightful birth.  It is
delicious harmony, producing what Epicurus termed
"' bodily ease and mental tranquillity.N'  He never could
have uttered and enforced the principle unless he had
experienced its birth in his mind. Out of that marriage
spring attractive and powerful truths; the progeny are
exceedingly pure and beautiful! You can begin to count
your new births from that time-the birth of good
truths; the birth of useful truths; the birth of consistent truths; the birth of beautiful truths; the birth of
spiritual truths; the birth of celestial trutXs; the birth
of heavenly truths; the birth of i7finite truths; the
birth of God in the heart; and in all directions, eternal
Progression.




THE SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM
OF HEAVEN.
"Oh, restless spirit! Wherefore strain
Beyond thy sphere?Heaven and hell, with their joy and pain,
Are now and here."
We start with the question, What does the religious
world mean by the "kingdom of heaven"? Almost
every one's educational memory will answer that by
the expression is meant, a place far off-the residence
of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost;'a solemn
celestial abode where mirthfulness is not permitted;
where persons appear as monks and nuns, beautifully
arrayed in white, but always with a thoughtful, meditative, abstract, poetic appearance, and on their faces
an indescribable expression of unsmiling, cadaverous
piety. The whole population of the Paradisaical realm,
according to the world's estimation, wear an unsportful, reverential, pious aspect; all engaged in the same
rapt devotions to the august family of Gods.  It must
be a cold and dreary place for human nature as it is
now constituted; a place of unbroken circumspection
and habitual interiority. It makes us feel as though
we were on the verge of an everlasting graveyard to
think of it; the churchyard, with its white mementos,
with its many reminders of that ghostly purity which




108             MORNING LECTURES.
is to characterize the few who are saved by the blood
of the Lamb.
The religious world, you know, not only looks upon
the c" kingdom of heaven" as a place afar off, but also
as a situation attainable alone by means of the supernatural miracle of the atonement.  Thus both the c" kingdonm" and the 6" road" are absurd to human reason and
comprehension, and very properly the preachers repudiate the independent use of Reason on such pulpit
questions.  The miracle of the Atonement constitutes a
sort of Air-line railroad to the kingdom of eternal
monotony! No one pretends to know how his reddened
iniquities can be whitened.  No one pretends to know
why the angels will adore the blackest sinner the
moment he arrives, via Atonement Railroad, and knocks
at the great magical gate of St. Peter.  It is all a
stupendous miracle to the thick-beaded sinner; but the
Church tells him, C" Believe; it is all the more gracious
for its mystery, and all the more like God because of
its incomprehensibility."  And thus the stupid sinner,
not having thought ten minutes consecutively on the
subject since his birth, drops out of skepticism and rolls
into the lap of that mysterious conviction, and next
permits himself to fall into a slumber of dogmatic faith
most deceptive, which the  Church  pronounces the
c" sleep of the blessed"-all, if only in his soul he adopts
the Gospel of Miracle by which the consequences of
all sins shall be purged away.
In the course of my lectures on the 6"Summer-Land"
it will be shown that no atonement-treated sinner
realizes beyond the tomb, what these pulpit accoucheurs
say he may in unbounded confidence expect to receive




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  109
at the hands of the Savior. Memory is an undying
thinking power, gathering its education from all the
faculties, and from every thing or influence that ever
touched them-a power which weaves and winds every
impression up snugger, and snugger, and snuggerreeling all thoughts firmer and more close together than
threads on the roll of the silk-spinner-all which is to
be unrolled through all the post-historic labyrinths of
the great future, standing at every moment in the temple of personal consciousness as an accusing angel. And
then, what men call c" Conscience"  the sense of rectitude which every faculty bestows upon its possessorlocks arms with Memory, and thus the two dwell
always with the individual, however ideally dressed he
may be; however angelic in personal appearance; however accomplished in the scholastic arts and fashionable
attainments.
But we will not dwell upon that subject this morning. I have but simply alluded to the world's theological conception of the miracle of.6 Atonement." How
many believe it to be the directest road to the kingdom of heaven!  Mly object in speaking on the point
was to declare against that foolish and pernicious doctrine of miraculously saving sinners from the legitimate
consequences of sin.  As a theory it is immeasurably
worse than the system  of the allopathic medical
schools, which hold that men are better for swallowing a dose of calomel on every disturbance of
the liver. This error is not a whit more pernicious to
the body than is the doctrine of the ecclesiastical
schools, that " faith" in the vicarious atonement is permanently good to save mankind from the consequences
of sin in the soul.




110              MORNING LECTURES.
To enter directly upon the subject, I will call your
attentionFirst: To the fact that every person has an Ideal,
which to realize would, in that person's opinion, constitute 6" perfect happiness," and perfect happiness is the
usual understanding of the "'kingdom  of heaven."
Every one will remember his or her Ideal.  An ideal
comes, first, out of the particular organic structure of
the mind.  Second, out of the condition of the spirit
which lives within that structure. So that a person's
ideal is material or spiritual, little or large, just in proportion to the construction of mind; and besides, the
ideal will always represent the status of the spirit,
which resides beneath those organs and behind those
structural conditions.
Second: Every person's Ideal is modified by the
force and flow and shape of Circumstances. And hence
the mind's Ideal will partake invariably of the image
and likeness to the circumstances with which it is surrounded.
Third: These influential and shaping circumstances
of your organization, and then the conditions of your
spirit, are what originate and modify your Ideal. All
persons receive some form of education-all experience
some kind of development of the internal powers.
Much valuable education to the faculties comes by friction, contact, imitation, and the force of discipline in the
society of those about you. They constitute your severest
teachers, and the effect of their painful teaching is education. Perhaps it will be a mis-education; perhaps
an un-education; perhaps a complete education; perhaps it will be nothing but consciousness of unhappy




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  11
ignorance and discord. But whatever the mental effect,
vWhich may be comprehended under the general term
" education," that is sure to greatly modify the Ideal
which your circumstances, your organization, and your
spiritual status first developed within the sanctuary of
the mind. And this "Ideal" is the first thing for us to
analyze, because its complete attainment, its actualization, the embodiment of the internal image, is the
individual's conception of-the," kingdom of heaven"or, perfect personal happiness.
In order to ascertain what is meant by the spiritual
status, also what is meant by the structure of the mind,
I will reaffirm the fact that man's spirit is constituted
of several fundamental principles. These principles are
internal and inseparable. Phrenologists have enumerated them up from 30 to 39; some have subdivided and
counted mental organs to the number of 40. I am not
impressed that this enumeration is the practical one for
an internal and final analysis.  It has always seemed
to me, nevertheless, that the classification of phrenology
was valuable to the mind, inasmuch as thereby it came
into a sort of external acquaintance with itself. These
cerebral convolutions, formed and forming from within,
are real indications of exercises in specific nerves and
substances of the brain. Thus Phrenology demonstrates
that these nerves are inhabited by mind, or spirit; and
where the spirit is most exercised, there will take place
and be visible the largest protuberance. Phrenological classifications have been based almost entirely upon
this understaniding, that wherever there is a projection
or depression, there the brain is either exceedingly
much used, or greatly too idle. This organ-plan of the




1 2             MORNING LECTURES.
brain was primitively necessary; and the Phrenological classification will continue to be necessary for many
ages. It is a kind of gate-of-invitation through which
people can go easily in and out —thus, to some extent,
forming an acquaintance with themselves, and particularly in a pre-eminently practical way.
Now, if it be true that there are thirty-eight or
forty brain-gates to your spirit, as the best phrenologists say, then you will be obliged intellectually to go
through each one in order to attain to a knowledge of
yourself; not only so, but you would also be obliged to
flow out through the brain-channels in order to express
yourself truly to a wife, to a brother, to a sister, to the
world in general.
Now I think it is every one's conception that happiness consists in an equal development of the spiritual
parts and physical organs, and the equal gratification
of their natural desires. I suppose this to be the shortest and completest statement of what would constitute
the " happiness" of a person-the supply of every want
without friction, and the gratification of every desire
without exorbitant expense or excessive industry. In
fact, the ability to bring ends to means, and to adapt
physical conditions without friction to the requisitions
of the spirit, would constitute the first, clearest, quickest, directest fulfillment of the c" ideal" of personal rest,
peace and satisfaction with life-in a word, Happiness.
I wish now to show you that the realization of such
an "; ideal" is at present impossible on the face of the
earth.  But let me here mention that the fundamental
principles of the human soul, according to the cassifica



SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM{ OF HEAVEN.  113
tion of the Harmonial Philosophy, are only twelve in
number. There are six fundamental principles of Love,
and six of Wisdom. [See 3d vol. HARMONIA.] The
six radical affections are the ingredients, constituents,
or the fountain sources from which flow life, motion,
sensation, and also the mysterious consciousness of consciousness-the wondrous psychological fact that a
human mind is conscious of its own consciousnessaware of itself-the ever present k"I," which is the
central reality.  Hence the power of the human mind
to go into deep solitude, and yet be in the midst of
things. Hence the power of the human soul to retire
on the far-off isle of the sea, and call poetry and music
and thought and affection and friendship and philosophy and angels and Deity, all into its service and consciousness. These twelve faculties in the spirit, these
twelve priniciples, are like all other principles; everlasting; and not only so, but it is true that each separate
principle makes a perpetual demand upon the everlasting
universe in which it finds itself ever-recurringly conscious!
Hience the doctrines in the intuitions of the soul that
man essentially pre-existed, and also that he is destined
to live after the destruction of all these physical
appearances.  It is this Intuition that gives the sense
of weight about the spirit. The soul lonos to leave this
realm of dust and discord, and to sweep on through
interminable spheres-endeavoring thus to realize her
treasured " ideal" by striving to attain to the ultizma
thule of the present aspiration.
Each of these twelve radical and eternal principles in
the constitution of the human mind makes, as I before




114             MORNING LECTURES.
said, requisitions more or less vivid, positive, and energetic, upon their individual possessor, and that, too, even
in this state of existence. Out of their wondrous depths
spring the onward-drawing "ideal," which, attained,
is termed "C happiness," but which, not attained, is productive of unrest and dissatisfaction, and a feeling of
incompleteness which ever and anon flashes painfully
through and through the self-conscious mind.
It is indisputable, I think, that s" happiness" would
result from the harmonious action and melodious blending of all the faculties. Discordant minds cannot be
happy. Only those who travel without friction along
the "shortest and directest road to the kingdom of
heaven,'? can realize what it is to tread the high royal
road that leads to happiness unutterable.  But there is
many a person who has the constitutional misfortune to
be a sort of grindstone, revolving in the center of outward circumstances and weight.  Such people not only
make other people and things with which they come in
contact awful sharp and severe in feeling and disposition, but exceedingly like a cross-cut saw-working
against each other with irresistible strength and with
painful, destructive friction. Such minds reciprocate each
other's favors by spinning and rasping off the surfacesteel. They work and chafe and wear away the nap on
the spirit of those about them, until they get down to the
bleeding sensations of life itself, and then come the
depressions of despair, with the feeling that the wound
which is bleeding day by day in the family, under the
very roof of apparent and reputed happiness, and in the
society which is recognized as fashionable, can never be
healed of the feud or forgiven the offense.




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  115
Unrest is the. testimony which the Eternal of the
universe has implanted in the constitution of the spirit,
saying, " You cannot spiritually die so long as there is an
unsatisfied desire.  Your life will continue so long as
there exists within you a want that has never been met,
a condition that has not been fulfilled, or great prophecies that have never met their entire satisfaction in the
unfoldments of Science, Art, or History."  This intuition is one of the strongest arguments in favor of the
immortality of the soul.
Men undertake by prayer to bring "the kingdom
of heaven on earth." It is the old error in masonry of
building an impossible temple, which the children of
Babel first attempted in their ignorance, and which,
as the story most beautifully illustrates, was a stupendously practical failure in materialistic religion. The
ambition to make a mammoth broad-church balloon, to
construct some theological Great Eastern, or to erect
some skyward pointing temple upon which mankind can,
without losing their present physical relations, reach
the kingdom of Peace, is nothing but a foolish dream
of error and ignorance.
Perfect happiness, be it remembered, is the received
definition of the kingdom' of heaven. This is what all
the world is after, and it will have nothing less. But
let.me ask, Why do r.nany apparently practical persons
go " through hell" in order to arrive at the heavenly
kingdom?  Is it because they fancy that "the underground-railroad" in experience and religion, is the
shortest and the safest way? or is it because such-persons err in their fancy and judgments as to the means




1  6            MORNING LECTURES.
by which happiness is attainable and  procurable?
These questions are important.
It is instructive to note the mistakes and errors of
men respecting the means of happiness.  I saw a man
who supposed that his present happiness and success
would be promoted by stealing a horse and riding swiftly
across the State of Illinois to meet a companion who
was expecting him. Not having the money to purchase
a conveyance, and not being able to gq in the regular
way of travel, he attempted to secure his happiness by
the adoption of, spurious and vicious means.  He supposed that he would secure present comfort by securing
his ends; which, instead, secured him a great deal of
physical confinement in jail; for nothing like spiritual
rest could issue from his mistake.  At first he was
intellectually infatuated by the conviction that if he
could only but steal a horse he would be, for that time,
at least, comparatively happy.  Did he not sadly err
as to the means of personal happiness?  Yet somehow
i never supposed that that man designed to be evil —in
fact, I believe he did not premeditate a crime, but
adopted the readiest means of immediate success? but,
like hundreds of others, he found that the path of error
and injustice is the most s" hellish road" he ever traveled to reach the heaven of development.
Once I met a young lady whose " ideal" was a
mansion-one just out of Boston.  She was beautiful,
unmarried, the darling of rich and accomplished parents; the father a distinguished, influential banker,
and the mother once a belle at Newport and often a
central figure at Saratoga.  In noticing this case it
is well to recall our propositions. Her mind had




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  117
inherited a peculiar structure, and the structure gave
birth to her ideal, and the ideal, borrowing itself from
the spiritual status, declared that c" perfect happiness"
consisted in the splendid equipments and proprietorship of a beautiful mansion near Roxbury.  I saw her
and heard her ideal expressed several years ago.  In
three years from that time she was a wife, and in two
years afterward (as I have been informed) she formally
and proudly entered upon her ideal life in a great, rich,
domestic establishment.  I have heard of her twice
since that year. Is she happy? Just think of a s" material house" for a spirit endowed with twelve radical,
eternal principles  That young wife's mind was harnessed to her home, which rises up with mystic
grandeur, and which is dressed from base to attic in
the most fashionable style, with all the appliances of
compound comfort and distressing luxury-indeed, so
beautiful are the chairs, and sofas, and tete-a-tetes, that
they had to be immediately clad in very common looking stuff, and so concealed were they that an observer
hardly knew, without being told, whether the gorgeous
furniture was made of anything superior to pine boards.
Chestnut or red-oak saplings, whitewashed and dressed
up in coarse brown linen, would have looked quite as
well. Beautiful things! So costly, so exquisite and
so fragible, that not a child dared to move round
among them; and as for grown persons, it was to them
almost like treading upon the honey-combed edge of
Vesuvius. The young wife was nervous all over the
house. Her nerves were just as numerous and as much
present in the bedroom as in the kitchen. I know a gentleman who said he had tried to find a place in that




11] 8           MORNING LECTURES.
great splendid house where her nerves were not. Nervous ladies are all so very happy in great city houses!
City doctors know that many patients have had their
c" ideals" beautifully embodied in the possession of domestic splendors! Servants and waiting-maids know
the ubiquitous nature of the nervous system.  Dust! it
is the special horror of the soul with twelve radical
principles. Well, there is, perhaps, a spiritual meaning
in such abhorrence.  If my friend Emerson were here,
perhaps he would say it means the testimony of the
spirit against the crude earth.  That interpretation is
poetical, philosophical, and constitutional.  But the
habit of being more conscious of dirt than of refinement,
is the chronic difficulty with a great many people who
pretend to be s" perfectly happy" in great town or city
dwellings. The cook in the aforesaid lady's house was a
portion of her happiness, and the girl who kept the cook
at work was another happiness, and so was the girl whose
special duty was to see that the girl who attended
to the cook did her work, and then the other girl, whose
labor was to visit daily all the extra rooms, and to
see that all parts of the house were exquisitely arranged
and put s" to rights" just ten minutes before two o'clock,
P. M.-all parts of the lady's ideal! It was all deemed
necessary-all beautiful! And when the time came for
parties! You know what exquisite joy there is in the
flutter of a fashionable party!  And physicians know
what a healthy pulse is, and they also know when it
beats way up ten or fifteen beyond fever-heat, which is
always the case when there is " perfect happiness" in
the ideal possession of a great mansion, and especially
when a Party is about to be inaugurated on a grand




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 119
scale, "regardless of expense."  Joy everywhere! but
not in the " ideal" of that mistaken, miseducated, but
wealthy wife in old Massachusetts.  She would not
attend a lecture like this; would not go to hear James
Freeman Clark in Boston; would never hear Theodore
Parker; thinks that the Devil, William Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips, constitute the infernal
trinity! Oh, so "6 happy!"
Once I met a gentleman whose ideal of "perfect
happiness" consisted in roving o'er land and sea. He
longed to get away from the perpetual embarrassments
of home; to throw off the entanglements of a wife who
had borne him many children. At length he was at
liberty, as he thought, to pursue his idea of happiness.
So he started on a journey, which terminated in China;
then it lapped over and terminated in New York; but
he was scarcely perfectly happy yet!'Though he had
all the buffetings of journeying and all the mishaps and
losses of unfortunate enterprises, yet he found, on his
arrival in New York, that c" perfect happiness" consisted in doing almost the same thing right over again,
only he had concluded that he would embark for a different port and on the other side of the rolling globe.  I
do not know how perfect his present happiness is, but
I know that when he had made the tour of twenty-four
thousand miles he reported himself, and said that journeying was a good deal of " a tax," and he would give
it up if he had not acquired s" the habit," which, like
tobacco, must be chewed over and again in order to be
perfectly enjoyed!  Poor fellow! He has cherished
that 6" ideal," working on through the dreary wastes of
ice and snow in the Arctic regions, seeking in desola



120             MORNING LECTURES.
tion for the experience of perfect happiness. It comes
not out of his mistaken ideal.  I asked him one day
concerning his mother, and found that she had never
been away from home long enough to gratify her desire
for an excursion, and this desire was strongest in her
just before his birth.  Thus the great law of reproduction is reaffirmed: her desire to take a journey not
being gratified, became the source of misery every hour.
She was relieved from  it only by exhaustion and disease, but never by a natural gratification of the imperious desire.  Inheriting this consequential construction,
and also imbibing the spiritual status which that desire
necessarily imparted, on the law of reflex action, to the
depths of her nature, her child was unreasonably centrifugated from his wife, and from all the endearments
of the family and home.  The blind impulse actuated
his thoughts and led him into the open field of loose,
aimless, objectless journeying.  Of course he is not
happy.  How can a man be happy who holds in his
constitution twelve radical principles, when nothing is
done to feed and gratify them save journeying over the
outward world?
I know a person who supposed that marriage would
be the climacteric point in the happiness of the soul.
Many there are who look upon that as the relation.
All such are, I think, truly inspired with a sovereign
and eternally important conviction. But those who
expect that even the highest gratification of Conjugal
Love will satisfy the eleven other mental principles, will
find themselves mistaken in eleven parts of their existence.  I have known persons who sought the marriage
relation and found it, and who considered that, at the




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  121
time, it was the coronation of the heart; but at length
they found that the crown of happiness had not settled
upon their heads, and that yet other and equally imperative demands were made from within..Ere long
the unsatisfied pair quarreled with each other, because
they had not wisdom to see that eleven parts of their
existence could not be at rest and satisfied with the
gratification of the one. There was restlessness in the
eleven parts of their existence and complete gratification in only one; so they complained to each other of
each other; and from their discord came diabolism,
and out of that a brood of Satans instead of angels;
and thus the conjugal home was rent asunder like the
temple, because their idea of happiness was built upon
a foundation of sand; and although they were beautifully and truly married, and were, as a consequence,
capable of building up the " harmonial union," yet they
sadly and madly separated, and will probably remain
so until some divine attraction  either brings them
together, or else sets upon their hearts the seal of eternal divorce.
How many beautiful love-temples you and I have
seen, in the once happy home, all in ruins!  Temples
of domestic conjugal happiness rent in twain by these
great, burly ignoramuses, who have much money, but
deficiency of judgment.  Such men are strong in the
arm, but "weak in ye head."  And ladies, too, perfectly accomplished in the externals-knowing by
intuition what it is to love, and as well what it would
be to be loved, but who-have not met their mates on
the philosophic basis; and so both men and women, in
all parts of the world, do not often travel on the
6




122              MORNING LECTURES.
directest, shortest, safest road to the  kingdom  of
heaven.  Standing socially against each other like
sworn enemies, the quarriel begins through the use of
affectionate terms in excess, beautiful little epithets,
Even before persons they begin with a little curl of
satire around the mouth, to name each other "-My
dove!" ", my darling!" " my precious!"  Alas! it is to
be feared that they have each purchased a ticket on the
under-ground railroad.  All because the married do
not know that conjugal love is but one-twelfth part of
the individual's life and being.
You know probably that I have been, for the last
fifteen years, so related to the public as to receive applications from persons in every imaginable situation.
Some have lost faith in prayer; they do not believe in
the confessional, nor in the dismal doctrines of the
Protestant clergy. Many such minds do not know what
is best for them to do.  Some of them fiequently visit
"mediums;" others go to "clairvoyants," who have
some secret knowledge of things, persons, &c., and may
be able to vouchsafe true counsel.  I have received
almost innumerable letters from every class of persons.
(My correspondence during the past ten years is a
remarkable chapter in the history of human spiritual
necessity.)  I have sometimes almost commiserated the
orthodox God, if his ears had to hear those selfish
prayers that are uttered during the weakest and most
contracted and foolish days, hours, and moments of
men's lives. Awful is the internal history of human
shallowness which the world's prayers betray —so full
of practical imbecilities, of insanities, of special selfinterest, of inexpressible follies among people who




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  123
really have reputations for being sensible-men praying
for God to do for them what they would not of themselves deem reasonable for any brother to ask of them.
I remember the case of a lady whose," perfect happiness" she thought would consist in becoming a mother.
Some two years afterward she became a mother, and I
distinctly recall the experiences which she related.
After the second year, she found that perfect happiness
would consist, not so much in being a mother, but in
knowing for a certainty that her darling little Eddie
would grow up to be'" a good man." She was exceedingly anxious to get away out of the city into a beautiful little retired place, where no bad children could
molest him or teach him bad habits, but her finances
forbade it. Hence the lady's "'perfect happiness" on
becoming a mother was nothing but the beginning of
solicitude, anxiety, and unrest.
Now, what was that good lady's error? I need
not mention it. You know that she had eleven other
elements in her spiritual organization which a child
could never more than partially gratify. Parental love
is one, and only one of the radical principles of the human spirit; and even when that is perfectly gratified
there are yet remaining eleven others which have equally
imperative demands that 6" will not down at your bidding." And the lady's error was her irrational belief
that her c" happiness" would be complete with the gratification of one-twelfth part of her nature. There was
her mistake, and it is the error of thousands. Indeed,
this illustrates the entire secret of nearly all human
mistakes. The error consists in mistaking the means
of happiness.  By the attainment of one point you




124             MORNING LECTURES.
thence proceed on the false notion that all the other
parts of your nature will receive corresponding gratification and be at rest.
How many are there who are made 4"perfectly
happy" in the actualization of the," ideal" that fortune
or wealth is in itself the only important ultimate! You
know how few there are who are made truly happy in
that way. Many there are who wish to-day to try the
experiment of acquiring property. John Jacob Astor
attained his ",ideal."  I suppose that many of you
remember what his past testimony was-he merely
received " his victuals and clothes;" and yet he was the
man of fortune. The more fortune, the more the slave.
When the cares of property multiply and replenish
themselves in your path, the greater becomes your servitude and the further you recede from t'he kingdom of
true peace and happiness. I am glad that Mary's and
Joseph's son saw and uttered this spiritual truth. No
merely rich man, with his money-bags "- strapped upon
his back," could enter heaven any more than could a
camel go through the eye of a needle. When the young
man of fortune came to him and declared that he had
done all the unutterable things, had performed all the
virtues and made all the trips to obtain happiness, then
the Spiritual man said, " Sell what thou hast"-that is,
put it beneath you, make it subservient to true human
interests,' let it not be your master.  That is what is
meant by selling your c" possessions." It is not necessary to throw away your property upon Thomas, and
Richard, and Henry; but the true way is to use your
wealth for good purposes, and not be used by it. The
HIarmonial Philosophy teaches that self-possession



SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  125
true self-ownership-is one of the paths leading to the
shortest road to the kingdom of heaven.
I know many citizens who are made corporeally happy by the wealth of others. At least a hundred and fifty
persons are made daily more comfortable, their existence is made to them vastly more tolerable, and their
paths of labor are strewn with perfumed flowers, all
because certain good property-men are not servants to
their riches, but they have " sold all they have" —that
is, they have become spiritual philosophers, and are
using their means with discretion and with gratitude,
for the augmentation and expansion of human happiness. That is for them the ", shortest road;" they walk
therein; and such men are, therefore, always philanthropic, cheerful, and happy.
I know a man of this stamp who has a beautiful
social and moral presence; his very breath is imbued
with purity and benevolence, like the fragrance of
roses. Such a human spirit has in itself the beautiful
realization of sitting down in the kingdom of heaven
with Abraham  and Isaac and Jacob-a sweet, harmonious, largely magnanimous character, beaming and
graceful out of his goodness. I also know ladies of
this noble, regal, heavenly pattern.  They generously
give of their abundance, but are not the less wealthy.
They do not squander on personal ornamentation; neither do they throw away riches without thought into
the treasuries of old Missionary Societies, when it
requires $4.99 to pay the expense of one cent to the
heathen. Nay, nay.  They give their money to the
worthy objects that are within their gates, or to cases
of want just within the radius of the eye, and to humble,




126              MORNING LECTURES.
industrious poor who come within the reach of the
spirit.
I wish, therefore, to bring to your mind clearly and
distinctly, without one exception, that the secret of
happiness consists in removing unnecessary friction in
one's own pathway, and in assisting to remove it from
the pathway of others. Whoso doeth such deeds is a
possessor of tickets on the shortest, safest, directest
road to the kingdom of heaven.
First, however, it is philosophical to take it for
granted that this world cannot bring you the perfect
and complete realization of any one of your interior
"ideals;" and, secondly, that an ideal which is but
partially fulfilled can never fully satisfy the twelve
radical elements of the human spirit. Hence your nature demands a Sphere of life after death for the purpose of growth.  Mankind are made upon imperishable
principles, each one of which is the harmonial voice of
God, which speaks through all parts of the tree of life,
moving its leaves in the winds of circumstances, and
vibrating them in the currents of terrestrial affairs.
Each one of these principles, I repeat, is a word from
heaven-from God's own central spirit-saying, "Your
best ideals are not attainable in three score and ten
years; no, nor in a century, neither in a hundred centuries, nor in myriads of millions of ages, through all
which time you will yet be young in the SummerLand.
The Spiritualist is a philosophic believer in eternal
life.  He cannot help it.  Every voice from  heaven
proclaims eternal ideality, and, at the same time, gives
promise to reason for an eternal opportunity for actuali



SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  1 27
zation!  It is this fundamental, natural, spnntaneous,
intuitive logic-dominating all the schools of Materialism —that will not down to any man's argument, which
is the upwelling revelation of truth  from  within,
that no ideal, however perfectly realized, can satisfy
the whole spirit! And this dissatisfaction, this unrest,
this yearning, is a premonitory symptom, so to say, of
the future which is in store for man's mind, and which
must open, like a flower in the garden of truth, to
receive and welcome man to the inextinguishable light
of the future. By planting yourself upon these twelve
radical principles, the destructive friction of the present
will be measurably removed, and at once you will find
yourself a pilgrim on the shortest road.
No man can be perfectly cosmopolitan and wholly
catholic.  No man can do all things with equal skill,
pleasure, or profit. A natural merchant cannot be as
good a mechanic; it is neither easy nor pleasurable for
him to be.  It is not easy for a natural musician to be
a successful merchant, nor for a mechanic to be a successful musician. It would not be easy and pleasurable
for Blondin to enter the pulpit, nor for the devotional
minister to be a pugnacious and logical lawyer, nor for
the natural la wyer to enter upon the practice of medicine. It is not easy for man to take the position of
woman, neither is it easy for woman to merge out into
externalisms and do battle with the entanglements
which give pleasure to the physical man; but, at present,
each one is hampered and bound to a special sphere,
neither realizing the implanted " ideal." For the
present stage of human progress this incompleteness is
necessary and unavoidable. But by removing friction,




128            MORNING LECTURES.
the life which we are all involuntarily leading will be
more freighted with solid happiness. The road of life
would be less dusty and more attractive. And then,
most of the present iniquities and miseries which clog
and throng our way-the stumbling-blocks of ignorance in each one's path on earth —would be utterly
destroyed. If, for example, you have any habit which
causes your daily physical and domestic life to be a
source of annoyance, down with it! Because, by inherent
strength, you are," master of the situation."
There is no primogeniture in this harmonial doctrine. No man inherits special wealth and extra power
because he is the oldest son in the family of God. No'!
Every man and woman inherits equal wealth and power
from the innermost. Every one is born with an equal
fortune. Alas! some there are among us on earth who
yet live in the slumberous quietude of idiocy, leading
only an imbecile life; others there are, among all races
of civilized man, who have not yet escaped beyond the
animal plane of feeling and conduct. But it is your
prerogative to look from a high standpoint, and with
great tenderness,;upon the less fortunate in the world.
Remember that each human brain is a nest of eggs destined to hatch out twelve immortal doves, which are
twelve radical, impersonal Principles. Your mission is
to remove c" stumbling-blocks," not only out of the way
of your individual paths, but the paths of others —
not merely not to 6" lay a straw in the path" of your
neighbor, but to take away straws that some other less
spiritual person has laid there to work a brother's or
sister's misfortune.  Take them all away! Down with
your Satans!  (I mean your Appetites and your Pas



SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 129
sions.)  Of course I do not advise any one to attempt
to live without appetites and without passions; but this
is the point: let no man or woman be mastered and
overcome by them. Put all 44 unclean spirits" beneath
your feet; bruise the serpent's head, crush and kill
him.
If you belonged to these popular pagodas-if you
worshiped in these temples of the gods that are without
these walls-I could not s" preach" to you such things.
You would be unfriendly to the ideal of progress, and
would have a different conception of the object of life;
and as for your sins, why, you would expect happiness
only by and through the "' atonement." But I will ask
you, friends of Freedom! whether, standing as you do,
firmly and independently on your own feet-feeling all
the way up your back the ascending vertebra of harmonial and independent life, each vertebra representing
a round in a Jacob's ladder on which influences descend
and ascend-the brain being a nest of the faculties to
be hatched into immortality-the whole a conscious
oneness-standing thus, are you to consent to be mastered by " demons" and "6 satans" that are nothing but
personal passions, and by "unclean spirits" that are
nothing but your own over-indulged appetites? Never!
You know as well as I that the "; shortest road to the
kingdom of heaven" is to become master of your own
proper person! Whatever your situation in life, whether
you reside. in the city of New York, or away in some
rural home- whether your business is to cook or provide dinner for the family who employ you, or whether
you are partaker of a dinner which others have prepared-in either case, as under every temptation, your
6*




130             MORNING LECTURES.
spiritual mission should render you "Ca peace-maker,"
and thus remove friction. By so doing, or even by
so desiring to do in secret, you shorten the road to the
kingdom of heaven, not only to yourself, but for every
other human pilgrim on the globe.
And yet, let no one suppose that he or she is to
be 6"perfectly" happy in this world. It is a shallow,
idiotic, and illogical dream; it is the very opposite, the
antagonist of the doctrine of universal progress. What
is a perfectly contented person?  What sort of a mind
is that which feels no onward-drawing needs or wants?
It is an idiot, with no ambition to move from  its
place-a nobody! What brought you out from your
warm homes on this cold, wintry morning? Because
you thought you would be happier by coming to this
Hall. What is that which will soon take you away
from this Ialll? Because, when this discourse is
finished and the choir have sung, you will then think
you will feel happier to go away.  Whatever motive
immediately moves you, it is all traceable to that impulse within which dominates logic-the spirit of
"L change," of;"progress," of c" development," which
rises higher than the highest steeple in this city, saying, 6" Onward! father, mother, brother, sister." And
onward you go into the open air-and away toward
other attractions, Central Park, Brooklyn, to the meeting of friends, to your home-anywhere, to get happiness. Never perfect after all!
Well, that is what you should always expect, and
not be disappointed. For myself I am glad that I find
just what I philosophically know that I shall find, not
c" perfect happiness," but the present partial gratifica



SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  131
tion of honest, healthful desires-just this, and nothing
more, nothing less, unless I should greatly err in the
use of means and opportunities.
Can you not, therefore, be rational? To be rational
in everything is a ticket on the "c shortest road to the
kingdom of heaven." Try the opposite course. Make
the worst of your life, as millions on the earth do, for
want of true knowledge of means, uses, and opportunities. Some shallow heads think it is very fine to be full
of taste and full of petulancy; they fancy it is smart to
be able to scowl at every annoyance, and to wrinkle up
the thoughtful brow, and to make decided speeches with
inflated language on very small occasions; very smart
to use the word c" infinite" about the limited varieties
of pocket-handkerchiefs; and lastly, it is the hight of
sense and of fashion to join the vast army of ladies who
go shopping at Stewart's great Broadway agony.  All
this looks to many people like being as high in wit and
happiness as anybody can be outside of pandemonium.
I tell you now the day will come —and each of you
will, remember it after it passes as well as the fact of
being here this morning-when mankind will look down
upon all this externalism with unutterable contempt, and
not less with self-sorrow and unpardonable shame.
Why should this be? Because such a life is unworthy!
That is the reason, and it is sufficient. Every intelligent person knows that the " shortest way to the kingdom of heaven" is, not to expect in this world the
perfect fulfillment of any one " ideal," but, instead, to
removefriction from the track of progress, to be industrious and comfortably happy in the midst of what you
may have-this is the surest and safest side-road leading




132             MORNING LECTURES.
toward what is better and superior in the straight and
harmonious way.
I stand before you as an illustration of the truth of
what I am now affirming.  I will not refer to my history-everysstep of which is a living demonstration
that a man can come from the darkest place in the
social Egypt and find the promised Land. In the superior condition of mind a man can stand on his own feet,
the proprietor of those great truths which no man's
material wealth can purchase. A.  person with such a
history may stand as a representative merely-a kind
of philosophical promise —of what is possible in the ultimate of every human life!  Let all welcome whatsoever gives hope to the millions.
And now, Sisters and Brothers, it is just as easy to
commence from this hour as any future time. Commence to make the best, and not the-worst, of what is
yours or what may come. Shorten the road to human
happiness, and you will greatly lengthen the duration
of human life. Do not wait for the future.  Begin
to-day! Now, from this moment, say, "' I will not be a
grindstone, I will rather be a fountain and a dayspring on high.  I will not be a moon to anybody; I
will be either a sun or a fixed'star."
Can you not say so, and indorse it by practice?  It
will sweeten and strengthen your feelings as soon as
you commence.  You will look in the mirror with
vastly more satisfaction.  How few wrinkles there will
soon be on your face! How much cleaner and purer
your skin is! The eye looks beaming and cheerful,
and there is a clear, heavenly light in it, which testifies
that you have adopted a new life! And when you




SHORTEST ROAD TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 133
awake in, the morning, it will seem to you as though
everybody's existence had commenced anew, and that
there is no dreary past in your own history! All this
goes on the fact that you have ordered down your vehement passions, and said to your unclean' spirits and
demons: " Alway to the dark and drearypast-away!  I
turn my back forever upon you!  You shall not again
come before me!  If you do, you shall be at once consigned
to an everlasting death!"
These sayings are not fictions.  I know that a true
Harmonial Philosopher-a real, spiritual, living soulcan rise up and live a higher life in the midst of his
circumstances. Neither his bodily diseases, nor his
habitual passions, nor-his great wealth, nor his extreme
poverty, nor his ignorance, can utterly deprive him of.
heaven and angels.  Whatever his situation, he may
become a candidate for an' eternal voyage; for his
spiritual ship is freighted with every means of happiness and progression.




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CtIRIST.
" Be thou like the old apostles,
Be thou like heroic Paul -
If a free thought seeks expression,
Speak it boldly! speak it all!
Face thine enemies-accusers,
Scorn the prison, rack, or rod!
And if thou hast TRUTH to utter,
SPEAK!  and leave the rest to God."
I shall not be able to say more than half that I feel
ought to be said on this subject to the hundreds and
thousands who live and think within sectarian walls;
but, according to the law of progress, the time will
arrive when all ears will hear and all hearts understand the gospel of God in contradistinction to the
prevalent gospel of Diabolism.
Past peoples followed the course of human prejudice concerning the faults, evils, and iniquities of their
neighbors..Nothing was easier to understand than the
supposed or real imperfections of souls outside of themselves. And yet self-knowledge was esteemed to be
the highest attainment of wisdom. Every true Philosopher, Spiritualist, or Progressive Bibliarian-every
person, in short, who taught or teaches from a high
point of spirit-culture, advocates and urges that true
self-knowledge is the highest and most valuable education. But those conceited minds who are not truly




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.         135
self-informed, who do not yet begin to know themselves,
who still need the hints and revealments of phrenologists and psychometrists, who most ardently wish to
have themselves analyzed-are the very minds who
judge, with great assurance of perception, the character and conduct of their nearest neighbors; they
assume to fully know their neighbors' motives and the
most secret thoughts that led to individual manifestations, as much in social life as in the public arena.
Nothing is more illustrative of the truth of these
remarks than the history of theology. When Buddhism
appeared, the Brahmins, who were the aristocratic religionists of ancient Asia, rose up and said, 6"That is
Anti-Brahma, and  should  be overthrown."  When
Buddhism became perfectly established, and when its
doctrines were sufficiently respectable to exert a wide
influence in China and in many portions of the East,
then Brahminism, suspending its opposition, cordially
shook hands with it; then the Old and the New exchanged compliments, and sent letters of fellowship
to each other; but, notwithstanding all this, one never
got invited to the other's temple or pagoda. They
became somewhat tolerant and respectful, but never
reconciled to each other.  And they are perfect illustrations of the Mosaic and the Christian dispensations.
When the Mosaic dispensation became very respectable, and great synagogues and costly temples and vast
cities were consecrated to it-to the laws of Moses,
which were, in a religious point of view, as complete
and inexorable as were the laws of the Medes and Persians-then a pious Eastern lady had the unparalleled
audacity to believe and to declare that her first babe




136             MORNING LECTURES.
was conceived and "4 sent of God.". And then thle star,
according to the story, went over and stood-where?
Not over a palace, but over a stable! Wise men went
thither to learn, and some of them to worship. Thus
began a new chapter in theological history.
But when the babe grew to a young man, and became sufficiently c meddlesome" to interfere with the
Rabbinical wisdom  and religious authorities of the
times, then the learned doctors and profound Israelites,
concentrating the opposition of both sects-of the Pharisees on the one side and the Sadducees on the othermade common cause and set themselves as one man
against the young Reformer. And when the meddlesome carpenter attained his thirtieth year, and as soon
as he bravely began his three years' work for the common humanity, then they rose up as one party and said:
6" He hath a devil!"  "6 This is Anti-Christ!"  6 Crucify him, crucify him!"  And when he was outwardly
successful-for it is human nature to admire and almost worship " Success"-when the young Spiritual
Reformer was successful, then very gladly large multititudes "followed him."  They gathered in vast congregations to hear the amber words of wisdom as they
dropped from his inspired lips, and in their enthusiasm
the disciples cried, " Hosanna!" (" three cheers"-that
was what they meant.)  "He is successful in his signs
and wonders; he is our man." But when what the
sightless world terms s" defeat" overtook him; when his
sweetest truths evoked a public hissing; when his associates were openly scorned; when the Sermon on the
Mount was derided on all sides by the learned in the
temples; and when there was a great startling convul



THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.         137
sion of the World's political relations, which struck
terror to the highest officers in Judea-then human
nature, undeveloped and full of pride, declared itself,
and many of the enthusiastic persons who followed
him-some of them the most conspicuous among his
friends-betrayed and forsook him, and sided with the
opposition and largest party, and cried: "Crucify
him!"   "H3[e is Anti-Moses!"  "He is a pretender to
the throne of Judea!"  " He assumes to be what he is
not!"  "He is an impostor!"  And then a Jewish
magnate held his court of inquiry. The young Spiritual
Reformer was there arraigned and accused. His crime
was said to be sedition and conspiracy against the Roman government. HIe had aroused the prejudices of
the Israelites. They heard him not in self-defense.
That was a packed jury! And I believe that every
juryman there had in his ear a private whisper, not
from the angels of heaven, but from those prejudiced
Israelites who prowled round about, saying,: s" He is
not fit to live!"," Crucify him!" 6"Let us defend,
obey, and save good old Moses, and let us cling firmly
to the Laws and the Prophets!"
But why dwell upon this event? You all know the
history. It is a clear, simple narrative, and is in
almost every one's external memory. Jesus was AntiMoses. That crime was sufficient. Consequently, down
he went perforce into the earth beneath. But at that
moment he was greater, vaster, more almighty than all
the world above ground! When the hour arrived for
the eternal truth to manifest itself, the birth of it only
astounded those who saw with their physical eyes. But
the civilized world, to-day, looks upon that august




138             MORNING LECTURES.
apotheosis-the going up of a Spiritual Reformer to
live among the Gods-as one of the grandest victories
over materialism, and as one of the sublimest spectacles
that was ever painted on the canvas of the past; and
nearly all the accredited eloquence of this age is thrown
about it; all the resources of rhetoric; all the devices
of grammar; all the symbolic reasonings and pictorial
conceptions of Christian  scholars.  Miusic, fashion,
wealth, and all the civil and political institutions of
this country, more or less, harmonize with the conviction that when Jesus died the world lost its central
figure in the tragedy of salvation.
Now what is this that is called "Christianity"?
What is the history of Christendom? I tell you, in
plain truth, that its history, from first to last, is an exact reproduction of its tragical origin.  As soon as it
attained to adequate power, it became the persecutor of
every Scientific and Spiritual Reformer. In its turn, it
has echoed the word c" Anti-Christ" all the way down
human  history.  The record is before you.  Henry
VIII declared, in the midst of his regal selfishness'and
personal lustfulness, that he would not be bridled in
his seekings after various companions in marriage. The
prelates and bishops at Rome assembled and sat in
judgment against him.  They shouted "c Anti-Christ,"
and denounced him, declaring that his relation to
Catharine of Arragon was holy and valid, and that ally
other conjugal relation would be false as hell and
opposed to the gospel of Jesus. You know the sequel
of the story.  He immediately broke with the whole
Roman Catholic world, and from that day to this the
Catholics have been denounced' by Protestants as




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRTST.          139
"Anti-Christ;" and as " one good turn deserves another," the Protestants are denounced as c "Anti-Christ"
by Roman Catholics the wide world over.
Martin Luther and his companion, Melancthon, who
stood on the threshold of that vast religious reform
which brought the blessings of freedom  of conscience
and free speech, were deemed "CAnti-Christ" by the whole
religious world then called Christendom. These were
early and bitterly denounced as disbelievers in the
Bible. And then, as soon as Protestantism became perfectly established, (I will not go into details of its
history, which are familiar to all,) it began the antiChristian work of persecuting and crucifying every
Reformer that has arisen. And in nearly every instance
the new man or the new movement was stigmatized as
" Anti-Christ" and opposed as " Anti-Christian."
Now the real anti-Christian-whether man or movement-canl be easily known and  recognized.  The
genuine Christian is one who goes about doing good, or
does good whilst staying at home-not evil anywhere.
A theologian-a mere theorist in religion-is a very
different person. c" Christ signifies Savior"-the opposite of evil and destruction. Anything, therefore, which
saves, or partakes of and imparts the saving principle,
illustrates the true Christ.  Such a person, or such a
principle, is truly;" Christian."  On the contrary, anything which militates powerfully.and intensely against
the advancement of a Truth, which sets itself against
the growth of a Science, or opposes the light of Reason
and Intuition, is necessarily an antagonist of the good
principle, " anti-Christian," and practically an enemy of mankind.  The Word of God is composed




140              MORNING LECTURES.
of Love, Justice, Truth, Wisdom, and Liberty.
PRINCIPLES, wherever you find them, whether in religion or out of it, are infallible and imperishable words
of God.  A Christian is one who wishes to live in relation to his fellows as he would have others live with
reference to him. It is the adoption of the principle of
perfect justice and reciprocation-of doing to others as
you would have others do to you-having unbounded
sympathy,  saving  charity,  practical  benevolence,
crowned by a warm love of truth, and a reverence for
what is truly Supreme. Therefore to cherish a worshipful love of Father God and Mother Nature is to be
Christian and religious also, in the largest spiritual
sense.
The opposite is easily comprehended. To be the
opposite of all this is to be 6" anti-Christian." To live
unjustly and combatively, so as to produce discord and
enmities among your fellow-men; to give misinterpretations to the plainest truths that you may hear; to act
falsely, with duplicity and hypocrisy; to deal with mankind maliciously and selfishly; to hold passions, to
harbor prejudices, to foster intemperate appetites; in
short, to do, or feel, or think, whatsoever breeds discord and destruction in human family or society, is to
be necessarily and diametrically opposite to the
redeeming principles, and is, strictly speaking,   antiChrist."
But sectarianism does not judge by this standard.
Each Church holds that everything is anti-Christian
which does not fully accept its adopted creed. Thus
the Methodists are Anti-Christ to the Presbyterians.
Calvinists could  not endure  John  Wesley's anti



THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.         141
Christianism; not that Methodists were not just as
good pietists and citizens as the Presbyterians, but because Wesley's followers did not receive the gospel
which Calvin taught as biblical and infallibly true. In
like manner when Unitarianism appeared, it was everywhere  denounced  as  c" Anti-Christ."   The  same
denunciatory spirit is written in the history of the Dissenters in England and Scotland.  They fled to the
mountain-glens and sought safety among the distant
valleys.  The Waldenses and the Huguenots-how
cruelly they were persecuted in consequence of not
adopting the religious creed which passed current as
God's Word among those in power at the time! Not
because the Huguenots were not just as good as others;
not because the Waldenses were not upright and
honorable persons, industrious and frugal, exemplary
in their families; but simply because they did not
believe in the various cardinal'principles which were
authoritatively called 4" God's Word" in the creed of
the dominant Church.
The same persecuting spirit appeared and. was
applied to the early leaders and teachers of the Universalist denomination. They were all o "Anti-Christs."
Universalism was so terribly Anti-Christian because it
was not in harmony with the doctrines of eternal sufferings for a few years of sin. John Murray did not take
a large amount of stock in a personal Devil nor in a
literal hell! and so he was opposed to and denounced
by the Churches that flourished in grandeur around
him.  And therefore these Churches said, with one
voice: ",He is Anti-Christian-crucify- him! crucify
him!"  You know the history of George Fox and of




142              MORNING LECTURES.
Elias Hicks; it is all the same story, a repetition of
the same outrageous conduct among the evangelical
sects.
Now look at the evil spirit of, sectarianism in connection with the world of Science. The Churches say:
"Any Science that conflicts with the doctrines of our
creeds, is no science, and it must not be taught in our
schools." That was the early trouble of the so-called
Christian world. It was seen that the doctrines held
by scientific men, with reference to Nature, were calculated to destroy utterly the creeds of the Churches not
only, but threatened to destroy as well the foundations
of Christianity. Science and common sense-both powerful agents from  God-early began to destroy the
fiction-basis of miracles, and to reduce all mental and
physical transactions to the systematic operations of
immutable law. The Churches said that this scientific
and rationalistic opposition to their creed was 6 AntiChristian,' not because these scientific men and rationalists were bad men; not because their families were
less respectable than the families of believers in the
Bible; but because they taught the impossibility of
the Trinity; because they found nowhere in the boundless geography of God's universe a place for the eternal
explosion of soul-burning sulphur; and, more especially,
because Science and Reason said this world was not the
center of the physical Universe, but a very insignificant
part of the material system-on account of all this, the
Churches rose up and said: c" Anti-Christ!-down with
such Science! Crucify its first apostle and advocates!"
You know  that the first scientific astronomers were
obliged to seal their lips, to carry the beautiful truth




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.          143
upon the heart, and to worship the divine secret in the
silence of a prison.  When Science said, s" God is more
illustrated, and magnified, and vindicated, in these distant planets than on this small globe," and when it said
that "; this globe revolves around the sun, and not the
sun around it"-then the sects cried out in great bitterness: "This is surely Anti-Christ!" and they rose
in monumental resistance to the development and diffusion of such information. They opposed Science because
it was opposed to the accepted "6 Word of God," as
written out in their sectarian creeds.
Universalists, Unitarians, the Quakers, the Nothingarians-the evangelical and respectable sects, all
the way down to the bottomless pit of old Hebrew
mythology —have arisen, as one man and one power, and
said: "Spiritualism is' Anti-Christ.' " The respectable
sects say: "; There is no question or doubt about it;
at last we have found out the evil one who is among us.
He comes in' the garments of light' —which the Devil
sometimes either borrows or steals-and calls himself
Spiritualism." Therefore the leaders and teachers of
this new truth must be opposed and vanquished. Not
that Spiritualists in the community are any worse persons than their Christian neighbors; not that they act
offensively; not that they keep their children from the
public schools, or fail to pay their taxes, or decline to
make Presidents or unmake them; nor that they fail to
fulfill their responsible relations as citizens, as husbands,
fathers, brothers, or sisters, wives, and mothers-no,
the opposition comes from the fact that modern Spiritualism is to popular theology what Christianity was to
the Spiritualism of the Egyptio-Israelites. The modern




144             MORNING LECTURES.
movement began about fifteen years ago. It has
gathered strength and momentum every hour since.
Impelled by its original moving-power of principles,
it rapidly rolls past the Churches of Christendom,
although they shout "' Anti-Christ!"  No imaginable
opposition could now arrest its progress. In addition
to its inherent motive force of principles, it adds the
strength of "facts," which have been accumulating in
all past Spiritual history. But there is a vaster and
more influential attraction-viz., the discovery that the
Future is larger, grander, and more permanent than the
present; and that when we go forward, it is towards
the light out of darkness,. toward purity out of imperfection, toward harmony out of discord.  This is the
powerful attraction that draws onward the Spiritual
movement. Its inherent momentum, and the vitality of
its central principles, lift it far beyond all the growling,
barking institutions that pride themselves on not being
Anti-Christ. I will now ask your attention to eight
points of Sectarianism- each being a form of c"AntiChrist."
1. What does sectarianism do?  It breaks up human sympathies, divides families, breeds animosities,
leads to misrepresentations, brings confusion, and ends
in war.  It goes out into politics, separates the country, divides limb from limb. This is what it does in
the civil, social, and political departments of the world.
Has Spiritualism  brought sectarianism into the world?
What is its spirit?  Love of mankind-brotherly love
and sisterly love —comprehending the Father and
Mother principles. That is Christian, and it is also
Spiritual.  It is the opposite of sectarianism.  Sects




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.          145
have arisen out of theology and priestcraft. Each
decides the question for the other.  But Spiritualism
stands to-day as the boundless Protestant, as the Luther
of Luthers in the midst of this jargon, saying,  "Away
with creeds and party walls! Break down the partitions, and build up liberty, sympathy, and unity, among
these discordant, chaotic, and  estranged  elements."
And this is what is called "Anti-Christ!"  We say
that evils, even if they be stubborn as goats, may become white and gentle sheep one of these days.  Some
believe that a portion of the human race will be consigned to the great goat-gridiron, to be fried forever.
Goat-steak for breakfast-broiled goats for dinnerstewed goats for supper.  But to teach that all goats
are on the way to the sheep-fold; that all may become
brothers and sisters; that all are on the way toward
the infinite, approaching from a countless variety of
paths which lead toward one Positive Mind, and toward
one encircling sphere of imnmortal glory and happiness,
preparatory to a larger and a grander experience in
individual progress —because Spiritualism asserts and
advocates these principles and ultimates, it is denounced
as s" Anti-Christ."
Orthodox ministers could do nothing without "a
personal devil" or something equivalent to him-could
do nothing for the salvation of souls without these cells.
in the lower portions of God's universe, where lost souls
are burning and seething with unutterable suffering.
Anything opposed to those beautiful cardinal principles
is Anti-Christ!! Spiritualism, Quakerism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Atheism, and Deism, are oppo



14-6             MORNING LECTURES,
nents of such teachings in old theology. Therefore
they -are denounced.
II. Next we will consider Vindictive Punishments.
Did Spiritualism bring into the world such punishments?
The teaching of the pulpit is, that God punishes arbitrarily; not as the natural result of violated principles.
The principles themselves (we say) contain the whips of
justice by which both the criminal and the victim  are
brought to repentance and compensation.
The Churches teach that  "man is to be arbitrarily
punished, and that God may justly punish to all eternity for a few years, a few hours, a few days of sin.
But reason rebels; for the relation of punishment to
the crimes committed, is out of all human sense of proportion. Orthodoxy regards it all as God's great
wisdom, and it teaches that men ought to keep still and
not criticise. But human nature insists that punishment and crime should sustain some relation to each
other; that if a man sins a certain number of weeks or
years, he should experience punishments which extend
over something like a corresponding period of time; or
that his punishment, if shortened in duration, should be
at least equivalent in quantity and quality to the nature
and extent of his crimes.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said of Spiritual
reform is, that it brings in this Gospel-that punishment and crime are always in harmony with each other;
that one is balanced by the other, and that there is no
vicarious atonement, and no virtue in what is called
death-bed repentance. Theology says, "c Our faith will
sweep you all clean, you miserable sinners; it will get
you into the kingdom all beautiful at last, even though




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.          147
you may have destroyed the lives of hundreds of your
fellow-beings!"  Spiritualism  holds a very different
doctrine with regard to the future of all such persons.
Although there is no despair, there are opportunities
and privileges, labors and schools, influences of example, and the magnetic attraction of love, all tending
slowly, winningly, lovingly, to develop better faculties
in such sinners, and to conquer their imperfect habits
and badly developed powers. That is what Spiritualism teaches. Is it Anti-Christian?
III. In the world there is the doctrine that God
sends War as an arbitrary punishment. Spiritualism
teaches that War comes as a concomitant of human misdirection, of miseducation, and undevelopment. War
is in harmony with man's lower mental and moral conditions. When he unfolds a more beautiful character,
then Society will be sweeter, then nations will be harmonized, and then bloody Wars will cease!  The
Church says "War comes out of heaven; God sends it
as a punishment."  Spiritualism  teaches, on the other
hand, that War comes out of man's lowest estates,
and that it is natural to those inferior conditions.  But
this is what the churches call o "Anti-Christian Philosophy."
IV. Next look at the universal passion for Selfish
Aggrandizement. Spiritualism comes as the opponent
of such selfishness. But the churches do not oppose it.
Did you ever hear a revival-minister stand in the pulpit and teach the doctrines of social reforms, by which
alone mankind can be developed out of their selfishness?  Nothing of this at a revival.  But the people
are told that Christ died for sinners, not to cure you




148              MORNING. LECTURES.
of your selfishness, but to make it possible that, although
you are as red as fire with iniquities, you can be made
as white as snow-not saved from  the commission of
sin, but from its c" consequences." Spiritualism teaches
that the doctrine of vicarious atonement for the consequences of sin comes out of undevelopment, out of a lack
of' justice in man, out of a low, selfish condition of mentality. When men learn the principles of community;
when they discover that large cities may become corporate bodies, as really and practically as these Insurance
and Banking corporations; and that the whole city may
become a monopoly in human happiness, instead of a
mill for social, commercial, and mercantile conflicts,
then will come among men the delights and beauties
and equilibriums of the kingdom of heaven. Spiritualism teaches the absence of selfishness and inculcates
doctrines of justice and truth to cause men to unite their
interests. It will be easier to live for each other's
interests than to live against each other's interests.
V. Next, I think it will be admitted that the doctrine that Woman should occupy a position equal with
man is not "Anti-Christ," though the Church affects to
look upon it as such.  The Church says:', The woman
should not teach, or if she does, she should do it in private, and with her head covered." Paul, a great
authority in the Churches, held that woman had a place
more brilliant, more attractive, more grand, away from
the public arena. There are many intelligent persons
wiho agree with Paul; but it will come to be seen one
of these days that Paul and all who think with him are
Anti-Christians.  And those who hold to the doctrine
that woman is spiritually, socially, intellectually, and




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.          149
phIvsically man's equal, but in a different way-that
woman will have a career parallel with man's through
all the eternal spheres-such doctrines one of these
days will be called good orthodox Christian truth.
Now, however, it is "L Anti-Christian " and is denounced
as the Woman's Rights movement. Not a church in
New York City is open for a speaker upon this question. Dodworth's Hall, or Peter Cooper's Institute, or
some lesser place, must be hired, to advocate the doctrine that the mother is equal to the father, the sister
to the brother, and that in the future of society and of
government they are to stand side by side as compeers
and mutual supporters.
VI. Next, take the question of Slavery. Slavery
must be several years older than Spiritualism. It
started some time previous to the development of the
heathen mythologies. You find it before Calvin taught,
before Luther declared himself independent, or before
Henry the Eighth broke with the Romish Church. You
can trace it in all the lower, brutish, and selfish conditions of human society. Spiritualism declares itself the
fixed and unalterable opponent of all human chattelism,
servitude, tyranny, and despotism. It emancipates the
individual, and proclaims freedom  alike to man and
woman, Jew and Christian, child and adult, black and
white. Such is the philosophy of this new dispensation, which the Church calls 6" Anti-Christian." I
know it is anti-creed and anti-church,[ but it is not
Anti-Christian.
VII. Again, Spiritualism teaches that all Excesses
are vicious; that persons who indulge in anything excessively are guilty of vice, which is certain to be pun



150             MORNING LECTURES.
ished; and that no vicarious atonement can save them
from such legitimate suffering. But the Churches hold
up the doctrine that man can be cleansed by a miracle,
and so pass off into the other world pure as a child
born from the bosom of God. Spiritualism teaches that
intemperance is as much applicable to eating as to alcohol, as much to activity as to idleness, as much to
spiritual as to any other human manifestation. Intemperance in any of these departments is vice, is wrong;
and balance, equilibrium, harmony in all things, is
right.
VIII. Lastly, look at the doctrine in the religious
world that men are spiritually fallen in animalism, and
that if they live hereafter it will be by some miraculous arrangement.  Ask the Church people what they
think of the future; they will give you the most vague
and unsatisfactory answer. The Future, in their creeds,
is an incomprehensible Supernaturalism.  They seem to
think that the other world is as different from this as
truth is from error.
Spiritualism, on the other hand, proves the,other
world to be as much a part of this existence as the human brain is a part of the spinal marrow. The spinalmarrow has been gathered up, and folded over, and in
and out, and over again, and convoluted into the mental
organism. The spines of all the lower world-working
up through fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, and
bimanals into the human, growing finer and finer until
they become human cerebrum, or front brain-flowering
out from the animal world through the cerebellum, or
back brain, and hanging itself over on the front, the
receptacle of the immortal mind! Thus we trace the




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CTHRIST.        151
first particles of this human brain back through the
history of all the organic kingdoms of the world
below.
The Churches do not seek such knowledge, and they
openly repudiate it as " Anti-Christian."  But we look
upon Science and Philosophy as the hand-maids of this
new Religion.  Spiritualism  opens the human brain as
the sun opens the petals of the flower, when it trembles
and bursts into fragrance and beauty; and as Minerva
sprung from the brain of Jupiter, so the human spirit
comes forth and rises into that existence which is a continuation of this.  When these soldiers, facing and
fighting the enemies of Freedom, are struck down, they
are not down except to the external physical eyes, but
are in reality immediately shot up and out into a larger,
sublimer existence.  With this knowledge they can
march on without trembling.  They nqoed not be one
moment in bondage to the fear of death; there is no
grave for the immortal spirit, only a natural and immediate resurrection.
But all this the Church calls "Anti-Christian."
Christian clergymen have ventured to call it the rhapsody of a fanatical brain! Spiritualism brings a great
knowledge of the future.  The old materialistic school
of Infidelity has no chance with Spiritualism. Men who
l]ad no knowledge of the future and no faith in man,
]have now a scientific assurance and a beautiful hope.
These truths come as an illuminating religion, expanding the human heart, refreshing the senses, and opening
the reasoning powers, enabling the mind to see that
there is no break in the laws of individual progress.
If such a doctrine is "Anti-Christian," then human intui



15 2            MORiNING LECTURES.
tion has no power by which it can distinguish the truth
from error.  Anti-Christianism is teaching that which
is opposed to the future and to God, to purity, and to
progress. Reformers are obliged to marshal their forces
against the Anti-Christianity of Christendom.  Anything which militates against the doctrine of Spiritual
freedom and progress, and the development and expansion of fraternal love, is Anti-Christ, and it is undeniable that the Churches are the worst opponents of
Freedom and Progress. Hence you perceive that THE
WORST ANTI-CHRISTIANISM  IS THE CHUPRCHIANITY OF
CHRISTENDOM.
In conclusion, I have but to remind you that the era
of Spiritual harmony is approaching; it is coming to be
part of the common inheritance. Not by any miracle,
not by any supernatural arrangement, not by the death
of Christ or any other reformer; but the New Age is
coming by the principles of an eternal Divinity, which
are imperishably implanted in human nature.  When
the new truth comes, it is natural for persecution to
come also.  The opposition is necessary to bring out a
grander and more perfect development; so that, while
we deplore and denounce this sectarian opposition, we
see that it is natural and proper in the course of human
progress.
I would not have any man or woman believe these
principles any sooner than Nature and Reason will aid
them to believe. Be just and natural in your spiritual
growth; then you will be as firm as the everlasting
hills. God is the central magnet of the universe; the
spiritual world is the continuation of the natural world;
and man's spirit comes out of his brain at death just as




THE REIGN OF ANTI-CHRIST.          153
the flower coilles out of the bud in the garden; it is all
beautifully natural, and there is no miracle; and, therefore, when you ascend to the higher life, it will not
even surprise you; but will seem  like a welcoming
stream  of water to the thirsty, and like a feast of
wholesome food to the hungry.
This spiritual truth gives help to all and extracts
help from all. Instead of finding an antagonist in
popular science or philosophy, or an enemy in any of
the reforms, Spiritualism finds in each and all of them
true friends, dear relatives, and old acquaintances.
Therefore, when a man is a Spiritualist, he will very
likely be something else beside-a Woman's Rights
man, an Anti-Slavery man, a Temperance man; and he
believes in the development of higher governmental organizations.  He is loyal to the government while it
must exist, but is ever working and longing for something better.  He is in favor of punishment, if it be
reformatory and not vindictive.  He is therefore in
favor of Justice, and is the opponent of all forms and
degrees of oppression.  A Spiritualist is very likely to
be cosmopolitan. He will have a tender and saving
regard for his fallen brother everywhere, and feels solicitude for the man who occupies a place higher than
himself.  He extends the fraternal grasp to those who
are above and those who stand beneath.  The modern
Spiritualist stands erect between these positions-between social and religious extremes —and becomes a
central influence, a medium for the expression of the
principles of progress, and a friend to all who would
grow in wisdom and harmony.
7*e




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.
"The weapons which your hands have found
Are those which Heaven itselfhas wrought:
Light, Truth, and Love;-your battle-ground
The free, broad field of Thought."
A startling proposition was offered and then urged
some time since, to this effect: That, although all human
minds are constituted upon and with the same fundamental principles, yet each differs from the other both
in quantity of mentality and also in the quality of the
ingredients. By quality and by quantity men are less
or more in contact with the divine principles that regulate the spiritual universe.
It can be shown that an "s adjective" is all-important.
People pay for an adjective when it is properly applied
to fruit, to grains, or to goods of any kind in the physical world.  For example: If a peach, without an
adjective, is worth one penny, then a good peach is
worth three cents, a better peach is worth four, and the
best peach is worth six cents. The value is enhanced by
the adjective, the superlative degrees always commanding the highest price.
This reasoning is applicable to man's spiritual nature.  As fruit is improved  by cultivation, so the
development of spiritual quality and excellence is dependent upon true mental education. All persons do




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     155
not inherit the same amount of spiritual property;
soClne minds are born comparatively millionaires in tIheir
endowments and attributes, and some correspond to
musical instruments in the arrangements of their attributes; while others are born in the lowest physiological dell, and are compelled to enter society through the
lowest doors, and must plod their way through the
coarsest circumstances.
In meeting certain persons, do you not perceive that
there is either an excess or else a deficiency in their
mentalities? Other natures are large and opulent from
no definable or apparent reason. Their personal
presence seems to fill the whole space. They may not
utter a word; and yet their very silence which is the
twin of mystery and the chief indication of powerpours itself with eloquence into your conlsciousness. Do
you not sometimes feel the immensity of particular persons who are, through their whole life, habitually silent
and thoughtful?
Other persons, however demonstrative and garrulous, impress you as being empty and void of soul. They
may utter, and write, and do things that are precious
and agreeable to your convictions-may hold to ideas
that are sympathetic with your long-cherished sentiments-may tell political or religious truths to the
people that you have long been waiting to hear uttered-and yet these same persons will impress you with
a hollowness of character, with a sense of sounding
brass and tinkling cymbals, which repels you from
them, and all this without any well-defined reasons or
cause that you can understand or express.
Others, again, are "passable."  They impress you




156             MORNING LECTURES.
indifferently, or not at all.  Such seem to be about
fairly equipped for the voyage of life. They neither
impress nor depress the social sphere about them. They
are comfortable passengers, sleeping in the middle cars,
between the two extremes.
My work this morning is to trace out the causes
that lead to so many battles between the Spirit and its
Circumstances, and, if possible, to give suggestions by
which those conflicts may be avoided or shortened, and
the conquest of the individual all the more perfect and
permanent.
When a great and important battle is contemplated,
it is one part of good generalship to ascertain all the
directions whence your enemies can approach; and not
only so, but to examine and estimate their resources,
study their tactics, find out their nationality and temiperaments, learn what they design to do, ferret out
their motives, and pierce them to the heart by the most
searching investigations. Then take an inventory and
make an honest estimate of your own powers and resources —-neither  under-estimate  nor  over-estimate
them —be wholly calm and steady, without heat or
trepidation, but with great self-preservation and conscientiousfiess, having perfect reliance upon the virtue
and integrity of your motives and the divinity of the
ends to be accomplished. Find out, first of all, what
you have to battle with and what weapons you will be
called to use. This forethought and preparation will
give you a true estimate of your own powers and resources, and you will know the various obstacles with
which you will be forced to contend.
In investigating the constitution, and resources, and




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     1 57
responsibilities of the human mind, I find that few persons think-few persons give themselves time enough to
stop to think-what it is to live in this world.  Few
realize that life to a human being is infinitely more important and more significant than is life to an animal.
Take the most perfectly trained and learned anlimals
of the age, and you will find that their progeny return
to the first animals of like species in all their characteristics.  Their progeny never improve in any habit;
they never acquire new thoughts or instincts; never
adopt new methods of living in this world.  They are
entirely harmonious-soul with sense, inward life with
external, parts.  They have no war with their circumstances. They are embodiments of but few principles.
Motion, life, and sensation-these constitute the whole
of an animal. The soul fills the physical parts to overflowing, and that completes an animal's existence and
happiness. Its senses are balanced and in perfect harmony with that combination of powers and instincts.
There is therefore no controversy in the single-consciousness of an animal.  Its mind hesitates only when
two things, like two bundles of hay of unequal size,
happen to be presented to it; then there is a momentary exercise of inclination in reference to a purely
selfish gratification.  The animal mind is swayed and
governed invariably, not by a moral conviction, but by
that simple sense of attraction which moves its fe'elings
the strongest. The same is true of all human beings
who are yet on the animal plane. Yes, there are plenty
of human beings who walk through society in just that
sensuous way. You will see, on analysis, that all such,
while so permitting themselves to live, are nothing but




158              MORNING LECTURES.
quadrupeds in many of their sensations and tastes.
They have not arisen to experience the noble feelings
and large spiritual proportions of true human souls.
Of course I know that, under some conditions and peculiar circumstances, all persons have such sensuous
experiences-occasionally that all mankind so c"live,
and move, and have their being"-and thus all are, by
the instincts of their constitutions, made conscious of
one truth in our philosophy, that the animal world preceded the human; that our ancestral roots are deeply
driven into the great physical under-world of organic
life; that we have inherited all of their instincts, inclinations, and attributes; and, therefore, being legitimate
offsprings from the Divine source, through these prehuman instrumentalities, mankind have inherited all
anatomy, physiology, phrenology, and social propensities of their remotest pre-humrnan ancestors.
Mail is alone capable of knowing the difference between himself and his circumstances. When a s" circumstance" is realized to be a circumstance, and when
man's spirit feels itself to be a "; centerstance," a suncenter, around which all circumstances and satellites
are destined to revolve in orbital obedience, then is
born within him  the first assurance of his implanted
prerogatives and kingship. This sense of supremacy
may come in such memorable moments as when a man
is driven to his highest mental point through excitement-sometimes through sublime indignation-at the
climax of which comes the terrific fire and the thundershock from the soul's Sinai; then descends a flash of
celestial lightning from the spirit's heaven, and in an
instant is born a strong divinity within the soul, which




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.       159
brings mountains to the valley nlld raises that which
was low instantly to the level of its will.  It is rarely
that an appeal so sublime as this comes to hurman niature.  But something of it is known in nearly all private lives. There comes to every one of you a moment
of decision which will demand and compel the culmination and climacteric determination of all your powers.
The strength is declared from the inward fountain, and
i'n that moment you realize, perhaps for the first' time in
your life, that there is an infinite difference between
yourself and all that is moving about you-that you are
spiritually a master, and that every "circumstance"
which proposes to conquer and govern you is designed
to be subservient. I say that such a conviction may be
born in you for the first time in your life, in the midst
of some ordinary transaction. When it comes, you
should hail it as a prophet; it is a John the Baptist.
It is going before experience, announcing that a better,
grander, sublimer era will dawn in your autobiography, when,"circumstances" will be comparatively your
servants, and you their immortal king within the
temple!
The world is filled with substances with which
spirit is constantly in contact. Why? Because Spirit
is substance itself. Spirit is something and substantial.
It is connected, through the finest substances, with all
the coarser substances in the visible world.  It is all a
system of perpetual centrifugation. Man's spirit is like
a sun.  It is revolving on its own axis, in its private
orbit, and, as it revolves, throws off, by its centrifugal
power, first, its most delicate substance.-that is, the
6" body of the spirit;" and then a yet coarser substance



1 60             MORNING LECTURES.
that is, the " physical organization;" and, lastly, still
coarser substances, which are the c"circumstances" round
about it in the world.
Every one is either a king in that central kingdom,
or else a subject. It depends entirely on your constitution, education, and state of mind, whether you be master or servant-whether you be  "a thing" or "a
power."  Your position and your progress will be determined by your power, not by your force.  There is',
as you perceive, a great difference between force and
power.  Force is animal; it is filled with impetuous
vital electricity; and after manifestation, it suffers from
a corresponding degree of exhaustion.'When it retires,
you are fatigued.  Power, on the contrary, never subsides. Power is linked with the eternal Spirit; always
feels its identity, and has no other ally.  Do you suppose that God ever gets tired, as the old theology
teaches? that he needs to rest from Saturday night till
Monday morning?  Such seasons of rest will do for
force.  Force requires it; power never.  Power is the
deep ocean of omnipotent life.  It flows through all
physical and mechanical laws, and through all the organic phenomena of' the visible world.
This perpetual evolution of the infinite power is
silent.  It is only when forces meet that there occurs an
earthquake, a revolution, a war, or a battle.  Where
power is, there is only an overcoming, attended by no
war,by no discord. The crooked is straightened without conflict.  That which was rough is smoothed as by
the omnipotent spirit of Deity.  When filled with
c" force," you feel impatient and largely capable of accomplishing  rudimental  ends.  When  filled  with




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     1G61' power,s you are overflowing with riches, feel no
haste.  Impulse subsides under true 6"power," and a
quiet, earnest, indefatigable sensation sweeps all through
the vine-clad groves of the spirit.  This feeling of divine strength refreshes every faculty, gives you a new
volume of confidence in the omnipotent God, and opens
the truth that he liveth and reigneth in all things.
Old Testament writers seemed to be filled with the
spirit as well as the power of Jehovah. That is, they
realized the difference between force and power. When
they dropped out of it, they acted just like our modern
warriors and politicians. They said and did coarse and
crude things. But in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and
in the Proverbs, you get words from  the "superior
condition."  When they felt the Divine-46 power," when
their impatient force was subdued and tranquilized, you
know how beautifully and reverentially they wrote and
sung of the Infinite Spirit. How sublimely they reposed
on the unfathomable bosom of unknown Deity. "6 God,"
6"Lord," and "6Jehovah," were expressions they frequently used. What they called the "promises of God,"
we, in modern days, call the fulfillments of the unchangeable laws of Destiny.  These promises or fulfillnuents of fixed laws are mapped out from the heart of
the universe.  We behold them in all the physical phenomena, and feel their operations infallibly in the life
of spirit.
Now, in arranging ourselves for the work of individual progress, we must ascertain the sources of our
private enemies, and comprehend the magnitude and
variety of our inevitable struggles.  First, to- begin
inductively to examine the field of battle, we must com



162              MORNING LECTURES.
mence with the outermost surfaces and go toward the
center-go toward the internal man or spirit.  You
will observe, therefore, that physical circumstances first
attract and demand your constant attention. They are
the soil, water, air, heat-the physical elements and
the social conditions of the outside world, in which you
happen to be born and reared. You will always notice
the difference between persons born on opposite sides
of the Atlantic; also a difference between persons born
on different portions of the American Continent, and
still closer, the difference between individual members
of the same family.  Plants, in like manner, indicate,
first, the soil from which they spring, and then the kind
and amount of attention thev receive. Moisture or drrness, the amount of sun-heat and amount of sun-liglht,
will be clearly visible in the growth of the plants.
Their history is within.  If you had deep-seeing eyes,
each one of earth's flowers, trees, and vines, would give
you a careful account of the "L circumstances" which superintended its development.  Of' course, in flowergardens and orchards, there are intermediates-such as
human eyes, and human skill, and human magnetism,
and the gentle encouragements to growth.
Trees, plants, vines, and flowers, are all affected
more or less by the human beings who superintend their
development.  Thus their external history is like that
of persons in the world.  Cross to the opposite side of
the Pacific —go onward in the west until you arrive in
the east again-and you will see that the mystery and
philosophy of the Egyptian race-all they did in science
and art-are characterized by and inseparable from the
sands, plains, plants, valleys, and the almost monoton



TIHE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCE.     1. 63
ous world ill which they lived.  People and country
correspond; the country first, next the people. 011 this
principle, every tree, every plant, all Yines, will form
among themselves very small organic beings-animalcule —if you will but give them opportunities and
suitable conditions, so that the omnipresent organizing
principle can operate through their parts. The bugs
and worms on plum-trees always differ from those upon
vines and plants in the garden.  The apple-tree, the
cherry, the pear, and each flower, bring out living creatures peculiarly adapted to their own productive sources
and circumstances.
It is even so with the physical and human world.
The constitution, propensities, and characteristics of
human beings, are in keeping with the constitution, propensities, and characteristics of the soil.- The amount
and kind of sun-light and heat, the kind of lunar influences, the amount of star-shine, the kind of water, the
nature of the vegetation, and the character of the animals-all go into the formation of a people or a race.
Since the Egyptians left their soil, the soil itself seems
almost to have died. Let a spectator examine-iti and
it would appear as though the valley of the Nile, with
all its primeval abundance, had gone into slumber.
Those great mountains and exceeding floral splendors, which are so wonderfully beautiful and grand and
startling in the southern hemisphere of the globe, are
far from where the Egyptians once lived.  In southern
regions you at once see that the physical " circumstances" are fully reported in the temperaments and
tendencies of the people. Volcanic peoples in volcanic
countries.  Silent, stealthy impulses in human nature




164             MORNING LECTURES.
just where Nature is impulsive.  Volcanoes take a
long time to mature.  When they get ready to break
open the crust of the earth, they do so, and immediately
swallow whole cities with,one terrific elemental convulsion. In such countries you find yourself among people
who have in their characters corresponding impulses
and  designs.  Give them  time, and they, too, will
silently incubate the largest revolution and produce the
most ponderous monarchy; they will remorselessly overthrow and utterly destroy any government or constitution which shuts them from the indulgence of the largest
interests and propensities. Thus the volcanic 6" circumstances" of the world are repeated and reproduced in
the temperaments, tendencies, and mbrals of the people; and thus, too, are visible in folks the water and
the soil, and the sun-light and heat, the lunar influences,
the star-shine, and also the millions upon millions less
noticeable circumstances of the age and clime.
In this connection I adduce the reflections and facts
of a mother concerning the influence of parental circumstances on offspring. She says: " The precise character
of the father, or the mother, is, probably, never reproduced in a child; the characters of children are a variously proportioned  compound of father and mother,
m.odified, often in a great degree, by the circumstances
and condition of the mother during her periods of gestation.  The circumstances, or the condition, of both,
differ in most of, probably in all, her gestations, sometimes greatly.  The influence of the father on the personal and mental characters of his children; which is
evident, makes it probable that that influence varies
with every child; according to the varying circurn



THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     165
stances, the varying surroundings, pursuits, cares,
pleasures, occupations, and states of mental and bodily
health of the father.  But the varied influence of the
father is not easy to be traced out; though we may
make some probable guesses, that some of the most lamentable variations in the children of the same family
do proceed from variations in-the father. But the varying influence of the mother is evident to all observers;
and the observer by questioning even very unphilosophical mothers can make them, by the facts they can
recollect, readily admit that certain of their experiences
during a period of gestation do coincide with the peculiarity of the child of that period.
" The mother during one gestation may be sickduring another, she may be in health; she may be
lethargic and indolent during one, and active in mind
during another; be delighted in reciprocal conjugal
love, respect, and confidence, at one period, and be desponding, under blighted hopes and blighted affection,
at another; or be experiencing suspicion, jealousy, and
hatred, under real or imagined injuries; at one period
her intellect is beneficially active under the influence of
the highest feelings; at another those feelings are dormant, causing the feelings that we call the worst
(because when not under the control of the higher feelings they operate injuriously) to have undisputed sway;
and her intellect becomes devoted to melancholy, or to
bitter and revengeful ideas; at one period she may have
pecuniary prosperity, at another, poverty, or the dread
of it; she is excited or depressed by the varying conditions of her family and her friends; by varying elemnentary conditions; and by varying conditions in her




166              MORNING LECTURES.
locality, or in her country. The variety of, combinations from all these circumstances is without end; and,
as they are ever. varying, it is very unlikely that the
condition of a mother can be alike during any two periods of gestation; while it is certain that they cause it
frequently to vary very greatly.
4"Can we expect the children formed under very different conditions of the mother to be exactly alike?
WVe see that they are not alike in form, size, and health;
and as most of the mother's variable circumstances act
diversely on her brain, and all her other variable circumstances act indirectly upon it, it is only reasonable
to suppose that though we cannot weigh or measure the
different portions of the brains of children, their brains
must differ more than their bodies do.  And as even
those physiologists who say that mind is a spiritual ex-.
istence added to matter, admit that the manifestations
of mind, or mental character, will be according to the
size, organization, and condition of the brain, modified
by the condition of the body, both Materialists and
Spiritualists agree that differences in brain and body
caused differences in character at the time of birth.
"That children are affected by transitory impressions on their mother's mind, is proved by the cases
of physical markings, and deformities, familiar to every
one as consequences of some short-lived desire, or
fright, in mothers during gestation.  I know a case of
a child whose right hand is without fingers, as if the
fobur fingers had been cut off; the mother had experienced a momentary fear that her fingers would be cut
off, as she placed her hand under the descending knife
of the butcher, directing him where to cut the meat;




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.      167
she received so slight a scratch that, as she says, she'thought no more about it' until her child was born.
If such transient emotion can cause such a variation, we
mnust suppose that the more permanent mental conditions
of the mother, often lasting through the whole period
of gestation, must have a marked effect on the mental
character of her child.  Intellioent observers have
collected a mass of facts upon the subject which amount
to proof (as nearly as proof can be obtained on a subject that must be inferential) that differences in the
mother's circumstances-caused condition do produce
mental differences in children.  I will narrate a few of
the facts known to myself:
"sA wife with good intellect, and still better moral
feelings, during her last gestation, forbearingly, from
past love and respect, sustained a melancholy secret, a
suppression of any expression of disgust and fear of a
husband, who, by natural intellect and by education,
once seemed her superior, but who, at this time, debased by drunkenness, had brought her to poverty, and
to dread of debt and want; and who, in the frenzy of
delirium  tremens, was seeking to take the life of the
wife he still respected and loved.  The child of this
gestation (now in the prime of manhood) possesses the
intellect of his parents and the moral worth of his
mother; but, unlike his parents in their happier days,
unlike their earlier child, but like his mother when she
bore him, he has ever had a manner of sadness, and has
ever been eminently secretive, so uncommunicative of
his ideas, feelings, and plans, that he can be estimated
only by his actions.
"Another wife, of different character, during her




1 68            MORNING LECTURES.
last gestation, was deserted by her husband, was left to
poverty, and to experience the pang of jealousy in a
high degree; her feelings were not controlled by any
remembrance of former respectful love, for her husband
was not so constituted as to excite that for himself, or
to feel it for her, and in the time of her great trial she
had but little moral restraint on her feelings-she
indulged in hatred and in bitter, vindictive feelings;
her child, now fifteen years of age, is, as he has always
been, the personification of sourness of temper and of
that ill-nature that likes to give pain by word and
deed-and such is his character.  His features wear
the same expression that his unfortunate mother's wore
while she bore him.
"The mothers, in most cases, recognize the connection between their feelings and the character of their
child.'"Mothers of several children, having one especially
passionate child, have admitted that they were unusually passionate while bearing that child, from the
circumstance that the husband or somebody else had
been more provoking at that time than any other.
"CcA mother, rejoicing in the serene and happy
temper of her fourth child, told me that the circumstances of a hope of a better state of society, which she
was experiencing during her gestation of that child, and
her having then learned that her temper would affect
that of the child she bore, had given her happier feelings, and caused her to guard against ill temper and to
cultivate kind feelings.
" A married couple, with a medium amount of brain
between them, were happy in mind and in pecuniary




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.    169
condition-the wife was without care, and without'pursuits, when their first child was born; that child had a
smaller proportion of brain than either of her parents,
and when she was twelve years of age, her mother said
of her:' She is just as thoughtless as I was when I
bore her;' but during the wife's second gestation, there
was a variation in the circumstances of the couple; the
pecuniary failure of a trusted friend reduced them to
poverty, and to the necessity of finding some new
means of supporting themselves and children; this
aroused every faculty of their minds that before was
sluggish-the change being greater in the wife, who
then, and ever after, participated in earning their
living, and who became active in contriving to obtain
for her family the utmost comfort that small means
could afford; the second child was weak in body, but
active and vigorous in mind; the third child had a
quiet, thoughtful force of character, and they and all
the succeeding children had larger brains than the
first child had, and they promised (under ordinary
mental culture,) to have larger brains than their
parents have.
", These cases will suffice to illustrate the principle;
such cases come within every one's notice. The existing national circumstances will have marked effect on
many children now in the womb; hope in some minds,
terror in others; timidity in some, courage in others;
and all the various states of mind that the war
engenders will make many children, born during its
continuance, differ in character from their brothers and
sisters."
America is a new continent.  We have here' the
8




170             MIORNING LECTURES.
richest and most expansive prairies.  Do you see anything corresponding to them in the American people?
Yes! Broad, rich, expansive, enterprising minds! In
the far-spreading'West, where great prairies sweep
away like shoreless oceans, there the most impressible
people are largely liberal and prairie-like in their
ambitions. I do not mean that those who have recently
gone from eastern States are in character like the
external prairie; but especially do I mean those who
were born and reared there, who hlave received their
first impressions of Nature from the windows and doors
of a prairie-home.  Such minds are like the physical
", circumstances" which surround them. They show
muscular tendencies and mental powers which have
been imparted by their physical environments.  They
are like the soil-very independent of embarrassment
-not always deep, but very broad and sweeping in
their opinions of men, customs, and fashions.  The
spirit of Freedom, like the fire that unrestrainedly
rolls over the ocean land, gathers strength every hour
in the West.  It is to be the most remarkable seat of
social and national experience in this country. The
most remarkable battles will be fought in the West.
Freedom there is not the New England idea of Freedom.  It is the spirit of do-what-you-have-a-mind-todo-ativeness-a sort of individual license  not yet
attuned to either justice or freedom.  It is the prairieform  of national independence, however, which is
beginning to rapidly educate and expand the powers
of the Western mind.  I do not mean to say that these
"c circumstances " will mature and culminate in a revolution in the West.  But this I am impressed to say,




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.      171
that the Western world is affecting the minds of the
people in such a manner as to cause them, in one of
these coming-years, to lose all national and political
relationship to the people of the great mountains of the
East; and the people of the mountains in the Eastern
States, who will aid in determining these historic
events, will be ready to. yield to the West the most
wholesale independence.  The people are being educated out of old-time opinions and institutions.  They
are emancipated from their primal soils and climates,
and they begin to forget thebsunshine and starshine of
previous generations; so that they easily glide into
new "' circumstances," by which they are imperceptibly
molded and developed to a different plan.
The American mind, I think, is gradually assuming
the form and tendencies of the mind of the Aborigines.
The American mind is every day becolming less governable by old-time codes. It will no longer import its
ideas of government; it no longer can import its
religion; music for the people can scarcely be copied
from trans-Atlantic sources.  Fifty years more, and
the American mind will be setting up for itself in
religion, in government, in music, in art.  New schools
upon the new soils will spring up.  Americans have
hitherto imitated and profited by the old examples and
masters.  Possible artists yet go over to Italy to study
the old pictures. But the true American would rather
study the artist, when he gets home, than to study
what he has studied.  When the art-lover returns and
receives again the " circumstances " of his own native
country into his mind, then he rises out of slumberous
Italy and above all those Medieval schools of inspira



172'            Mo0ING LECTURES.
tion, and becomes once more loyal to the providential
spirit of Progress which pervades the Continent of
America.
The aboriginal spirit is bold, defiant, incorrigible,
and independent. It can be broken and dispersed; it
cannot be conquered. Some minds pride themselves
upon their Anglo-Saxon origin. They think that that
race is unconquerable.  That is not history. If we are
really the descendants of Anglo-Saxons, we shall be
conquered; because they were conquered in the very
first stages of their development in England. And they
have in them the spirit of "obedience" to "law" to
such an extent that a potentate would be welcomed by
them.  There is a welcoming prayer put up, especially
through commerce and politics, for the safe and speedy
arrival of some Dictator. Many descendants of AngloSaxons would vote for the inauguration of a Monarch in
this country! But the spirit of the true people of the
country has not yet been declared.  That is supremely
aboriginal. It is the spirit of personal independence,
of national largeness, of great commercial expansiveness, and of unbounded research and enterprise. These
conditions in the minds of true Americans come from
physical c" circumstances," from climate and the soils,
including water, the action of the sun through its heat
and light, the influences of the moon and stars, and from
yet more powerful effects bestowed by the SummerLand.
Next come the nearer and more potent "Scircurnstances" known as societary influences.  Fortunately,
they are transitory.  But they come very near.  They
almost touch your nervous system. They control your




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     173
actions more than any or all the other influences mentioned.  Not more positively, perhaps, but more sensibly and immediately.  When a human mind is touched
by its immediate discordant surroundings, the soul feels
them as quickly and as disagreeably as you feel a dress
that does not fit your form, or a new shoe that pinches
your tenderest toes.  Societary influences act directly
upon your character. If I should let fall but ten drops
of ink into a tumblerful of water, those ten drops would
be instantly dissolved and diffused through all parts of
the fluid, and there'is no chemistry that can restore that
water to its original condition.  The new  element
becomes incorporated inseparably with the receptive
water.
So the circumstantial and potent drops that have
been added to your soul's fluids from the streams of
society have not been thrown off, but have been absorbed. They have become parts of your sensations and
exterior character.  Your outward faculties are impressed to assume the shape and properties of the nearest and strongest powers.  Societary influences are
positive and imperative, and they mold manlind in
proportion to their nearness.  They are inevitably connected with family relations, with particular duties,
with business obligations, and always with selfish pursuits and interests.
The next set of "circumstances" which are always
around a man, and which are still more inward, and
influential, and potential, are phrenological.  It is not
customary to say that the brain organs in a man's
cranium  are " circumstances."  But if you  examine
yourself closely, you will find that you have a phrenology




174              MORNING LECTURES.
which you are not, but belonging to you as tools belong
to a mechanic. You naturally say to the Phrenologist:
" I wish an examination of my phrenology —of my organs"-thus making a philosophical and  perfectly
accurate distinction between yourself and your phrenological " circumstances." You say to him: " Sir, I wish to
know what powers (organs) I have, according to your
science and measurement." You thus get mapped out,
for future reference, your phrenological circumstances.
You take the book contailing your Chart, and examine
the names, and figures, and sizes, and functions, as one
would look at a box of carpenter's tools. There is
"'tune," and here is "cideality," " sublimity," " conscience," and close under the brain is " combativeness,"
and so on-all the time separating yourself, and reserving your individual judgment and consciousness, foron
the details of the map which locates and describes your
phrenological circumstances.  A thoughtful man never
naturally says: "I wish the phrenologist to examine
me."  IIe who so addresses himself to a phrenologist,
says something htie does not comprehend. The comprehending power in the spirit never so speaks with reference to itself. It speaks only of something which is
"'circumstantial" to its most interior consciousness.
However analytical you may be, you never undertake
to analyze the consciousness of the consciousness which
first sought and suggested the investigation.  At one
time I supposed that I could ultimately comprehend my
own inmost. The consciousness of consciousness in me,
which longed for and dictated the investigations, would
not submit to self-comprehension. I found, what every
one of you will find, sooner or later, that your inmost




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     175
consciousness is an eternal reservation.  It touches infinitude on every side.  It demands and permits no final
self-coomprehending analysis.  It allies itself eternally
with infinite Principles, and takes little interest in
evanescent ",thoughts."  Spirit indulges the sportive
play of "thoughts" in a supplementary way; merely
tolerates them, but always with graceful concessions to
their fleeting juvenescence.
Now it is to be remembered that these phrenological
" circumstances" affect us more potentially than do our
most intimate social s" circumstances," because the former
are so much more closely identified with the brain's
workings. We are incarcerated within these cranial
walls, and we reflect truthfully that we did not erect
them.  Many find entire justification, as they suppose,
for any eccentricity, or for the habitual gratification of
any impulse, or for any misconduct or mismanagement
of which they are culpable, on the ground that they have
rceived, by transmission, a bad phrenological organization for which they are not responsible. They justify
themselves and say to mother and father: "Look at
my phrenology! How. could I help it?" Do you not
see that there is reserved power in spite of which you
seek justification in your c" circumstances"? But while
you will not always find justification, you may find
plenty of pity and sympathy from kindly-natured persons, who estimate carefully your circumstances, and
who try in charity to comprehend what measure of
influence they exerted upon your motives and actions.
Phrenology proves that " organs" about the- soul exert
upon personal disposition and character a distinct and
positive influence.




176-             MORNING LECTURES.
Next, we are to examine our physiological "dcir
cumstances."  We did not primarily make our physiological organs, but we do make the " conditions" under
which those organs are required to performn their functions. Our physiological conditions come out of our foods,
and drinks, and methods of living, and out of our
habits-out of too little sleep, or too much of it; out
of our industries, or out of our continued idleness-in
short, whatever we may do, or not do, contributes to the
formation ofour physiological " conditions." But our phyBiological circumstances (by which I mean organization,)
were bestowed without premeditation from our parents.
We inherit the bodily forms and functions with our
phrefiology, as the latter came with our social and physiological surroundings.  Thus it stands:  A man is
born into his physiology, born into his phrenology, born
into his society, born into his geography, into his climate;
so that each individual is deposited (so to say,) amid
many and various concentric circles of shaping and
molding influences.  Mark you, the man is born into
them; they do not make the man.  The human spirit is
born into the center of these concentric dynamic circles
of circumstances; and the circle nearest to the spirit
will first exert its constructive influence upon disposition and character.
Your physiological circumstances are first predominant.  The contents of your phrenology-the brain
organs-do not first influence you.  The child first
responds to the demands of its physiological circumstances.  The young mind is affected first by the shape
of the spine, by the action of the'several joints, by the
tendons and ligaments, by the size and proportions of




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.      177
the organs within the body, and, lastly, by the performance of their functions.  The little child is in sympathy with its bodily organs and forces-witih the
ponderable parts and imponderable powers that make
up the physiological circumstances of its inmost life.
Its mind and feelings will be in bondage to them.  Its
life-manifestations will be in  accordance with them
until the phrenological circumstances begin to exert
themselves upon the feelings and character. Then the
little child changes from a physiological to a phrenological being.
This dependence upon phrenology may continue for
years. Then come the constructive powers of social
and physical circumstances.  The child-mind then begins to exhibit the action of social and physical circumstances upon both its physiology and phrenology. The
young constitution very soon responds to the most outward "circunmstances"-the physical globe, its climatology, its topography, and the soil; the action of the
sun, its heat and its light; moisture, dryness, &c., &c.;
whatever, in short, is considered appropriate or existing in the world of physical circumstances, is concerned
more or less conspicuously in framing and making up
the human character.
Spirit is in the center.  Begin thus, at the pivot,
and count the concentric circles. First, its physiological circumstances; second, its phrenological; third, its
societary; fourth, its physical or geographical —the
most external of all.  Now do you not know that some
persons remain tihrough life under one. or two of these
concentric " circumstances"?  Certain  minds allow
themselves to be molded and fashioned by whatever is
8Q




178              MORNING LECTURES.
nearest and most allied to their interests.  They die at
the end of fifty, sixty, or perhaps one hundred years,
having been molded and shaped by one set of circumstances, and only transiently affected by the others.
Spirit, the inmost and eternal, is no such victim. It
is the source of power.  Force is animal.  The soul is
composed of motion, life, sensation, and intelligence.
In the animal but little; in the man, much.  That
power which is at the center of life, which is destined
to gain the mastery, which takes hold upon infinitude,
which is allied with whatsoever is divine and omnipotent, which is twin-born with justice, and truth, and
~virtue, and with all that is pure, and noble, and sublime-that power resides at the heart-seat of your life,
the coming Lord of all circumstances.  I am  now
speaking to that power in you. Some will hear; others
will not.  In the millions the Inmost has not yet
asserted its supremacy. Of course such do not feel themselves even partial masters of their influential circumstances.
The spirit's battles are to be fought through power,
not through force.  But s" force" is necessary.  It is
part of man's intelligence-is natural to motion, life,
and sensation.  But there is invariably as large an
amount of defeat as there is of victory in battles of mere
force.  (Action and reaction are equal;" so say all
who study the laws of mechanics.  They must calculate
for loss of power by reaction in all mechanisn-  which
moves by means of motive power.  Now what is man?
Does he not start out as a mechanism —the most perfect
and the most fearful and wonderful piece of machinery
in the world?  The necessities and circumstances of




~ THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.    179
his physiological organs cause him to call for drink, for
clothing, for protection, for home, for love, and the ineffable attentions and blessedness of that love. Then his
phrenology brings in its influence.  All his brainorgans have motives, impulses, and powers, hidden in
their centers.
But the time comes when, over and above all, a divine power —according to the definition first given-is
born and revealed from  within.  This power comes
through the soul.  The soul is the battle-ground.
Forces, instead of powers, first prevail. People are
weary with battling with intellectual error, and, most
of all, weary  from  battling with their c"circumstances"-fatigued, annoyed, exhausted, despairing.
Certain minds grow disloyal to principles by means of
too long indulged indifference.  They cease to take an
interest in themselves, and they retire from the battlefield vanquished andt "demoralized." Others go through
all of life's battle, then they lie down at the end of the
many struggles, and finally die from sheer mental exhaustion.  But it is only " force" that fails.  Power
never feels exhaustion, never desponds, never "gives up
the ship." Force, through the organs of your intelligence, plans the way. Power, however, will often conduct you to a very different plan and different result.
You begin life with the impulsive ambitions of " fibrce"
-with many inclinations for worldly distinctions-and
you fix all your intellectual plans to consummate the
ends of such ambitions.  But presently you find that
there is a " power" behind and within and above, shaping
your destiny! And every step you take in your plans
is a disheartening defeat.  The very end which you




180             MORNING LECTURES.
supposed "impossible" is the only thing 6" possible" for
you to do. And those things that seemed to you most
desirable and possible —most in the direction of your
selfish preferences and energies, and most gratifying
and attractive to your ambitions-were just the things
which could not be done by you, because you had not
power to control your concentric circles of "circumstances," which included the affections, thoughts, plans,
and wills of many people. Society would not permit
itself to be marshaled into the files of your aims.
Therefore you could not conquer by "force"-something deeper, something higher, which may be termed
" power," was needed.
What else have you with which you could conquer?
Use mere " force" and you are utterly vanquished.
Church people talk very beautifully and approvingly
about those submissive, pious souls, who say, "Father,
thy will, not mine de done."  Well, there is in that
moral condition an interior truth. Do you suppose that
those who were lovingly engaged in laying the foundations of the Christian system, were all mistaken in their
spiritual experience?  Certainly not.  They uttered
and wrote memorable words from an inward conviction
and experience. What does it mean to be submissive
to God's will? It means that 4" spiritual power" —not
mere vital force-must be permitted to have its own
way in mapping out and regulating your destiny, and
thus always to have the predominance of authority in
the shaping of private experience.  Power is long and
patient in suffering, can unmurmuringly bear great outward persecution and contumely, and can bear up under
all the trials and defeats which afflict you in the pil



THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.      181
grimage of life.  Power, which is always from spirit, is
never conquered. Force, which is always from vitality,
or soul, is vanquished at every step. Sometimes, indeed,
it commits suicide.  It loses breath and drops below
from the very climax of' its victory, because force is
only an animal energy arising from the physiological
and phrenological organs, and its efforts must necessarily be violent, exhausting and suicidal.
Whoso feels this," power" feels also what we term
a Principle. Whoso feels what we term a Principle,
also feels good and truth, or God, invariably in that
same proportion and to that same measure of interior
consciousness.  And whoso feels God living in the
form  of Justice and Truth in his soul, is never conquered.
Suppose the soul that feels Truth, or Justice, or
God, be put on a cross and crucified-what does that
outward persecution amount to?  I never could understand the 4 "Much Ado about Nothingo" in the Churches.
What soul-harrowing accounts of the heart-crushing
persecution which attended and destroyed s" the Man of
God" —that is, the Man of Power! One of two things
is certain-either that when 6"the Man of God" was
being crucified he failed to realize the presence and
power of his own immortal Spirit, or else the whole
Calvary scene was spectacular and dramatical, and
permitted for 1" effect." It was either a performance, or
else there was a failure on' the part of the persecuted
to realize the presence and power of Truth.  If it was
no failure in this particular, then we must conclude his
physical sufferings were not- different, nor more severe
or agonizing, than were those of numbers of human




182              MORNING LECTURES.
beings who have innocently died on gibbets, in flames,
or upon scaffolds. Physiological suffering is the same
with all organized humanity.  Very sensitive persons
experience inconceivable intensity of suffering for a few
monients.  But who believes that any human being has
ever sweat "; drops of blood" in consequence of his physical suffering?  If, at the moment of the crucifixion,
either by cross or by other means of destroying human
life, the spirit should lose its conscious contact with the
source of "'power," then, indeed, the sufferer might
almost sweat blood in the throes of his mortal and
spiritual agony. Blood might flow out from a bursted
vein.  But there is too much said about " the sufferings
of Jesus." The exaggeration of his agony, in simply
dying as part of his mission, is unjustifiable; the tears
of sympathy that have been shed over the mortal agonies
of a man who died a no more terrible death than thousands of others lhave, ought to have been shed for more
genuine sufferings. Jesus first carried his cross to the
place of execution, and was then physiologically put to
death. There is no logical proportion between the
physical sufferings of the individual and the dramatic
effect with which pulpits "harrow up one's feelings."
One view or the other must be taken-either Jesus died
in great agony to emphatically impress. the world with
the importance of his mission, or else it was really true
that he felt that God had departed from his soul, and
tl-at, perhaps, he was suffering without any just and
sufficient reason. An overwhelming feeling of agonizing
doubt might have caused blood to rush from his veins;
but if he had a full sense of his perfect spiritual unity
with the Divine Source, what would it have bee-l to be




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     183
"' shot," or forced to drink 6" poison" like Socrates, or
C"gibbeted," or "eburned at the stake," like the early
martyrs and patriots?  What would such bodily agony
amount to in a righteous cause? Nothing at all. Look
at the brave-souled martyrs, in the consuMning fires, all
going heavenward with songs of praise on their lips 
How many of them were moved with prayer and to
expressions of gratitude while standing in the midst of
flames  Vastly more sublime, many of them, than was
the scene of the Cross-death on the mount.  Why be
absurd in weeping over this matter of a teacher of
Justice and Truth dying in vindication of his testimony?
Let us now return to our theme.  The shortest
method to conquer "; circumstances," is to ally yourself
with Principles. Suppose you say:  "I can comprehend
only one thing, viz., the idea of Progress."  Keep in
mind, now, that the idea is a Principle.  Now, suppose
you say: c" To that Principle I will be loyal, though the
heavens fall." Can you not take that positive position?
Whatever seems to me to be true, that I will adhere to,
though I lose the whole world.  And I will adhere to
it with power, not with "'Lforce." Force is animal; it
is not 6" power."  Secure your spirit by an indomitable
adherence to some divine Principle.  Fix your nature
in its true orbits and forthwith you are above anger,
above enmity, above petty vices, above low motives,
above vindictiveness, and, therefore, you are master aid
governor of all those demons of discord that beset your
path.  In proportion as you are loyal to a Principle,
you will receive inspiration, and thus C" power" is added
to that life which is integral and eternal.  The divine,
in ultimates, always gains a victory over what is earthly




184              MORNING LECTURES.
and unworthy.  In theology, however, the devil always
has the upper hand. But, in fact and in truth, the devil
is always under-in outer and in utter darkness. Discord-force-the war element-is finally put down.
The animal world is beneath man; the angel world is
above man; higher worlds roll over the angel-world;
the divinest Sphere through and within them all; and
the Supreme eventually conquers.  In this rudimental
world of ours, the man of war is not a conqueror, nor is
the earth itself a conqueror; but the sun, with its
inconceivable opulence and abundance, is grandly
triumphant.  And yet how silently the sun does all its
omnipotent work!  It does not send out a flaming
letter to say: "I shall give you a very fine day
to-morrow; I shall show you a worldful of warmth;
a great flood of light will I pour over your habitations."
But it rolls right on, and shines beneficently, and
warms the fields, and brings mankind a wondrous wealth
of golden harvests.  The sun is the "power" of wise
affection personified..
Whenever the consciousness of a Principle is born
in the human spirit, from that moment it ceases to be a
"6thing," and becomes a "power."'  In force you see
what is rudimental; in 6" power" that which is sublime.
No defeat in power; always defeat in force.
Take any divine Principle; such as Liberty or
Brotherhood.  Learn the beautiful lesson of strict loyalty to your deepest conviction.  Become harmonious
with a principle, and you become, to the same extent,
", a power."  Instead of feeling weary in battling with
circumstances, you receive accessions of celestial strength
from  invisible sources.  A friend may ask:;"Do you




THE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.      1 85
not grow weary with labor?"'   " No," you reply.  cc I
never think of it."  Why?  Because God and Nature,
or immutable Justice and Truth, breathe into your nostrils c" the breath of life"-that is, if you are absolutely
loyal to a Prin.ciple. Loyalty is power, as knowledge is
power; and in true power there is victory, without
exhaustion.  You stand as " a power" in the center of
substances-a centerstance-in the center of your physiology, in your phrenology, in your society, and amid still
more external atmospheres and soils.
In the Bible you read that if a man does not singleheartedly and absolutely follow Truth, if he does not
leave his father and mother ccfor my sake, he is not
worthy of me."  That is what Truth said to the world
long, long, ago. The writer, unfortunately, wrote down
the name of an individual instead of c" Truth."  To
some minds, "c the man" personifies a Principle.  It is
reported that he said, c; I am the way, the truth, and
the life." Matthew, Mark, and Luke, have reported
the Nazarene as identifying himself with the principle
of Truth, or with God.  "If a man does not forsake
father and mother, son and daughter, he is not worthy
of Truth."
Let each identify himself with divine Principles,
and if wife, or husband, or son, or daughter, or Mrs.
Grundy, or any other relation does not choose to harmonize with that Principle, but is determined that you
shall be an apostate and a rebel to it, then you should
say, "Clear the way. My path is chosen. I shall walk
according to my deepest, highest, most sacred convictions, though the heavens fall." Feel and follow the
principle of Truth, and you will find that no earth-rela



186             MORNING LECTURES.
tion is important. Take any Principle your soul may
choose, and be faithful to it, "come what may."  Suppose you be driven out of your business to-morrow;
suppose your children starve; suppose they should
perish and die.  Some of you look upon the death of a
martyr as "6 sublime."  Or you go back in your imiagination to Calvary, and there you behold another
"; sublime spectacle." There you behold the death of a
man who went into society at the lowest door, who was
persecuted and despised in the midst of his philanthropic labors.  Did he set a very good example of obedience to his mother or his father when the doctors in the
temple needed his instructions? His mother, you recollect, was very apprehensive about him. Did he stop
for that?  It was more important that he should be
engaged in the impartation of what was. welling up in
his soul than to obey the requisitions of his mother,
who had no distinct idea of what her son's mission was.
The Catholics, however, have made a Saint of her.
Beautiful picture! I love the painted Madonna; there
is an idea in the conception.  Anything truly beautiful
is eternal.  But the son did not seem to know anything very important about his mother.  He had to be
loyal to Truth, even if seemingly disloyal to heartrequisitions.
Now we are all children.  We have parents, and
grandmothers, and grandfathers. These relations make
positive social requisitions upon us. A kindly religious
mother says: "Don't! I beg of you —don't go to Progressive Hall; if you do, I shall get heart-sick and
die."  Well, if it be necessary, let her die.  Be strong
and firm. There is much folly in " compromise." If you




TILE SPIRIT AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES.     187
have a Truth, stand by it!  Let people see that you,
like a miner in a dark world, carry a lamp in the front
part of your mind-", the light that lighteth every man
who cometh into the world"-shedding its effulgent
rays over all your terrestrial path.  If you be faithful
to your best experience and highest convictions, it will
shake the citadel of old theology to its foundations, and
your expanding influence will revolutionize the cities
and the kingdoms of the world. If you try it, there
will be a great struggle among your relatives to rule
your course. In these days, however, you will find
plenty of spiritual company to aid you in your struggles. But the time was when a person had to make
spiritual struggling all alone.  Happily, that time is
passed. Let your spirit fully identity itself with Principles.  Then you can surely and noiselessly 6"overcome
evil with good." You will go on, quietly conquering
and to conquer-victorious every step of' the way —and
thus reach the inmost heart of the Eternal Mind.




ETERNAL VALUE OF PURE PURPOSES,
"A —good man is God's best legacy to this straying world."
The human mind irresistibly seeks for uses, ends,
results. It is impossible to repress this tendency of our
intellectual and imaginative powers.  They naturally
trace out ultimates.  This is true, because the mind is
constituted with a specific ultimate-because it is itself
the development of a central design.  The mental
organization carries out its tendencies as naturally as
the dancing streamlets flow from mountain-sides to the
welcoming plains. It is the involuntary flow of the
interior —through the reasoning powers-toward ultimates!  If the reasoning powers are well-balanced,
vigorous, and pure, the rule then is, that the understanding, by moving steadily along the line of logic,
will arrive at the most reasonable solution of whatever
problem is presented.  This uniform reasonableness is
what men call "common sense."  Persons having this
sixth sense-this admirable arrangement of these beautiful and immortal endowments-can take in a large
field of observation, and arrive rapidly at healthy and
certain conclusions.  It-is, so to say, a clairvoyance of
the reasoning powers.,Some minds, by the exercise of
such common sense-that is to say, by obtaining the




ETERNAL VALUE OF PURE PURPOSES.         189
verdict of a well-balanced class of intellectual thinking
powers-seem to see as accurately through the incoming
future, and to prophesy events and results, as- though
Clairvoyance itself sat-enthroned in the spirit. Clairvoyance is the far-soaring eagle's flight —the lightning's
flash-along the line of cause and effect.  It arrives at
remote results without the exercise of the reasoning
powers. Hence the clairvoyant may not, in the ordinary
state, possess what is called "6 common sense."  Clairvoyance, in many minds, gets the start by years, and,
in some instances, it may be centuries in advance of
the moral growth and out-rounding of the soul.
The forecasting abilities of the intellectual faculties-the grasping healthily all parts and details of the
field of perception and consciousness-is the normal
exercise of man's normal and beautiful endowments.
Their exercise promotes and advances the individual to
the superior state; to attain which, many minds are
obliged first to be magnetized or mediumized. Very
great mediums are sometimes no better or wiser in
matters within the sphere of common sense, even while
under the influence of the afflatus, than are some persons
who have no such experience, but who, by the natural
and just exercise of their energetic and well-balanced
powers, philosophically see principles, causes, effects,
and their results.
This irresistible tendency, streaming through all
the thinking powers, demonstrates the central fact that
the spirit is constructed on a plan of pure reason and
harmony. This harmonial design lies in the very foundation of the human mind. The spiritual universe is
filled with Designs.  You naturally ask, "Cui bono?"




190             MORNING LECTURES.
— what use, or what good?  This question was asked
of every new thing that ever started.  The irrepressible tendency of the spirit to put this question, is owing
to the fundamental fact that the mind itself is constructed  upon a living  divine Design-upon  Use.
Nothing grows, nothing walks, nothing wings its way
through the free air-whether great or insignificant,
beautiful or otherwise-but gives rise to questions of
Use, in the little child as well as in the mind of the fullgrown man or woman.  The first conception that a
man or woman must attain to, before the spirit-mind is
rounded out and fashioned into the beautiful and harmonious proportions of a pure Purpose, is this conception of inborn Use. You remember the Platonic,
spiritual verse in the third chapter of John, where the
materialist, Nicodemus, came and held a conversation
with the illuminated son of Joseph and Mary.  How
beautifully and truthfully it was said that "' That which
is born of the flesh, is flesh, and that which is born
of the  spirit, is spirit."   We know  by the universal testimony of the world-yet more certainly by
experience and observation-that that which is flesh
dies, goes down, sickens, and despairs; while'that
which is spirit goes up and on-because retrogression
to it is impossible-because, like truth, it is immortal
and cannot die! A Purpose that is conceived in the
spirit, which is brought forth in the beauty of its
powers-a Purpose whiich goes before the soul like a
pillar of guiding light, drawing it magnetically onward
-is certain to consecrate, to lift, to renew, to baptize,
to round out, to make perfect, angelic, heavenly, even
as the Infinite is perfect.




ETERNAL VALUE OF PURE PURPOSES.          191
A high, pure Purpose, be it remembered, is possible
only  to  spirit.  Ambition is earthly; aspiration  is
spiritual.  They are analoo'ous, resemble each other,
just as common sense, in its healthful exercise, bears a
likeness to the superior condition, with its pure and
independent clairvoyance.  A  lurnan mind inay be
actuated by " am-bition," and the individual may successfully go on in the road which the ambition indicates, but its success will be parallel with the earth,
with society, with whiat is for the hour called "' success,"
"6 victory," 6" conquest;" while the mind that dreamily
and confidingly floats in the celestial rivers of"s aspiration," may  not be successful accordinog to popular
standards of judgment.  Such a person may seem  to
fail, or really fail, when measured by the world's rules
of success; but, believe me, that soul surely succeeds in
whatsoever is permanent and glorious, because its pure
Purpose brings the inmost spirit into harmony with
pure Truth, which is eternal!  There is no failure, no
defeat, no killing disappointrent, in the mind that is
exclusively moved by a high Purpose in its external
relations to mankind. Success always attends the steps
of such an one. But when a person is moved by an
"ambition" to accomplish  an ordinary  end-which
would be considered by society a high. and victorious
result —he is sure to be defeated. This wretched experience dates frdm the time he starts, and is continued
until he sits down in his uneasy chair to review the
ill-spent past.
The Jews killed the spiritually-unfolded son of Joseph and Mary. They were pre-emilnently "; victorious"
in the judgment of the whole Romau Empire.  His




192             MORNING LECTURES.
arrest, trial, condemnation, and execution-each step
was pronounced a " success" as far as the circumstances
were known.  (The fact is, however, that little or
nothing was known of the transaction, except locally.)
The crucifixion was considered a great 6" triumph" of
law and order over anarchy and heresy.  And many
thanked those who nailed his body to the wooden cross.
But there was one in the midst of all that row and riot,
bloodshed and diabolism, who was momentarily and
perfectly ",successiul," viz., the man who had a PURE
PURPOSE enthroned in his spirit, magnetically and perpetually calling him onward and upward in the divine
line of his work.
It has been shown that Nature, through all her
forces, works for the development of individualized
human beings; that all the lower kingdoms and systems of li'e, combined, are but the scaffolding of the
building; and that all parts subserve the elaboration
and perfection of human bodies and souls.  From the
lowest monad to the animal that comes nearest man, in
association and usefulness, there is visible this continued beautiful flow of " Design," mounting up to the
well-proportioned, harmonious human organization.
Nature, then, has a high Purpose, and she works to
no other End. It is not merely to organize a physiological being, to make a perfect anatomny and a fine physiology. Our great Mother's purpose is far, far higher.
It is to so construct an anatomy and physiology that
the soul, like a garment, may be accumulated and folded
about the more interior being, the Spirit, which is
golden and immortal; which will be so beautifully and
so harmoniously arrayed, that, when we each pass from




ETERNAL VALUE OF PURE PURPOSES.     193
this existence, the revolutions of eternal spheres and the
destruction of innumerable stars can never impair our
youthfulness, or in any degree disturb the deep flow of
the heart's exalted happiness. Yea, Nature has a high
and pure Purpose.  If her work was simply to make a
fish, she would fail. If she had not a mission far above
and beyond all fishes, reptiles, birds, marsupials, and
mammalials-a Purpose to which those organized forms
of life unitedly labor, of which they are but parts and
fragments-she would " fail" utterly in all her movements and ministrations.  To individualize the immortal
human spirit, and to make for it a garment-an enveloping soul-after the fashion of the physical body, which
shall withstand the revolutions of eternity, and always
be young and beautiful to look upon-this is the high
Purpose, the pure Design, which consecrates the unalterable labors of Nature, and lifts the whole system
into a divine and glorious significance.
Nature, therefore, has given the lesson.  Can you
not follow it?  How can you fail to respond to the
vibration of that electric current of c" Design" which
the Divine has communicated to all parts of the spiritual
universe, and which goes quivering and shimmering
through systems of suns as it throbs through the faculties of your immortal mind? I know you cannot resist
it.  You begin life by asking, c Cui bono?"  This is
the beginning of Use.  In the most inferior and ridiculous expression of that interrogatory you may see the
alphabet of that harmonial poetry of pure cc Purpose,"
which will be epical and lyrical as it sweeps through
eternal years.
Suppose a young man enters college. He is induced
9




194              MORNING LECTURES.
to study for some particular profession-a lawyer, a
physician, or, if he be not in mental and physical health,
a clergyman. But if he be bodily robust and intelle;tually sturdy and strong, and is good with his jackknife, why, then, perhaps, his best friends will want
him to study for a boss-mechanic.  If he has inherited
large scheming powers, with the outlines of a lawyer,
but deficient in the intellectual substance required for a
high post in that profession, then he may direct his
education toward Congress or for the Presidency. The
young man is solemnly admonished to "' aim" his studies
at something.  But this is true, that, if his aim be for
nothing  more than what is called 4"success" in the
chosen profession, he is extremely likely to turn out a
mistake and an ordinary character. If his Purpose in
life is embodied in the thought of being ordinarily
"successful" in any one of its departments, then he will
be "defeated" and crippled from  the very moment of
his graduation with such an ambition.  What percentage of the students, whlo'come out of colleges, amount
to anything, -as men among men?  About twenty in
every hundred of those who graduate from  our best
colleges -amount to something in the world's esteem-all
the rest 4" fail."  Merchants fail in a very much larger
proportion.  Politicians fail at the rate of 140 per
cent. Men fail in all situations just in proportion to
the immorality of their motives.
When a man desires to be of service to the Universe, when he yearns to live not for his own sake, not
for his own personal benefit alone, but for the benefit,
advancement, civilization, and spiritualization of the
millions, then he has in him  that Savior which will




ETERNAL VALUE OF PURE PURPOSES.       195
preserve him from harm and from defeat through all
disasters and earthly besetments.  He can not experience what is called demoralization or discouragement.
-He may overwork, he may lie down, as did the greatminded Theodore Parker, in the midst of his gigantic
industry, and die up into the Summer-Land; but as
surely as that transformation takes place on earth, so
surely, if you will but look with your intellectual telescope, you may behold a new, bright, beautiful orb,
shining in the spiritual heavens. The politician dies at
the same time-the man who lived for himself, for little
earthly, sickly, temporary purposes-and goes also to;the Summer-Life at the same time.  You would be
obliged to look with a powerful microscope to see who
or where he was. One man's spirit shines out goldenly
and immortally in the firmament that spans the heavenly
sphere.  The other man's spirit, on the other hand,
hovers and shivers in the midst of all that diversified
beauty and ineffable glory of the Infinite —is small and
mean and cold beneath the heat and light of myriad
suns-and would fain become a part of even one of the
heavenly rays.
What are we Americans doing? What has the
administration been trying to do? We have been trying
to " conquer a rebellion," but not to improve anything,
either institutional or constitutional.  The immoral
purpose at the start was, not to improve a man, woman,
or child on the continent, in respect to their civil,
political, or religious circumstances, but to " crush the
rebellion" and to restore things as they were-a philosophical absurdity, a political sham, a religious impossibility. Thus our people started with an impure




196             MORNING LECTURES.
purpose, filled with immoral designings, only to accomplish the traditional ends of conservative power. Such
is political power when not consecrated to divine uses!
The result has been c" failure" on all sides, or at best,
but indifferent temporary success.
You have read about a Father who so loved the
world that he gave 6" his only begotten son" to rectify
its errors and to save it-in short, gave his son fir the
pure purpose of doing all the good he could. On the
same principle a great many fathers and mothers have
also given s" their only begotten sons" to march and die
for Freedom. Why all,this sentimental weeping and
this sickly lamentation over that glorious sacrifice of
the infinite heart that had as much power to endure as
to propose the work? (We are now supposing the theological notion to be a truth; not that we accept it
literally.) Here are mothers and fathers, I repeat,
who have given their "only begotten" to save American
Freedom froin destruction; not only so, but those sons
have been sent to expand our Liberty, to multiply it,
and to cause it to abound from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the remote North to the far South.  How
many of those dearly beloved "C sons" have been crucified!  How many of them have been in our hospitals,
drinking gall and the bitterness of wormwood, and
swallowing as medicines all sorts of contemptible trash!
How many of them have had bayonets thrust into their
bleeding sides?  How  many have freely poured out
their whole lives that Liberty'night "4 believe, be baptized, and be saved"! Would it not be wisest to search
outside of the realm of creeds to find objects sufficiently
touching and sacred for the shedding of tears and the
building of monuments? Let us have real objects and




ETERNAL VALUE OF PURE PURPOSES.       197
genuine causes for sadness and lamentation, for holy
sorrow and devotional gratitude; but no more -of this
dramatically-manufactured "; holy sorrow," taught by
men, who, perhaps, sincerely believe it, but who have
not the courage to investigate it to its silly mythological
foundation.  Here, in this war, we have the real sacrifice of truly begotten sons. The purposes of these fathers
and mothers have been high and beautiful. They have
in them a source of consolation that no Bible orchurch
can either impart or remove.  Their patriotic sons are
slain-crucified on the cross of battle.  Look at their
downcast and  weeping  friends.  No  minister can
assuage their sufferings. Their heart-pains cannot be
mitigated by prayers. Nothing will do it but time
with its upliftings, and the onward march of the
soul of each.
There were many in need of useful and profitable
employment. Some of these enlisted for the war as
they would go into any hazardous labor., I saw and
conversed with a.iMassachusetts soldier-a fine enough
looking man-going as a private down to New Orleans
with General Banks.  I said to him, 6"Why did you
enlist.?"   4 "Well," he said, 4"wagQn-making was poor
business in our town, and I have a beautiful wife and
two darling little ones, and they must be supported,
and I got a bounty —more money than I could possibly
get if I had worked at home for a long time —and I
gave it to them and made other provision, so that, if I
should not get through the war, my beloved family
will be as much benefited as though I were to remain
with them."
There was dwelling in that soldier's soul a " pure
purpose."  He took his life in his hands and went to




198              MORNING LECTURES.
work for his beautiful wife and his darling two children. But if he had felt the urgent demands of Liberty
also, how much more noble!
Thus, if a man enters as a merchant into business,
or, as a mechanic, accepts of labors, however low and
undignified or however high and commanding, with a
desire to benefit others by his labor, he is in the same proportion made spiritually buoyant, and the ordinary
friction of life that would otherwise wear upon him is
chiefly removed.  He goes lovingly on to his business,
not "C dragging one foot before the other;" because he
feels lifted and is blest-baptized and strengthened by
the purity of his intentions.
Live selfishly for yourself, and you will sit down at
the end of life dissatisfied with human existence.  You
will be misanthropic, no matter whether you are surrounded by wealth or by poverty, by enemies or by
frieD ds.
Therefore take to your heart the motive which is
beautiful and heavenly in itself, live to make others
better, and you will make yourself rounder, sweeter,
more effective in all you do, gladsome, cheerful, buoyant, never cast down, always ready for good deeds;
and a beautiful warmth will pervade your home, will
follow you into the street and into society, and noble
beings will associate with you wherever you mingle
wisely and lovingly with your fellow-men.
Great men are always good men.  "A good man is
God's best legacy to this strayiig world."  Such never
", fail."  The truly good cannot be unsuccessful.  The
son of Joseph and- Mary was not defeated when crucified.  Verily, there is eternal value in PURE PURPOSES.




WARS OF THE BLOOD, BRAIN, AND SPIRIT.
"' If more would act the play of life,
And fewer spoil it in rehearsal;
If bigotry would sheathe its knife
Till good became more universal;
If men, when wrong beats down the right,
Would strike together and restore it;
If right made might in every fight,
The world would be the better for it."
The impression comes to speak this morning on the
subject of war —first, of the Blood; second, of the
Brain; third, of the Spirit; or, in other language, (1.) the
war of Gehenna, which means the underworld of passion and selfish lusts that burn perpetually; (2.) the
war of the middle world, or Hades, which means the
transition and wintery sphere in which we now live;
(3.) the war of the overworld, or Heaven, which means
the moral and spiritual sphere of the immortal mind.
Let your minds contemplate the universality of
war. You will discover, after investigation, that war
is universal.  War is not excluded from  heaven-i. e.,
from the presence of the inmost Spirit, although it originates only in the blood and in the force-departments
of the brain.  I speak now of the universality of the
struggles, the encroachments, the infringements, and of
the aggressional tendencies of all forces locked up and




200             MORNING LECTURES.
embodied  in  the organization of matter-beneath,
within, and round about us in the great universe that
fills immeasurable space.
All investigators discover penetralia within penetralia, truths within truths; or, as it is commonly
expressed, wheels within wheels, designs within designs,
and uses within  uses in  endless succession.  Such
inquiring minds come at last to the wise conclusion that,
in the inmost of' things, is written the unchangeable
commandments (the laws of Nature) by which all things
are regulated and governed in perpetual order, goodness, and perfection.
A handwriting in milk held to the fire, becomes
plain, though invisible before it was so subjected.  So
theinfinite designs and immutable laws written in human
nature, as upon the whole universe, do not become
plain to your understanding until you are fully subjected to the fires of infringements and transgressions,
and tried by the irrepressible tendency of your investigating powers to pass through, and over, and between
all things.  Something important to the whole universe
takes place every instant of time.  No tide is perfectly
inert.  Water presupposes motion, forward and backward, or rising and falling.  The action of rising and
falling tides upon substances pulverizes and converts
them into itself —dissolves solid rocks and makes them
flow with its movement. Physiologists discover that the
liver is composed of an infinite number of lesser organs;
or, more strictly speaking, they find that the liver is composed of very minute lobes, which in appearance exactly
resemble the whole structure.  The liver is a cellar,
because it is composed of cells.  How many persons




WARS OF THE BLOOD, BRAIN, AND SPIRIT.   201
experience the truth of this! The liver is Hades. It is
the dark repository or grave-yard of whatsoever is
broken-down in the constitution of the arterial blood.
It is always gaining and always losing. Disease is produced just as quickly by an excess as by a deficiency.
Now what is the world's system of politics?  Is it
not the liver or kitchen department of human government and enterprise-a desire for system and regulation and order —composed of an infinite number of
lesser policies, as the liver is composed of a countless
number of infinitesimal livers?
It was said that a writing in milk when exposed to
fire, becomes plain to the eye. So the Infinite laws and
ultimate designs, exposed to the progressive abrasions
and fiery frictions and irrepressible conflicts of human
mind and moving matter, are brought into open revealment; and. only those. faithful seers, who have wise
eyes, can read the handwriting clearly, and truly interpret the Idea at the heart of the infinite designs. How
do scientific men stand before the great universe of
design? They say, "Matter is regulated by unvarying
methods. These methods are laws." Here the spiritual
philosopher approaches. He discovers within laws
principles, within principles ideas, within ideas the
infinitely and eternally thinking Father-God, and the
impersonal love-fountain of the universe, or MotherNature.  The spiritual philosopher finds  something
deeper and better and more interiorly satisfying than
that which is brought to the world through external
science.  He discovers that the impersonal love-fountain, from which all things flow, is NATUR'E, and that
this productive heart of infinite love is "Mother."  He




202             MORNING LECTURES.
discovers that Nature is not matter. Nature is a general
term for the Mother-fountain of Love which moves and
forms and molds all things, in conjunction with the
masculine laws of Wisdom.  The impersonal mindfountain-of formative laws and organizing energiesis the Father-Nature.  4" God is a spirit."  The New
Testament adds: " And he seeketh such to worship
him."
Why use the masculine adjective with reference to
Deity? Because the mind instinctively thinks of God
as the source of thought and energy-executive, formative, and legislative.
If I were a clergyman (which, fortunately, I am
not,) I should state this theological proposition in very
different phraseology.  Undoubtedly, I would employ
New Testament language, or such words as would correspond to lessons that I had learned from authoritative
books on theology.  And yet, although I do not so
employ language, I believe that I am not in conflict
with the essential truths at the center of enlightened
minds. I know not a civilized clergyman in the land
with whom I might not shake hands on some of these
theological principles. For example: They believe, or
profess to believe, in a Supreme Source. So do we.
They give it the theological, religious, and oriental
name —" God." We give it the spiritual-, philosophical,
and  scientific name-" Father-Nature."  The sectarian war rises and continues from a vastly different use
of human language with regard to identical meanings.
Not interpreting the meaning which we intend to convey-by the use. of different words, we kindle up
antagonism in our neighbor's mind; and on the other




WARS OF THE BLOOD, BRAIN, AND SPIRIT.  203
hand, when he announces his thought, the meaning
whereof not being fully conveyed to our mind, a corresponding fire is kindled up, and forthwith an explosion
takes place-and an everlasting enmity and opposition
drive out the angels of peace.  There can be no reconciliation so long as men will not stop, in their haste, to
give each other the central meanings which they
designed should flow through their educational use of
language. Let all men be cautious and just. Within all
this mountainous mass of educational verbiage and controversy you may find, if you look patiently, the beautiful
flowings of identical immortal truths.  The brotherhood
of truth makes this "c fraternity of ideas" absolutely
certain in all true human hearts.
Mother-Nature  and  Father-Nature —who  might
with propriety be named the Love-life and the Wisdompower of the universe-live in eternal conjugal relation each with the other.   Matter is the indestructible
chariot in which they together ride through the illimitable star-strewn spaces of infinitude.  We must learn
to think deeply on this subject.  We must deepen out
of words into meanings, and penetrate through nmeanings to the source of inspiration.
Water is the expression of inherent contention-the
to and fro movement of the material and spiritual universe. By means of this movement —this perpetual
overthrow of equilibriums-all things are organized,
inspired, and broughttforth.  Not only so, but they are
also made to continually advance along the onward
way; yea, all imnprovement is accomplished and guaranteed by the reciprocal action, or warlike contention, of
opposite forces and immutable powers.




204-            MORNINIG LECTURES.
Let me illustrate. Justice is recognized by a
perfect balance-a state of exact equilibrium. Place a
stick across your finger. There is a point in that stick
from which both ends will be precisely alike-each will
weigh -the same-and, as a consequence, the stick will
rest exactly in balance, without the least motion. If
the universe were constructed upon that principle, all
throbbing hearts and the infinite powers would cease to
move; not a heart would beat; not a brain would
think, not a tide flow, not a bird sing, not a tree would
grow, but inertia and death would be universal. And
yet the universe is constructed on JUSTICE. But one
end of the stick must weigh more than the other in order
to produce motion. Then comes in a governing power
to restore the lost balance; by the act of balancing it,
the power loads the opposite end, and thus is established
the principle of reciprocation.  The weight, (by
changing from point to point,) produces every description of motion. So the planets revolve about the sun.
So also your blood flows from  heart to brain, from
brain to feet and hands, and back again to its central
sources. All this illustrates the spirit of contention.
This is what I mean by " the universality of war."
Right is the source of true might.  An organ is not
the cause of motion. The heart does not make the
blood flow; it is rather a regulating and modifying
organ-chairman of the movement. Neither do the
organs of the brain cause the blood to flow. The brain
is not the primal source of its energies.  The cerebral
organization cannot keep itself in motion. It continually inhales and exhales; always giving off an equivalent to what it may have taken in; always expelling




WARS OF THE BLOOD, BRAIN, AND SPIRIT.   205
the body of that which has been duly appropriated; the
magnetic and material weights are thus constantly
changing from one pole of the cerebral battery to the
other. The perpetual change is perpetual motion. This
ceaseless motion produces refinement; this refinement
insures advancement; and all true advancement is
progress.  Whatever is refined is expanded; whatever
is expanded occupies a larger sphere than it did a few
minutes before; and whatever is refined and expanded
is:- more powerful, because it covers a larger radius in
space, and permeates and inspires a larger mass of gross
matter.
Now do you suppose that God is a person, confined
like a fountain of energy, at the very center of things?
Theology taught an astronomer to say that God sent
all these orbs that sparkle through the infinitude; that
they were projected, as balls from the cannon's mouth,
out of his formative powers.  No man or woman, who
thinks truly, would ever attribute such works to an
Infinite Spirit. An Infinite Spirit must be diffused through
infinite space; and is therefore omnipresent in matter,
and infinitely and universally powerful. Confinement,
to the limits of personality, would limit its presence
and power. In the infinite depths of the visible universal- whole you will find the beautiful Love-Fountain,
and the Fountain of Wisdom, which are to our spirits
both  6 "Mother"  and c Father"-both  Nature  and
God-sweet,  pure, perfect, beautiful-living  with
celestial and unchangeable harmony through all the
life of things.
What most satisfies your best affections? It is that
holy experience by which you touch and feel the warm




206             MORNING LECTURES.
love of Deity. Where can you find that love, if not in
the divine life of living things?  Can you find it in
dead books, or in lifeless sentences?  Is it possible for
bookmakers, down at the Bible House, to turn out that
which will communicate God's love to your mind by
actual impartation.  Reason tells you that it is not possible. True, a spiritually-inspired sentence may arouse
your slumbering thoughts to high action; but if there
be an impartation of life to your soul, it is from the
life of things-from some hovering angel, or from some
beautiful principle of truth that is both within and
without.  I admit the conviction that beautiful sentences, contained in the Bibles of the world, do, now
and then, rouse dormant natures to thoughlt and meditation, and to progress; but I deny that anything within
these printed words is the cause of that progress, rmeditation, and growth; for all life proceeds from the living,
breathing, palpitating  Father and Mother, who are
within all immutable laws and within all impersonal
principles. It is the ideal and heavenly presence of
their love and wisdom, which awakens and rouses, to a
blooming grandeur and holy meditation, the inmost of
your deepest intuitions; for, under such influence, you
feel as though you had just heard the " voice of God"
in the," cool of the day," while you were silently walking to and fro in the garden of thought.
War is the outward method by which laws, principles, and ideas work.  (1.) Blood is animal; (2.) brain
is thoughtful; (3.) spirit is heavenly.  Heavenly wars?
Yes. Every man's spirit is a soldier. Brain wars too?
Yes. Plenty of illustrations in the world's intellectual
and political history.  And also blood wars?  Cer



WARS OF THE BLOOD, BRAIN, AND SPIRIT.   207
tainly, all beneath brain wars on that principle. I said
the brain does not circulate the blood; neither does
the heart; but that the heart is a regulator, a sort of
chairman, and that the brain is conductor or superintendent of the movement.  What, then, is the blood?
And how is it moved? It is circulated by the laws and
perpetually-broken equilibriums of reciprocal powers.
The venous blood is negative; the arterial blood positive. Each overbalances the other by turns. How so?
By the respirational processes, and also by the magnetic
and electric actions, through the breathings of the
lungs and skin. All parts of a living body are inhaling
and exhaling, every instant of time, like summer flowers
that receive golden life and give off the spirit of fragrance. The blood contains the power of its own
motion. Human life ceases when the blood is poured
out and lost, or when the vitality has been pumped out
of the blood by the magnetic powers of the brain, which
keeps drawing and pumping in order that its own forces
may be renewed and existence guaranteed.  A physiologically well-balanced man or woman is one whose
blood flows independently of either brain or heart; that
is to say, the circulation is from the intrinsic motiveenergy of the blood itself.
Blood wars, consequently, are inherent. Who taught
the lion and the bear to go out and slay for their food
and subsistence? Not a teacher of war have they ever
had, save the inherent voice of blood.  It is constitutional.  "What do you mean by that?"  I mean that
the animal is acting in accordance with a Divine
"idea" (design) expressing itself irrepressibly and
unconsciously through tlie throbbing blood.




208             MORNING LECTURES.
Blood wars are Gehenna-full of fire and destruction.  Hades is the middle world, and the liver is the
dark repository or grave-yard of the debris of the
victims of war in the chemistry of life. In like manner
the whole organic world is a burying-ground or repository, a hepatical-hades, for the victims of progressive
laws, which, in the animal world, as in man, operate
through the life of the blood.
All mankind inherit animal blood.  We received it
from our predecessors in the order of organization. No
theology, no science, no philosophy can refute the doctrine of the rudimental origin of human beings.  I
speak not of man's spirit, but of his material organization.  Love and wisdom, in man and woman, came not
from the lower world.  But this organic machinery,
which we name the physical body, and this blood which
flows through its parts, and these elemental fobrces which
constitute the body and final covering of the spirit, all
these came out of the reservoir of matter and principles
which preceded mankind in the growth of the universe.
Blood wars are described by the burning words of Dante,
who saw, in c" The Inferno" of his thought, the wars of
demons, and now and then an;" angel of light" flitting
through the darkened sky. Pollock and MIilton, and
indeed many other poets, who were gifted with powers
adapted to conceiving and giving embodiment to ideas,
have described wars in the lower world. Poets, unhappily, have located these conflicts to suit the Christians,
in their fabled hell which God is supposed to have
made from the foundations of the world.  Poetry and
theology will, in their details and geography, have no
value in the grand analysis which is to come.  We




WARS OF THE BLOOD, BRAIN, AND SPIRIT.    209
accept only the inward flow of meaning. It is this:
Poets have set to words and to music the actual "' war"
which originates from the combative forces that are
accumulated and treasured up in the blood.
Next, we come to consider the conflicts of Brain.
These wars are based- on differences of organization.
There is no spirituality, no moral restraint, in brain
wars.  Intellect does not conciliate.  The  thinking
powers are animated mostly by policies, convictions,
ways and means, and expedients. They resolve upon
the execution of their purposes.  In this respect each
man's brain is alike.  Hence the origin of brain wars.
It is thinking-force against thinking-force. Men cipher
out problems through their intellectual organs, and
each sets all* his forces to work to accomplish results
most congenial to his own interests. How many governments have gone to war upon the principle of brainthinking that it would be best.
All the kings and emperors, all tyrants and potentates, go to war from the dictates of the brain.  These
are the wars of aggrandizement, wars for more power,
wars for the possession of larger territories, wars for
the acquisition of greater resources of wealth, wars for
the establishment of kingdoms already possessed, wars
for the accumulation of wider privileges on seal and
land. These brain-wars are planned and premeditated
with as much indifference to the claims of humanity as
one would cipher out a sum on a slate.
Spirit is not heard from in the jargon of such
wars. It is very still-in the depths of the mind;
locked up, imbedded, as life sometimes is in the germs
of trees.  The wars of the spirit-how different! Such




210              MORNING LECTURES.
wars never occur except where RIGHT is in jeopardy.
Men of blood and men of brain avail themselves of all
enginery, powers, and forces, that are known to be most
destructive.  But the Spirit, on the other hand, goes to
war from its highest standard; to penetrate the darkness of ignorance and error, and to shine lovingly into
and through the darkness that rejects it; to persevere
in warring its way through, until it reaches the ", point
of light" in the world, or in the kindred spirit of a
brother man.  The moment the heart of love is touched
by the penetration of spirit, like the rod that smote the
rock, the waters of truth and affection flow, reconciliation takes place, and the lion and the lamb lie down
together.
A war in the spirit is "6a war in heaven"-pervading and penetrating, impressing and uplifting, chastening  and  purifying, harmonizing  and  rendering
universally happy the discordant forces and conflicting
elements which come up to dwell with Spirit from the
kingdoms of the under world.
The man who fights "cthe good fight" from his
Spirit, is infinitely more of a power than he who proceeds to battle from the forces of his brain and blood.
Neither man nor animal fights from blood except when
its fires arrive at the point of a Gehennal-conflagration.
The blow is struck somewhat as the ball leaps from the
cannon's mouth —from  an inherent, propulsive, explosive energy that cannot be repressed.  Blood goes for
the instantaneous destruction of its antagonist. It takes
no thought; therefore it is frequently forgiven in our
courts of Justice. Unpremeditated murder, the destruction of life in the heat (hell) of passion, (Gehenna,) is
not as punishable as is murder of the calculating brain.




WARS OF THE BLOOD, BRAIN, AND SPIRIT.    211
This form  of Justice is intuition coming up through
drunken judges; it is the spirit of truth in man reaching out clumsily, yet really, after justice, love and
right.
The effect of the war of the Spirit upon the lower
world is marked and lasting.  The mythological statement is that Diana, by-her long, eternal kiss of love,
woke the dead Endymion " to life."  Thus these spiritwars in man's highest powers lift out of the "c lowest
darkness" the impulses of blood and other imps of selfishness. As lilies of purest celestial whiteness grow in
ponds, and bloom in their loveliness from the depths of
corrupt marshes, so from  Hadean and Gehennal regions
in mankind-from the regions of the liver, the blood,
and the brain, which are fed and filled from the darkness and corruptions of the physical world —out of all
these come results which will ultimately bring happiness, and ornament, and beauty, and progress, and that
sublime courage which is the hope of the world. The
war of the Spirit may be represented and characterized
by the picture of Raphael. tHe has beautifully and
powerfully painted St. Margaret standing with her foot
on "tthe great dragon."  St. Margaret may.be called
" the Spirit" conquering the impulses and abolishing
the wars of Blood and Brain.  The human world is
constituted of races somewhat as ethnologists have
classified them. Commence at the top and count down,
thus:   Caucasian, Mongolian, African, Indian  and
Malayan.  These five races may be subdivided, or they
may be made more homogeneous and brought much
nearer together.  They would then literally represent
Blood, Brain, Spirit.  The Caucasian  race (which,
according to mythology, came from  that beautiful




212              MulI0 iuNG LECTUIRES.
mount from which the name is derived,) may be called
the race of Spirit. Their greatest wars will be wars of
spirit-the wars of Though-t, of Ideas, of Principlesagainst the darklness of ignorance and error, against
the brain and its'calculating selfishness, against the
blood and its passion-fed fires and geheunal impulses.
The true, forthcoming Caucasians will be conquerors;
they will be masters of the races of the human world.
The MAongolians are not conquerors; the Africans are
not.; the Indians are not, but are, in fact, passing away.
Now the blood-races are beneath, in Gehennaa; the
brain-races are transitional, in IHades; the spirit-race,
the  Heavenly-family, is to come.  Promises of the
spirit-race have always dwelt among men.  The race
of brain will flower out and become spiritual inspiration, seeking after principles and ideas, seeking after
God, liberty, fraternity, harmony.  Members of the
Spirit-race believe that all lower wars will be abolished; that all men will be converted at last to the
beautiful ways of good and truth; that the might of the
lower world will be directed by the whole world's
Right!
The Spirit-republic, unhappily, is not yet born.
Its faintest foregleams are just now visible in the
transitional republicanism  of the land.  Present signs
presage the erection of that glorious future temple of
truth and Brotherhood which will be carpeted with the
beautiful designs of the Infinite mind-designs that
will be revealed plainly to man's understanding by a full
exposure of the world's life to the fires of blood-wars
and brain-wars, which will cease only when the harmnonial era is fully unfolded.




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.
"The Truth only needs to be for once spoke out,
And there's such music in her, such strange rhythm,
As makes men's memories her joyous slaves.
And cling around the soul, as the sky clings
Round the mute earth, forever beautiful."
Nature, left to herself, expresses outwardly what is
inmost.  Her truest and largest expression is two-fold
-male  and  female-a  divine revelation  from  the
central golden fountains of the universe.  It is a common intuition that the universe is sexual.  All human
tongues, in one form  of speech or another, name and
address the different objects in Nature as though they
were sexual.  Full-grown men, like little boys, when
speaking of a steamboat, say — "There she comes," or
"C How beautifully she sails!"  Of the sun, "H Be shines."
Of an iron-bodied and fire-heated locomotive the friendly engineer will very tenderly say, "6 She is the best
machine on the road." Throughout the world you will observe the same instinctive, unconscious acknowledgment
of this universal truth.  Not an intelligent man on the
farm  or in the garden but what is obliged to recognize
these dual principles-male and female-in the swaying
vine as in the animal' stock, in the fruiting tree as in
the blooming flower. Everything that grows, mani



214              MORNING LECTURES.
fests the internal and immutable principles of husband
and wifle, or father and mother.  Enshrined in the
golden fountainsof the spiritual universe, is the central
law which expands throughout infinitude, and expresses
itself throuoh an infinite variety of' apparently opposite,
but really united, principles of action, organization, and
distribution.
This subject comes challenging your reverent attention this bright morning.  Mankind do not naturally
or intuitively associate and combine "c God" and "c Nature" as though they were one under different forms of
expression. I know that it is possible to reason oneself
into a proposition admitting the total identity and
unity of the two; so much so, indeed, that the absolute
individuality of each may cease for a time to occupy any
place in one's thoughts.  But the moment you cease to
think on the question of the difference between' "God"
and "Nature," or when you settle down into your
normal consciousness, then Intuition from. its deep
sources declares fully of an eternal difference.  Unconsciously, or rather without intellectual consciousness, you will allude to God, or to that meoital something
which represents the Divine source, as a masculine
Energy, and then, as unconsciously and unthinkingly,
you will speak of "cNature" as a feminine Fountain of
love, beauty, and tenderness.  It is natural, therefore,
to feel and speak of NATURE as "; Mother" and of GOD
as "Father."  The human spirit left to itself; unrestrained  and unwarped by educational impediments,
instinctively adopts this form of expression.
Here it becomes again necessary to say that I mean
by the word NATURE, something different friom the phy



TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.           215
sical constitution of things.  The term is often used to
signify merely the phenomenal universe-the objective
world or system of worlds. I have often- used the word
in that commonly received sense.  When so used, it
should always be wvritten without the capital Nsimply, nature, meaning the objective sphere or the
nature of things.  WhVen used in an interior spiritual
sense, it should invariably be written with the capital
N not only, but the whole word might appear in capitals, because it assumes a new and far loftier situation
in the spiritual order of thought. Vastly more interior
sentiments and infinitely higher reflections are awakened
and symbolized and expressed by this use of' the term.
6" Nature," in the interior sense, is the love-center of
all Existences-the mother-heart of which s" God" is
the father-head or positive principie.  NATURE is the
center of which GOD is the surrounding sphere of order
and organization.
NATURE means, therefore, the internal love-source
of all being.  The common dictionary signification
makes the word mean the fixed order of things. But,
in the interior, the word will be found to signify and
express the fountain-heart of the life of things.  The
physical universe-the objective sphere of matter-is
not NATURE.  The following proposition is more truthful and philosophical:  The phenomenal universe is a
physical organization, and the spiritual universe is a
spiritual organization; and the two are expressions of
the male and female principles, which are interior and
invisible, and are not easily perceived nor comprehended
by the external mind of sensuous thinkers. Nature, the
infinite heart, and God, the positive sphere, like soul




216             MORNING LECTURES.
and brain married indissolubly, propagate both the
physical and spiritual universe, which is interrelated to
summer-spheres beyond all comprehension.  Objects in
the physical worlds, and human beings, including the
higher grades of intelligences, are children born from
that beautiful, infinite, centrial marriage of the c" Father"
and "s Mother," the union of the Eternal heart with the
Eternal head-the conjunction of Love and Wisdomthe positive and the negative in unchangeable conjugial
harmony, giving rise to all that is, and to all that will
ever be. As you behold in your children your propensities
and your tendencies, your attributes and habits, your
complexions, your hair and face, and the tone of your
voice, so in the external workings of the physical
universe, you may behold the attributes, the elements,
and the primal principles of the Infinite Father and
Mother.
When you come to truly investigate the composition
of mind, you will find in thoughts that are evolved two
varieties of sentiment, or two classes of truths, that are
strictly il harmony with the desires of the intellect,
which the intellect alone recognizes and harmonizes
with as its own legitimate offspring. These purely
intellectual truths gain your respect, and sometimes
your admiration. And yet they are not warm and
loving  they are cold and calm, the keen-eyed children
of the reflective and perceptive faculties. They may be
mathematically accurate, and geometrically perfect in
all their forms and expressions; yet they eliminate only
that clear, calm, electric life which the moon gives off to
artists, and to the photographers, who too soon dis



TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.           217
cover the absence of another principle by which alone
chemical action can occur.
Investigate further into the mind, and you will discover
another class of truths which are nearer your affections,
which cling like loving children around your heart and
sympathies. Do they not belong to more interior parts
of the mind? They are sequestered and deeply vailed.
They are inexpressible and indefinite. They float and
sail like beautiful birds through the mind. They come
together, they perch and sing for a moment, then
depart for months.  Other truths rest within; they
dwell in the heart, and are a part of it. We call these
always-present truths the tendencies of the mind, or the
instincts of the heart, which will express themselves in
the various sentiments, actions, and relations of individual life.
There is vet another class of truths which seem to
have been born since we were born, that are not necessarily a part of us, that come in and go out in consequence of contact with other minds. These correlative
or transmitted truths well up in us during the course of
our ordinary development; while those truths which
were born with us, which are parts of the spirit itself,
cause us to love flowers and music, poetry and beauty,
affection and wisdom, Nature and God. They are the
principles which should systematize the external action of
men-should regulate and govern mankind during all
their lives.
Nature gets the start of the judgment, forestalls all
discipline, and anticipates the highest experience. Education may greatly modify the inherited impulse and
action of temperaments, yet the cure is not radical; for
10




218.MORNING LECTURES.
when the temperaments have an opportunity to declare
themselves, they will utterly centrifugate all educational
restrictions, and will express themselves freely, and
that too from their own resources of instincts and tendencies.  Such natures are called " incorrigible" by
teachers in the different schools.  They do not long
submit to be ruled and disciplined by the methods of
the schoolnen. There are multitudes of both men and.women, of girls and boys,'who are thus untrainable and
unsusceptible; they are not necessarily " wild," but
have, from the start of life, adopted their own determined instincts and tendencies, and are unhappy, even
miserable, unless they are left undisturbed to live the
life of congenial proclivities.
Other natures, perhaps born of the same parents,
are plastic and easily molded. Such minds are more
conscious of two different classes of truths than are
either of the others.  They can realize that there are
truths which come into the mind from without; and yet
other truths which come up from within, as water
springs from the earth.  Before these truths came you
were like sealed fountains, waiting in fullness to flow.
Every soul waits for some magic power to break down
the embankments between the spirit and its external
expression. That awakening power is remembered
pleasurably through all your life as the captain of your
exodus, when the whole current of life's inner being
was turned into the celestial channel of a new experience. How many there are who seenm, even to themselves, to be treasurers of great innate powers-waiting
for some person, influence, or event, to give them the




TRUTHS, MALE'AND FEMALE.          219
golden key with which to unlock their never-fullyexpressed existence.
These natures are waiting for the approach of those
male and female principles.  They are waiting for the
approach of the masculine truth, or for the coming of
this feminine truth, and they are alone until the right
truth arrives.  The spirit is in its bachelorhood, or in
its maidenhood; it is waiting for the bridegroom, or
for the bride.
It is the presence of male and female truths in the
soul, their nuptial relation, the joining and interrelationship of what before had not met, and which, when
joined, will never be sundered. In Solomon's Songs, (so
many of them seem unfit for human reading,) if your
eyes be deep-sighted enough, you may go beneath the
verbiage, and find.that by the C "maiden" is represented
the female-principle in religion-the mother-soul, the
wife-nature, the unmarried, a beautiful virgin going
forth and seeking her mate.  What is Judaism but a
marriage of Egyptian philosophy with the religion of
the Israelites? The children of Israel were spiritualists in bondage in Egypt. The Egyptians were a people
learned in science, in the objective facts and realities of
the world-master Masons; were vast and strong and
ponderous in their thoughts and in many of their deeds,
and thus they displayed the principle of masculinity.
The Israelites furnished the female principle, and the
marriage of those two made Judaism. There is no
other way of accounting for the coming of that offspring.
It was born legitimately. Judaism, however, was a
masculine element.  It was not a fine order of cultured
and reverent affection for truth.  It was objective,




220              MORNING LECTURES.
1eremonial, full of law.  It had not its mate. Judaism
was therefore a great, strong, religious giant, holding
fast to Egyptian laws. It was obliged to meet its mate
-the feminine element-before -progeny could come; a
true marriage was necessary before something better,
more adapted to future generations, could be born.
Hence the feminine part of the Grecian element, represented.by the Platonic philosophy, had to be blended
with Judaism  before the'world could receive what is
called Christianity.
It is the sheerest folly to say that Christianity began
with Jesus.  You might as well. say that music began
with Mozart, or that the principle of independent conscience began with Luther, as to say that Christianity
began with a person.  Christianity is the legitimate
child of the marriage of the female Greek principle
with the masculine Judaic principle. Coming from such
parents, it inherits traits and truths from both of them,
does it not? You who are acquainted with Christianity
find the characteristics and features of' both parents represented in the child, do you not?  Do you not see
Platonic philosophy and religion and theology in
Christianity?  What is the Gospel of John but a
Platonic epistle?  Is it not original Platonism  from
first to last? The most beautiful writing in the New
Testament is the beautiful Gospel of John, and that
Gospel is almost a perfect embodiment of the spiritual
teachings of Plato. You read thus:," In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God."  (John I, Verse 13.)  And again:
"' The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full
of grace and truth." Platonism, you recollect, teaches




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.           221
the same doctrine; that things are the forms of preexistent spiritual patterns or ideas.  In other language,
things are the incarnations of archetypal thoughts that
were God, or were with God in the spiritual universe.
Saint John and Saint Plato both taught that spiritual
types or ideals were prepared before creation, waiting
for embodiment; and that when the time arrived for
expression, or c" creation," (as some writers term it,)
then expression came.  Wherefore we read in the Testament this Platonism: C" The Word became flesh and
dwelt among men."  To this conclusion you arrive:
What you find that is superior in theology and ethics
in the New Testament, is -but an offlpring of the marriage of the Grecian female philosophy with the masculine element of Judaism. In the theology and ethics of
Christendom, we find representative traits and impressive propensities of its father and mother. In examining
Christianity you will discover the distinguishing characteristics of the father-and mother, both parents and
grandparents; the feminine Greek philosophy and the
Judaic masculine element —the latter an offspring of
the spiritualism of the Israelites in marriage relation
with the masculine science of' the Egyptians.
In Christianity, however, we recognize also a imasculine element which required new companiow~hip, and
went abroad seeking its true bride.  It found no companionship in Greece.  Plato was not the founder of
a masculine philosophy-Socrates was not. But Aristotle, and  those of his school, were founders and
chamrpions of the masculine in Greek philosophy. Many
of them taught and represented perfectly, long before
the element went out to seek its companion, the full




222             MORNING LECTURES.
development of the male principle in the spiritual life
of the world.
It was this masculine element, which, going into
Rome, formed a marriage relation with the Roman
feminine principle; which was exhibited as an internal
fondness for whatsoever was at once decidedly beautiful
and strictly useful.  A union of the Roman principle
with the Greek principle, in this intimate relation of
marriage, introduced Christianity to all Europe. Without such marriage, Christianitiy could not have lived
through the medieval age and obtained an expression
in the Western world.  The feminine in Platoism and
in Christism, blended with the masculine in Judaism
and in Greek philosophy, brought out the latent attributes of the Roman mind.  The Roman mind was
strictly and perfectly pledged to the development of
Use and Power. Utilism, strong political and legal
institutions, and energetic devotion to what was deemed
the most beautiful and lasting.  The Roman did not
possess a philosophic mind.  His was not an artistic,
poetic, 6r musical mind.  Greece alone furnished the
feminine principles of-which Art, Poetry, and Music
are expressions to mankind's five senses. In the Roman
mind you find the Greek expressions cropping out,
because in the offspring you always behold more or less
of the characteristics and ruling propensities of the progenitors.  Therefore in Rome you find the Art and
Science, some of the Philosophy, a good deal of the
Music, a little of the Poetry, and a very large proportion of the Drama, Tragedy and Comedy of ancient
Greece, and also of the Arabian  and Persian world.
Children always receive from their parents, by physio



TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.          223
logical and psychological inheritance, and the same is
true of nations, races, ages, and institutions.
Now when Rome arrived at the climax of her
power she was substantially a rich giantess and the
supreme head of the earth's law-makers. In the latter
respect Rome was masculine.  It eventually became
necessary for this element to seek a new relation. That
new relation was easily found in more Western Europe.
The marriage resulted in the large and beautiful family
of Literature and Art and Science and Music and
Poetry, and resulted also in all the various forms of
the State and Church, of Law and Democracy, of' Philosophy and Progress, and in the public spirited movements of the present age. The masculine and feminine
principles-the whole family of them —seemed to have
culminated and gathered for their first and most grand
expression in England and in France.  The conjugal
blending of those opposite principles was the gathering
of long-estranged elements into a happy group to dwell
for a time together in peace. It was like the gathering
of the scattered and discordant tribes of Judea. When
they should be gathered together, there was to be great
rejoicing, for the foundation of the New  Jerusalem
would soon be laid. (So says the pleasant dream.) But
the New Jerusalem was really nothing but the meeting
of those long-wandering male and female principlesthe children and grandchildren and the great-grandchildren —the aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews,
and cousins near and distant -the various feminine and
masculine principles past and present which assembled
like a Congress in the age of Charlemagne.  Then
they found their finest and sweetest expression; but




224              MORNING LECTURES.
how very crude, how very barbarian, how exceedingly
far beneath what is to-day seen and known of them!
Grave and slow old England, when mnany of these
principles were gathered in her heart, openly exhibited
a masculine development.  The blending of the masculine Roman principles with the feminine principles of the
age of Charlemagne, gave the  purest and clearest
development of Science through the mind of Bacon.
The German inductive philosophy came also; and this,
unlike the English Science, was truly and healthfully
feminine.
Anything %hich engerms and inspires a love of truth
in the soul, is feminine. Science, which insists upon
facts and accuracy in things, is invariably masculine.
The spiritual effect of Bacon's philosophy is masculine,
or inductive; but the truly German philosophy is feminine, or deductive. Phileo means to -love, and sophia
means wisdom. Hence the term c" Philosophy," literally
signifying the love of wisdom.  Love signifies the seat
or heart of the affections; the life-principles and impersonal ideas of the inmost spirit.  When the heart,
therefore, goes out toward a truth, it is a bride going
out to meet the bridegroom. The offspring of theBaconian philosophy are all great healthy boys —that
is, strong, vigorous, progressive, irrepressible Sciences
-the positive methods which that school of philosophy
has developed throughout civilization.
What comes next? When a perfect marriage takes
place between these outer sciences and a love of truth,
the world is soon blest with young saviors. Such is the
origin of the Daguerrean and Photographic arts, and of
every new  invention for human good, each being duly




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.           225
baptized and placed upon record, just as a new babe
is added to the family and a new hand is made for
industry.
A truth goes ou.t,from one mind and obtains a hospitable recognition in another mind; only an intellectual
apprehension and entertainment.  But there is also
such a fact as a spiritual love of truth.  No mind can
develop anything good and beautiful unless he first feels
in his deep soul a love for whatsoever is good and beautiful. First, he must have the feminine inspiration and
aspiration for and toward truth; and next, the masculine intellectual apprehension of' the scientific details by
which that truth can alone receive its finest and highest
expression.  Thus, Daguerre went to work with the
love of heart, which is the bride of truth, and also with
the Baconian philosophy, which is the bridegroom, or
form of truth, and the result was the development of a
new art.  When he received into his mind the masculine apprehension of those exact facts in chemistry concerning the action of light, and when he united with
that apprehension the love of the good, the true and the
beautiful, the next event was a marriage in his being,
which in due course of time unfoided that wonderful.art by which the sun is made everybody's artist.
Wherever mankind are, there you will observe this
blending of the bridegroom'and the bride.  In the
smallest, least, and most unimportant, as in the grandest, most essential, and magnificent, it is clearly and
truly like the marriage of the beautiful maiden with
her own beloved mate. It is indorsed by NATURE, our
spirit Mother, and by her eternal companion, our spirit
Father; and no union can be more sacred and pro10*




226              MIO()NTNG( LECTURES.
ductive of human progress and happiness.  The issues
of such marriages are legitimate-beautiful offspring
called "; society," 6" education," " art," " poetry," 1" music," science,") 6 philosophy," " religion," and 6" civilization.," and giving "6 hope" and "C courage" and embellishment to the great temple of human s" liberty" and s" progress"-these are the darling offspring, the legitimate
progeny, of the perfect marriages of principles of male
and female truths in the human mind.
You know, by your own experience, that you have
intellectual conceptions of truths which bear no fruittruths that are sterile and barren of children.  Do
you not also think of friends and acquaintances, who
apprehend high truths and principles as clearly as you,
and yet whose lives and characters have never been
improved and beautified by those truths?  Their lives
and homes have never been modified or softened or
sweetened by that which in you'has been a perpetual
source of great strength and spiritual fertility.  The
secret is: The unchanged character has only had in his
mind the masculine element of the truth —merely an
intellectual apprehension of the truth, and of course it
does not bear fruitful results in him.  Perhaps in your
own nature you have a beautiful and holy truth that
has not improved and strengthened you. Perhaps you
do not feel invigorated by your truth for any great
work, either in private or public life. You may have a
clear, sweet, reverent, religious devotion to some particular beautiful truth, which has been alternately nestling and slumnbering in your bosom for years, but it has
never imparted to you a ray of strength-never given
life and light enough to enable you to carry out a,




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.          227
millionth part of its dictation and positive requirements.
What can be the cause and the reason?  Because, perhaps, instead of a male, you may have a feminine truth,
which may never have met with its masculine counterpart or principle.  If there, be no marriage there can
be no parentage or results.  Suppose now  that you
should hear some preacher, politician, orator, or some
man or woman, who said "4just the right thing"-just
what you had been " longing" to have said, but knew
not before exactly what it was you so longingly wanted,
and which you were never able to give a tangible
expression. It may be but a single word in the whole
discourse, but that 6"word" struck your pent up and
barreni soul as Moses' rod struck the rock, and forthwith the deep fountains of your interior life are unsealed,
and they send forth their golden spray into the great
world about you. You are spiritually, morally strong.
You go out into the world and you return to your
family with a new life and a new comprehension.  The
explanation is, that the opposite element has entered
your spirit.  The bridegroom has sought and found his
bride, or the reverse has transpired, and marriage was
perfect and immediate.  You rise strengthened, built
up anew, and are, as it were, ", born again;" the light
of new skies is showered upon you, and your awakened
mind is all starry and begemmed with new and beautiful conceptions of the Divine. Persons susceptible to high
religious influences, know the reality of these experiences. You may read the best books, you may attend
the highest order of literary lectures, you may go to
the most living churches for years; but unless the
-"6right thing is said," and said in c" the right way" to




228             MORNING LECTURES.
your inmost, you will still be waiting and longing.
The bride will be waiting for her mate, or the masculine for his feminine companion, within the temple
of life.
I used to think, uncharitably and unphilosophically,
that men were very blameworthy for all deviations from
what is deemed just and right. I have not wholly arrived
at that conscienceless and comfortable point where
"' whatever is, is right;" but I do most clearly see that
men are not as culpable as they are supposed to be by
the religious creeds of the world.  Men and women
wait for the advent of the master-the masculine and
the feminine principles-the interior union of love and
wisdom in the spirit.
See, for example, how in these days America waits
for champions to lead her armies to battle. Men had
military principles and tactics taught to them at West
Point; the masculine science of planning and fighting
great battles. They knew, in theory, how to march
and coun.termarch, to plot and counterplot; they understood commanding, and the mancagement of the sword
and musket. They understood also, by theory and
illustration, all the pharaphernalia of an army in its
march to the field of battle. But all this learning was
the masculine element; it amounted to nothing for the
world's progress. The West Point Cadets, when in the
city of New York, appeared like the other people, except
in the matter of their uniform. But the day and the
hour arrived for some of these men to receive the feminine principle. What was it? It was the love of an
unchangeable principle; the love of Liberty for all the
inhabitants of this continent.  When this.love entered




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.           229
into the soul of these men a marriage was celebrated
through all their faculties, and insfead of being mere
uniformed officers, they rose to manhood, and the fa'iful among them  equaled the might of a thousand men.
Some of the military leaders wait for opportunities.
They will yet show you grand and valorous generalship; they hesitate, waiting for the expression of the
interior marriage that has not yet occurred.  Others
again go into the field mechanically; are nothing but
military men, with no love for. any ennobling principle,
having never felt the marriage of the principles of Liberty and Justice with the principles of military science.
Now take spiritual truths.  In our motto you read,
"Fair truth! for thee alone we seek," &c.  Does that
sound as though you were addressing a masculine principle? A great many men may think they ought to be
so addressed, but you know that it would be an inappropriate use of language. S" Fair truth!" Did the poet
not see truth to be a female-the woman principle?
William Cullen Bryant, in his well-known lines, says:
"Truth crushed to earth will rise again;
The eternal years'of God are hers."
After, recognizing thus the feminine of truth, he adds:
"While Error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies amid his worshipers."
What man is there that will not shrink from the
poet's testimony that error is masculine?  We men,
however, can read Genesis for consolation. We find
there that woman was the cause of the world's universal
damnation.  She began the quarrel! But, on the other
hand, we are compelled to acknowledge that the Prince




230              MORNING LECTURES.
of Darkness was masculine.  We have not heard that
the Christian's devil was a woman.  The great sphere
ofection, energy, force, is masculine; and force, in its
desperation and ambition to gain its point, falls, as did
the Prince of Darkness, from these mountain-bights of
joys delectable down to the dreary depths of hopeless
perdition.  Such  operations  and  overthrows  occur
throughout the world, in all history, and in much of private experience.
The woman element, on the contrary, visits all these
various recesses of darkness.  Lovingly she goes to
every part of the inhabitable globe as a missionary.
Woman-life is a divine power; it is not force, which is
masculine.  Woman, in essence, is love; she is not
intellect. Rarely does the principle of ambition gain
highest expression in the woman mind.  Force and
ambition are masculine. If a woman's ambition is great,
and if her love of admiration'is also great, her conduct
will correspond with such temporarily predominating
masculine elements.  But when the feminine principle
in her spirit rouses, then she is affection, full of gentle
dependence and of healing sympathy; she is the interblending and transforming power  of love, endowed
richly with the missionary spirit.  All women, when in
their freedom, are missionaries in their homes and in
all hearts. No mother can live without the inspiration
of unselfish love for children. She goes as a missionary
every time she visits her babe in the cradle; thus, too,
she visits the sick one in the chamber of sorrow  and
sufferingr.  Man goes to lift up the body of the little
one; to change its position in the bed; to do something
for the suffering. A woman goes, not only to do, but




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.            231
also to rescue and save and heal.  The mother-nature
comes to teach, to bind up the broken-hearted, and to
pour over us all the streams of unselfish affection. The
father-nature, the masculine element, holdt up the physical relations, keeps the positive principles in action, and
does the outward work of' life.  But the action of' the
mother-principle in the human mind is identical with
the action of the masculine principle. For if a soul loves
a spiritual truth, it will give that soul, whether man or
woman, warmth and zeal and enthusiastic fertility.  If
love doesl not exist in the spirit by the side of an intellectual apprehension of the truth, there is no growth,
no improvement.  But let.the love of' truth be blended
with the intellect's admiration for and apprehension of
it, and there very soon occurs "a new birth."  The
person henceforth not only is, but begins to be, and to
do and to live from that divinely fertile center. Deeds,
righteous and wholesome, are the darling progeny.
Instead of bringing over-action and fatigue,. such offspring bathe the spirit with rest and happiness.
A recent writer on the ", Poetry, History, and Wisdorn of Words," unintentionally gives the substance of
our philosophy in his solution of the origin of languages:
" The causes of that marvelous identity we call the
English language, lie deep in the manifold influences
[the conjugal relationships of the previously existing
male and female principles] that have made the English
Nation. The history of a languagre is measurable only
in the terms of all the factors that have shaped a
people's life.  A natio-'s history is the result of the
double action [i. e., the sexual meeting and marrying]




232             MORNING LECTURES.
of internal impulses and external events; and language
expresses the infusions from all these-subtilely absorbing the ethnology-rof a nation, its geography, government, traditions, culture, faith.
"6 The heart of our language is Anglo-Saxon. This
is the spine on which the structure of our speech- is
hung.  And yet had the Saxon been left to itself, it
never could have grown into the English tongue.  It
needed a new element.  This it found in the Norman
French introduced with that great political and social
revolution, the Norman conquest, which was, no doubt,
precisely the best thing that could have happened. And
here we have to mention the deep debt we owe to that
illustrious nation, Italy-which for so many centuries
led the van of European civilization-in operating the
renaissance of Greek and Latin language and thought.
The breath of antique genius passed over the English
mind like the air of spring, bursting and blossoming in
luxuriant growths of thought and speech.  Of those
three grand factors —Saxon, French, and Classical-is
our language made up.  It is the mutual influence and
action of these that form  the warp and woof of our
English speech.  Not but that other elements are, in
greater or smaller proportions, present, and weave their
threads into the divine web; but these are the main
sources whence our language has enriched itself.
"Of course the English language must take on new
powers in America. And here we are favored by the
genius of this grand and noble language, which, more
than all others, lends itself, plastic and willing, to the
molding power of new formative influences.  [What
new "formative" influences can there be but such as are




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.          233
rendered fertile and reproductive through the meeting
and marriage of male and female principles?]  The
future expansions of the English Language in America
are already marked in the great lines of development
this idiom  shows.  It is for us freely to follow the
divine indications.  The immense diversity of race,
temperament, character —the copious streams of humanity constantly flowing hither —must reappear in free,
rich growths of speech.  Over the transformations of a
language the genius of a nation unconsciously presidesthe issues. of words represent issues in the national
thought.  And in the vernal seasons of a nation's life
the formative energy puts forth verbal growths, opulent as flowers in spring."
Science, I repeat, is masculine; philosophy is feminine.  Poetry, when genuine; is instinctive-feminine.
It is the blending of outward and inward truths at the
heart of the spirit. Poetry is spiritual; Music is spiritual; therefore both Poetry and Music are feminine.
But the science of music, as of poetical composition, is
mechanical, or masculine; the great, strong, beautiful
Apollo is a representative character in old mythology.
Pandora's box was the source of innumerable evils.
That is also mythology. But for woman's cause it
should be remembered that it was not Pandora's heart,
but her box, in which she was supposed to have accumulated evils and pestilences and disorders firom
masculine sources.
Perhaps there is more truth than mythology in the
story. Look at the feminine principles in your mind.
Unless they be married with something which is masculine-full of energy and full of action-they will often




234              MORNING LECTURES.
-be sources of annoyance, pain, distress, and disaster to
those about you.  The most beautiful and affectionate
principles in the human spirit, when not properly
balanced with their mates and counterparts, will assault
and break down the most beautiful relations subsisting
in the social sphere between men and women, between
women and women, and between men and men. We all
need more balance. We are frequently imperfect. All
men should have the power to modify and contain as well
as the power to impart and express.
Now the deductive principles, the method of the
German, come fomr the heart of thought. This method
is always feminine; reasoning from the center, outwardly.  Intuition is thus revealed; it is the spirit of
Nature; the life of our Mother, going from her central
fountains toward the surface.  Intuition always starts
from the germinal fountains of the immortal spirit; it
throws its showers of golden spray worldward —sometimes in  music, sometimes in poetry, sometimes in
affectionate speech, sometimes in terse affirmations of
great truths. Whatever way it expresses itself, it is still
truly feminine.  Truth is incessantly busy gathering
to itself the means and objects of gratification. Science
furnishes the parliamentary forms by which men may
deal with each other in their relations to the truth.
Women are not great inventors; neither are the womanly elements in any mind. The uncompanionated love
of' principles in a mafn's mind never invented anything.
The love of truth is a source of inspiration.  It is the
ilnteiietual sight and comprehension of truth, calm and
cool, without enthusiasm, full of steady-eyed science,
with an abiding sense that something like philosophy is




TRUTHS, MALE AND FEMALE.            235
at the bottom-from  such a mind, whether male or
female, inventions will come.  T'I'e sources and causes
ot' inventions are the same in individual minds of either
sex. Men are quicker in tie sphere of physical results.
No womanly element, however, in either man or woman,
can invent. Hence many men, like women, C; die without
issue." The woman element will inspire, give life, love,
affection, unchangeable devotion; but the masculine
element gives form, proportion, manifestation, embodiment.  The woman-nature imparts inspiration to the
intellectual faculties.  The  man-principles  of mind
think; they plan; they move; they bring in the details
of heartless science; they open the way through swamps
and mountains; they dig the channels and prepare for
the inflowing of the golden rivers of Paradise. The
conjugal blending of male and female truths in the
mind, is happiness; the healthy, beloved, beautiful offspring of these married truths are deeds of use and
beauty, of philanthropy, fraternity, and progression.
How can you put the doctrine of this lecture into
daily practice?  I answer, easily. First find out which
is the predominating sex in the state of your mindwhether there be more love of principles than an intellectual comprehension of them; or, on the other hand,
analyze yourself to find whether you have not more comprehension of principles than love in your deep affections
for them. Whichever way you find yourself unbalanced,
proceed at once to adjust your life to the married law.
For example, in America, we find the sentiment of liberty-i. e., the love of the principle-fifty  years in
advance of the comprehension of the requirements of
the principle.  Few persons, therefore, are competent




236             MORNING LECTURES.
to define what Liberty is.  In this respect the great
mass of the world is dumb.  But as to the sentimentthe feminine love of liberty —they are over-glad to sing
it and have it sung, and are willing to contribute their
property, their lives and sacred honor to defend and
establish it. And yet the intellectual conception of the
requirements of the Idea has scarcely entered the heart
of any American. Because the masculine side of the
principle is not yet married to the soul's love of it.
How can you be large, unsectarian, broad and philanthropic until you have the conception of justice, as
well as a profound love of it, so that you will give as
much freedom as you will take? You will not be
large-souled enough to open the doors of freedom to all
human beings, until you see, and love to see, that the
divine idea of Liberty positively calls upon you to be
just and true to its requirements, " at whatever cost."
And thus, also; with all the other truths.  Take,
for instance, the principle 6f marriage between the
sexes.  Love, unless regulated by wisdom, leads to discordant expressions.  The masculine element, the
intellect, recognizes adaptations — the science of physiological and temperamental relations between men and
women —and yet no relation known as marriage could
exist without love. The protecting sphere of wisdom
should be thrown around the conjugal love. That is
what is meant by having truth dwelling with and in
you, and your dwelling with and in the truth.  How
can you be 4" at home" unless you have a true conception of what it is to be-a man-a womnan-bound together
in true marriage?  Unless these conceptions and these
loves dwell with you every day, giving you largeness




TRUTHS9 MALE AND FEMALE.         237
of thought and warmth of soul, you will be restless and
discordant with all about you.  People who have none
of these loves and conceptions in their homes, live like
animals-full of strife, sensuality, profanity, evilspeaking, and destructiveness.
The inmates of these fashionable city homes repel
the doctrines of' "woman's rights," no matter how
plausibly or reasonably presented, saying that they do
not want more rights than they now enjoy. - They
detest such controversies.  Why?  Because they have
not yet so much as the love of human rights born in
them, much less the far-reaching idea, the intellectual
conception and comprehension.  A masculine truth in
the mind is simply admired. It does not warm your
affections; it is not necessary to your present happiness.
You may admire your own truth; you may think it is
superlatively good; the best thing; and yet you know
it is only a part of your intellect.  If it be a truth
which you love also, it will always cause you to glow
with gladness and work with joy.
The conclusion of all is, that all truths in the mind
need to be truly married. There can be no balance of
character on any other basis.  Any guardian angel,
any passage of poetry, any strain of music, any scene in
Nature, that will blend any two truths together and
make them one in your spirit, is the high-priest of life
to you. From that hour you will go happily forward
in your proper sphere of labor, doing good, and exhibiting the pleasant ways of wisdom and righteousness to
your fellow-men. The marriage of all principles in the
mind will be known as a revelation to that mind of
6" the unity of truth."




FALSE AND TRUE EDUCATION,
"A voice within us speaks the startling word,'Man, thou shalt never die!'"
Education  means eduction-drawing  out from
within-extracting that which is deposited.  It is the
work of quickening and bringing into active life dormant genius.  True education is a process of incubation-the internal is roused and evoked to a- natural
revelation.
Long ago Dr. Channing asserted that culture was
the guardian angel of civilization, and the Unitarian
organization has ever since been largely pervaded by
the beautiful spirit of his teachings, through which a
refining influence has gone out upon the whole world.
Universalists have proved useful educators in doing
battle against the dismal error of eternal punishment.
Orthodoxy has never recovered from  the effects of
their blows.
We now stand upon the threshold of a new dispensation-the most golden that ever rolled in from the sea
of the centuries.  We recognize the truth that the
human mind is a soil, and that Education is a cultivation
of that soil.  Education brings out that which is hidden, straightens the crooked, embellishes the unsightly,
and equalizes the vigor and action of the faculties.




FALSE AND TRUE EDUCeATION.         239
Mark how educational processes inaugurate a new
dispensation in the garden, on the prairie, in the Central
Park! See how tile uninvitingsvraste has been converted
into beautifully-carpeted  lawns and walks, the dirty
frog-ponds and cess-pools cleansed and dimpled all over
with Heaven's smiles-because they have been educated.
Accidents have been built up into beautiful caves, and
craggy cliffs subdued and embellished. How we admire
the beauty, purity, and attractiveness of what before
was filthy and repulsive!  Such is education in the
physical world.  And see how the inhabitants of this
planet are growing out of' their sectarian bonds by cultivating a higher knowledge of rocks, and shrubs, and
trees. All days are sacred in the universal temple.
It is open, like the atmosphere, every day of the week.
How beautiful and chastening to dwell with Nature.
Education is the same when applied to the human
mind. Look at the boy not truly educated, an(l you see
what the Central Park was before it felt the magic
hand of artists. Imagine what the Central Park will
be one hundred years hence, and you will obtain a hint
of what true education is destined to accomplish for the
human mind.
By education is not meant a knowledge of Latin and
Greek, nor familiarity with the routine of popular
fashionable accomplishments.  The truly educated are
those who have come out from Within, who have grown
up from the mental quadruped state to the full-blown
development of the immortal faculties and attributes.
Imitation is not the basis of true Education. Many
are but learned pigs! Some talented men are but
trained animals. They walk and talk after the manner




240              MORNING LECTURES.
of their masters.  Medical colleges and theological
seminaries inculcate simply the lesson of consulting and
following rigidly in the 4ootsteps of certain authorities.
Their students are taught to diagnosticate and minister
to diseases, and to pound and expound the Scriptures,
in strict accordance with an established rule.  Their
ministrations are simply a routine, a trained performance. Depart from the prescribed methods, and a withdrawal of the good opinion of teachers and patrons is
sure to follow.  And the excellence and importance of
these established codes are profoundly felt by fathers,
who give their money, and by mothers, who offer evening prayers that their sons may become ministers. Take,
for example, a family of boys. The strongest and most
vigorous goes out upon the soil, or he wields the energy
of his existence in the machine-shop.  Another, with
sympathetic nature, chooses the practice of medicine;
another the law; while the last, who is fond of graveyards and poetry, and is likely to have the dyspepsia,
and is not over-fond of manual labor, studies for the
ministry. Like a young ghost he goes to the theological school, and in due course of study comes out a
fashionable goblin of old orthodoxy. But no such person is truly educated.
True education, instead of cramping and incarcerating, liberates the mnind. It has no programme beyond
the discipline whose object is freedom-emancipation
from the Teacher, and perhaps also, from the doctrines
taught.  Spiritualists, like all who labor for the diffusion of this true type of education, are incubators and
social agitators.  How  powerfully have the recent
efforts of such educators moved the thinking-world!




FALSE AND TRUE EDUCATION.          241
Teachers often become consolidated, established, and
finally infidel to the progressive principles which underlie true education. Time was when one Quaker could
shake the country for ten miles in every direction.
Now it takes a section of country twenty miles every
way to shake one Quaker!  Whitefield and Wesley
each brought a new magnetic light and a higher spiritual
enthusiasm. They spread democratic religious convictions, and broke down the church barriers as a locomotive would demolish a temple of glass. Methodism
was a great Protestant movement. It was a religious
democratic innovation.  We welcome the general liberating influence of the lessons they taught. Now,
however, the Methodist Episcopal Church has become
fashionable, proud, respectable, consolidated, immovable, and a stumbling-block.
True education visits man somewhat as the true
horticulturist goes to plants, the pomologist to trees,
the agriculturist to the field, the astronomer to the
heavens, the musician to harmony, and as all true minds
labor in the departments of science and art. Such influences are exerted not to embarrass and imprison, but
to open, to extract, to call out, to unfold and perfect
from properties and essences that exist within.
Pythagoras listened, as he passed a blacksmith's
shop, and heard different musical sounds from the blows
of different sized hammers upon the anvil.  By those
sounds he was educated. He went to his room, suspended four hammers of different weight and form, and
striking them, elicited different notes, and so began his
education in the science of music. Aristotle worked
differently. To him the different sounds were different
11




242              MIORNING LECTURES.
facts, to be used to put his pupils in bondage. His lessons were heavily freighted with the despotic and absolute.  All who differed from  his propositions were
pronounced to be in error. Those who went out from
his school were simply his disciples. They lived and
died as such. The students of Pythagoras, on the other
hand, went out feeling that philosophic truths, and not
the teacher of them, were of eternal importance. But
they were not strong to withstand the influences and
temptations of the times, and they fell from power. So
will fall all Spiritualists who commit themselves too
largely to popular influences and aristocratical institutions. Let all reformers learn by the example of the
disciples of Pythagoras, to avoid every attempt to
accomplish great social and political changes by means
of popular institutions. The lesson is, that new social,
religious, governmental, and educational developments require new means and new men.  Old forms
and institutions subserve the ends for which they were
established. Such organizations usually die when their
purposes are fulfilled and their objects attained.
Nutrition, not education, is the first natural want
of the little child.  The first things that interest the
babe are its fihgers, its toes, and its stomach.  These
define the conscious needs and furnish the amusements
of the opening mind. In these it finds delight, wonder,
and satisfaction.  It soon, however, discovers that fingers, toes, and stomach, have limits.  New sources of
diversion are sought. New toys must be brought in.
The desire for nutrition being quickly gratified, other
and higher wants are unfolded; and so on and on,
and in and in, until you begin to hear from the spirit.




FALSE AND TRUE EDUCATION.          243
The body's dispensation slowly passes, and almost imperceptibly the spirit begins to unfold its nature and
needs. The young spirit takes the shape of its physical
home. Impressions are thus made upon the young mind
that cannot easily be eradicated.  Still more important
is it to know that the child will, ever and anon, manifest: traits and characteristics in accordance with what
acted upon it before birth.
Youhg Safford, the remarkable mathematical genius,
received his powers from his mother, who, before his
birth, became almost infatuated by her love of figures.
Another mother was so circumstanced with a penurious,
niggardly, and oppressive husband, that she was compelled to steal her pin-money from  her legal master,
habitually resorting to evasions and deceits to conceal
her practices.  Petty lying and theft became a settled
habit with her, and as a result, her next-born child was
as great a prodigy in lying and stealing as young Safford was in mathematics.  The ante-natal law in both
cases is precisely the same.
According to this ante-natal psychologic law, some
persons are born prodigies in music and others in murder. This is the law of ante-natal true education or
mis-education. Spiritualists do not fear to speak in
public on this subject-to mothers and to youth in each
other's presence. Thus Reformers are out-growing the
restraints of vulgar gentility or genteel vulgarity, and
do not hesitate to proclaim and redeem truths that shall
make mankind truly glorious, beautiful, and righteous
in all things.  Spiritualists, more than any other class,
have dared to investigate education back of birth, back
of the marriage relation.




244             MORNING LECTURES.
Science and Philosophy truly educate and liberate.
They open up a broad field, and lead the mind far out
into the.spheres of infinitude.  They bring facts, principles, and laws, to the understanding. Music and Art
also tend to liberate.  Not always are artists and musicians truly liberated, because of the false constraints
and circumstances of social life which hamper them; but
the influences they involuntarily exert, through the instrumentality of their works, are emancipatory and
exalting to all human kind.
But for one moment look at American theology!
That assumes to settle all doubtful questions.  Ecclesiasticism is the great Apollyon under the shadow of
whose wings are all the educational institutions of the
country. Children and young men usually come out of
them very sickly-if possible, more sickly in mind than
in body. The established system of Education under
the wings of the Church is a system of monotony. All
must appear, think, and act alike. Members and supporters must not differ. No vital controversy is permitted. By this system Science is regarded as dangerous,
and Philosophy as the handmaid of the devil. Art and
Music are good, and the Church approves and appropriates them. Poetry, too, it needs and uses. But touch
upon philosophic truths that tend to liberate, to break
up authority, and knock the bottom out of perditiondestroy the devil, extinguish the fires of hell —and at
once the Church says: "cYou go too far;" and forthwith the occupants of thirty thousand pulpits unitedly
oppose and strenuously resist your efforts, and they
zealously pray for the Almighty to restrain such infidel
tendencies.




FALSE AND TRUE EDUCATION.         245
Education, as well as the State, should be divorced
from the Church.
The human mind contains within itself all the elements for the development of a perfect character. The
child is an ovarium. The inmost mental germs ask to
be quickened, brought out; for then harmony and balance of the -faculties will result.  It is well to teach
Science, but we should be cautious and not overload
one side of the mind.  The world longs for balanced
and industrious minds.
Parents should  not be obeyed because they are
parents, but rather, because they are worthy of obedience. No wonder that some children set up for themselves; it is because they have no real parents.
Parentage means more than physiology. The temple
of Childhood is built without the sound of a hammer,
and obedience (in the true family relation,) is as natural
as the revolution of the planets.  The sun does not
compel obedience, but is simply in harmony with the
immutable laws by which obedience among lesser
bodies is natural and inevitable.
The Church teaches benevolence and charity for the
reason that Christ was charitable and benevolent, which
is no reason at all.  Yet I accept the record, and I
there read that Jesus, when a child, went with his
parents to Jerusalem, and after the feast of the Passover he remained in conversation with the doctors. His
parents returned for him, and his reply to their questions and invitation to accompany them home, was; "I
am about my Father's business." Here is an example
of disobedience to physiological parents.  He felt that
he had a spiritual Father, and hesitated not, under the




246              MORNING LECTURES.
pressure of the higher obligations, to transcend the prerogatives of his physiological parents.
The record informs us that Mary "laid the words
to her heart."  Let all mothers do likewise.  If your
child disobeys, lay the lesson to your heart, and learn
which was in fault. Who knows but a child is cabout
his Father's business" when he seeks the fresh wholesome air, in defiance of the parental command to stay
pent up in the house?  His spiritual Father tells him
that he needs air, exercise, and sunshine; if denied an
opportunity by the physiological parent, he steals away
out of the house, and thus learns burglary and deceit.
Apply the lesson and introduce a new law-the
God-code-in your families. Woe be to the fashionable
code,: conflicting with the divine, for thus come discord
and evil!
In  the  same record we read that spirits were
preached  to in prison; shut out from  the light of
heaven. Those who were free, as the truth alone makes
free, went to them who were in darkness and proclaimed
glad tidings of great joy. This morning it seems necessary to preach to minds in like condition.
The constant reproduction of human experiencewhich is owing to the spiral progress of the race, causes
many to disbelieve in human improvement.  It is true
that there are a few lost arts; a few fragments of
human discovery have been jostled out. Still, when we
examine the national tumults of the past, the wonder is
not that we have lost a few arts, but that we have saved
so many discoveries from oblivion. Some arts have
been lost because of the excess of business consequent
upon the immense accumulations of higher arts and




FALSE AND TRUE EDUCATION.          247
sciences. The universal currental drift-the unbroken
tide of matfrial and spiritual progress of the centurieshas gathered up and floated onward the fruits of all
nations and the inventions of all peoples. In our physical garments, in our furniture and adornments, in our
arts, sciences, mechanics, &c., are seen the wealth,
experience, discoveries and industries of Egypt, Europe,
and Asia.
Holding complete and perpetual communion with
the supernal world, is regarded as one of the " lost
arts."   Yet justly regarded, the experiences of peculiarly qualified persons, here and there in the past, give
golden promise to the individuals of all nations, that, in
the full-orbed future, every truly unfolded man, woman,
and child, shall have a distinct consciousness of an environing spiritual sphere. This fine art of holding cominunion with the Superior Life is not "lost," but is
demonstrably reaffirmed in modern experiences. Time
never was when man, as to his internal nature and
career, appeared in such regal splendor. Mankind are
just learning of man.
Men's minds are imprisoned by whatsoever is false,
evil, erroneous, authoritative, and respectable. We are
here on earth  expressly to grow.  The gospel we
announce is not essentially different from the spiritual
past, which commenced in Egyptian darkness.  We do
not ignore this past, though we are Protestants on a
boundless scale. We would speak to all who live in
mental prisons, for so the teachers of another world
frequently speak to us.
The prejudiced people of the churches are "in
prison." Their very beautiful compartments are num



248              MORNING LECTURES.
bered as are the cells of criminals.''The prison-leepers
(the clergy) would fear to have me speak to their people,
lest our spiritual truths might make their prisoners too
free! Not a pulpit minister in this city would exchange
with me, through fear that the lessons of mental freedom we teach might overthrow authority and liberate
imprisoned congregations.
Now, think of the wealth and beauty of the immortal human spirit!  Artists and poets almost exhaust
their powers in portraying the beauty and glory of outward creation. But this great natural universe, in all
its sublimity, is nothing when compared with the essential properties and immortal capacities of man's spirit.
A man who can conceive of an eternal Truth, gives evidence that he, like the truth, is eternal.  His career is
coextensive with his truth.
A man who conceives- of Beauty demonstrates that
he possesses it within himself, and that he is destined to
become that which he conceives.  The power to conceive of an immortal spirit, stript of perishable flesh,
deprived of its material avoirdupois, guarantees to- the
conceiving spirit a future and immortal existence.
All Truth, all Beauty, all Philosophy, and all Science,
that crop out from  man's mental tree, are prophecies
that mankind are to be what they thus have the power
to apprehend or conceive. In the depths of the past,
spiritual men dreamed of a great political and social
Republic. Americans have come exceedingly near realizing that dream. Plato's Atlantis is more than realized
in America.  The wonders of Arabian Nights' Entertainments, however surprising, do not begin to portray
the real scientific developments of the nineteenth cen



FALSE AND TRUE EDUCATION.          249
tury. Man's mind is superior to Art, Science, Philosophy, and Theology. All these have come through
him in the course of the centuries.
We have, I repeat, no hostility to whatever in the
past is good, true, beautiful, or great. The good of the
olden time is living still. But those who are shut up
in prisons by the foolish education of the past do not
dare to open themselves to the education of the present.
To bring such out of religious darkness we are first to
teach that all men are yet in slavish bondage to their
various habits, passions, and popular opinions.
We live in the midst of a great city. People are
thrown into c"prison" by the police of custom.  Our
children are educated -to resemble each other in dress,
in public movements and private deportment. Children
must not differ from the neighbors' children; ladies'
bonnets are all of one absurd pattern.  " Better be out
of the world than out of fashion."
Any principle of Truth that will emancipate you is a
Moses or Jesus to you; no matter whether it comes to
you in the form of a book, a tract, a piece of music, or
a fragment of a poem.  Any thing-person, influence,
or principle-that lifts you out of your mental prison
and emancipates you, is worthy of your truest devotion
until another and a newer teacher comes in answer to
your newer necessities.
It was remarked by an intelligent lady in my hearing that she had taken into serious consideration which
should take the precedence, Reason or Rags. After
due deliberation, with prayer superadded, she concluded
that Rags had it, and Reason, with its protests, was
forced to allow the trial to go by default; she wears
1 1 -x



250             MORNING LECTURES.
dresses as long and as graceful as others, and yields
her judgment and experience to the tyrannical bondage
of a contemptible Fashion.  Not only do women need
emancipation, but men also-for they are in prison to
Custom. The leaders of Fashion cannot take a step
forward without the approval of fathers, husbands, and
brothers.  It is almost in vain for women to seek to
emancipate themselves from this despotic rule without
the aid and support of their associates and masculine
acquaintances. Thus men imprison women, and women
turn the.keys of Custom on the young members of the
household.  Prison  is built upon prison, but the
Spiritual Reformer should work to give freedom to the
captives.
Many intelligent persons are in prison to c" the fear
of death."  Modern light comes as a savior to the dungeon-door to all in this gloomy prison.  It comes, also,
to teach the lesson of charity for those who entertain
conflicting opinions. The Christian and Jew are to be
regarded as equally honest.  If you have not equal
charity for both, you are in the prison of prejudice.
Accept the idea of human progress, and you rise out of
the " slough of despond," and forthwith begin to enjoy
the glorious liberty of the Sons of God.
Some Spiritualists have been inclined to move off
from the world, like Shakers, and combine themselves
for the establishment of industrial and economical communities. They will not be successful, because they do
not entertain sectional opinions, but believe in the private efficacy of universal principles, and repudiate individual authority. For this reason practical Spiritualists
will remain in the world. They will wield a wide influ



FALSE AND TRUE EDUCATION.          251
ence directly on the institutions of society. They have
the true idea that the way to reform society is not to
remove from it, but to make it what it should be from
its centers..The theory and practice of isolation are
to be overthrown by individual growth from within.
The spiritual principle recognizes germs of immortal excellence in the lowest, meanest, and most depraved.
Every man on earth is your compeer. The recognition
of this fraternal truth not only gives dignity to your
character, but leads your Brother to lay aside all narrow prejudices and passions toward you and others.
No man or woman, educated to realize all the noble
capacities of the human spirit, can consent to pass a
life unworthy of innate powers and endowments. When
every man comes before you as a compeer, in his innermost, you will not be unfaithful to the spirit of universal
love. Popular religion does not fraternally recognize
any who differ from a prescribed standard. Htow different the influence of the doctrine that all human
beings are to meet in the Summer-Land 
Strive by will-power and inward growth to live less
in- bondage to circumstances. No matter what or who
may be your prison-keeper, put him or it under your
feet. Accept the higher convictions, and you will experience a beautiful interior resurrection. Then you will
also become a minister of love and wisdom to those
about you! Internal growth is the only real growth.
Start from the center, grow from within, and expand
fraternally and lovingly day by day.
Truths cannot be engrafted. You cannot argue a,
belief in immortality into the skeptic's mind.  Some
change may gradually or suddenly come over him-an




252             MORNING LECTURES.
accident, an impulse might awaken and quicken his
interior consciousness-and he may rise into fellowship
with principles and "6 feel his immortality," without an
argument. A man who can be educated to a belief in
immortality, can be also educated out of it. The understanding takes its bias from outward circumstances and
education.
Soon as you see that malformations of character
come from internal and external conditions, you rise up
into a new and more charitable estimate of:nankind.
You enter the temple of Brotherhood. As you grow
from within, so are you liberated. You may not be
able to escape physically from the prison of your circumstances, but you can with these truths rise from
within, and thus grow as naturally as a tree blossoms.
One such emancipated individual is a Redeemer to the
world.  When all are thus emancipated, all will be
redeemed. When all are redemed from ignorance, the
whole world will live in accord with Deity.




THE EQUALITIES AND INEQUALITIES OF
HUMAN NATURE.
"Why, when all is bright and happy, should a gloom
Be spread around us? Oh, blind and thoughtless soul!'Tis the same POWER that reigns, and the same LOVE
Is traced alike, in sunshine and in shade."
This morning I feel impressed with this subject:
The application of the law  of Love-i. e., the Godcode-to the equalities and the inequalities of human
nature.
Since the advent of the harmonial dispensation, thousands of minds have become familiar with the idea that
God is essentially present in the compounds of the physical world, as well as in the finest and most sublimated
substances in the spiritual realm. This idea does not
affirm that there is as much of Infinite love-essence in
the organism of a bird as there is in the constitution of
a globe; but so far as the life of the bird is concerned,
it is just as truly and essentially God as is the life of
the globe. Drops contain the properties and principles
of their fountain.  The heart is the companion of the
brain; the lungs co-operate fraternally with the heart;
the stomach receives, digests, works, and imparts for
the whole body. It should be remembered, however,
that the brain receives from the heart just what the




254             MORNING LECTURES.
lungs are empowered to communicate to it; that the
lungs receive just what the stomach is permitted to
afford; and that the stomach does its best (i suppose
you think that is bad enough) with the unsuitable material which you thoughtlessly cram into it, often when
the body does not call for anything. The clock says
"Dinner is ready," and the bell rings, and you eat,
whether hungry or not.  Many of you know that you
eat " to the damnation of your body;" meaning the
destruction of your physiological harmony, which is about
as much damnation as most people can bear. And yet a
man may continue to damn himself all the way across
this terrestrial life, but must stop when he sees the
Summer-Land. Public opinion there, and the divine
codes of government as exemplified there, array and
combine themselves against him. And yet man's power
to think and to act remains. He may double and treble
and quadruple the intensity of his troubles.  He may
become infatuated with the idea that, through voluntary
discords and consequent sufferings, he is working out
God's secret design.  He is, however, altogether and
unhappily mistaken; and yet there is another side to
this conviction, as I shall partly show in this morning's
discourse.
The stomach, you will recollect, does its best with
the materials furnished and consigned to it. Give rose
leaves, however beautiful, to the silk-worms and do you
suppose it would spin you any silk,? Not a fiber could
it centrifugate.  It must have its own food-the multicaulis; although it may feed on other leaves besides
those of the mulberry. Give the noiseless worm its
appropriate alimnent, and beautifully it will wind off




EQUALITIES AND INEQUALITIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 255
for human use the fibers of its silken vitality. Such is the
God-code outside of man.
Now let us apply this law to ourselves.  Suppose
we feed the human bo-dy with inappropriate aliment.
Under such management can the lungs receive from the
stomach what the heart most needs?  Do you suppose
that the heart, which depends on the lungs for its
blood, can bestow upon the brain those blessings which
are its just rewards and requirements?  The brain is
the source of which the heart is but the regulating
center-the point of government and administration
through which all the blood flows-the viaduct, the
governing organ; and the lungs are the channel of the
river which flows into and feeds the heart; and the
stomach is the originator of the stream that flows into
and feeds the lungs; and the substances you eat and the
fluids you drink are the sources out of which the
streams, the rivers, the lakes, the seas, and the oceans
of motion, life, sensation, and intelligence, are made.
By too well-remembered experience you know that
"; the troubled sea casts up mire and dirt."  That is the
reason why so many people get angry and swear; anger
is the s" mire" and the profanity is the 6" dirt," which is
thrown up from incompatible foods and drinks, or from
your discordant relation to the outer world and its
inhabitants.
God is just as truly exhibited in the operation-of the
stomach as in the operation, of the brain.  Discord is
opposed to the Spirit of God; Harmony is an exponent of the Divine code, and is infinitelv expressive of the
Divine heart. The revelation of spiritual principles, in
the present age, has brought to human comprehension




256              MORNING LECTURES.
this wondrous gradation of the degrees of deific power
and love and wisdom, showing that the social subordinates, or what are called low-natures in the human
scale, are indispensable to the existence and reciprocations of the highest.  The principle of music runs, ripples, vibrates, throbs, and sings through all degrees of
life; the principle of God everywhere present, over All
and in All.
What is God? Let us not stop to answer, because
every mind in the universe is organized td furnish for
itself the answer, which will be appropriate to the
necessities of its state and phase of moral development.
You may behold God as a person, or as a trinity, or as
filling a whole pantheon, if you be so educated; or, if
your education has emancipated you from personalities,
trinities, pagodas and pantheons, then you may be at
liberty to assume that "6 God is a Principle."  Said the
Platonists, "God is love."  But love is a principle;
therefore must you not say that God is a principle?
But you thus dispossess him of personality, which is
"- atheism" in the opinion of all Christians who cling to
creeds.  Love is a fountain! It comes not as a person;
not as a man or woman.  For love is a principle by
which all things are filled with vitality, animated,
expanded, and made beautiful for the temples of eternity. This fountain of love is God, if the Bible definition be accepted. If love is God, and if God is love,
then God is a principle; so that, according to the rules
of reason, the Divine personality is dissolved in the
immensity-of the conception.
6 "Fair truth! fbr thee alone we seek," is saying,
" God, for thee alone we seek." This statement is true,




EQUALITIES AND INEQUALITIES OF HUMAN NATURE, 257
whether you say it with your will or not.  Why are
you drawn onward from day to day and from year to
year?  Why is the insensate particle that floats in the
sun-beam drawn toward its proper place in the physical
world? The particle moves onward not because it
knows its proper sphere and destiny, but because there
is a subtile principle of mysterious attraction [love]
which fills the particle, to which it resistlessly responds,
and on the bosom of which it harmoniously floats to its
place in the universe.
So onward are you moving, in the will of the Godcode. In the golden beams of an eternal Sun, floating
in the baptismal fount of infinite love, [attraction,]
mankind are moving onward to what is beyond; leaving
the past to take care of itself, to bury its dead-pressing
strenuously toward the great surrounding immensityever expanding and ever reaching into the beautiful
future. Not because we will it, but because we cannot
but obey the attraction of God. The essence of the
divine love is within all-just as truly in the warrior as
in s" the man of peace-;" just as truly in the cannon that
projects its message of iron as in the beautiful plants
that load the air with fragrance. The laws of mechanics
are supremely beautiful. Angles prophesy ovals; octagons indicate the coming of circles; spirals foreshadow
onward moving principles. Rocks in the globe presuppose the ultimate pulverization of them into tillable
earth.  From  crude rocks come the beautiful soils on
which flowers and harvest grains grow, feeding the
lower animals first, then the higher, and finally the
highest; thus preparing the fine atoms of earth for the




258             MORNING LECTURES.
formation of a Summer-Land, in a higher and more
glorious realm.
And the equalities and inequalities of human nature
are all comprehended by and reconciled with the grand
scheme. To those who do not see the comprehending
plan and principle, the inequalities and iniquities of
humanity are regarded as the manifestations of the
devil and of original sin. But to those who do see the plan
and the principle, mankind's involuntary missteps are
deemed the incidental manifestations of the progressive
development of the Divine Spirit through the human
family.  Men will act toward their fellows in accordance with their estimates of human nature in general.
If, for example, you consider that the asteroids, which
occupy the space between the planets, were once one
globe, but thrown asunder in consequence of the exceeding moral depravity of the people who once inhabited
that globe, as one Rev. Dr. Cummings holds and proclaims, then you will very likely also believe the same
with respect to the discords of men's homes and habits,
and you will be inclined to act in accordance with such
conviction, rendering you a very morose neighbor and
a bad citizen. But, on the other hand, suppose you
conceive and receive the glorious gospel, that ", God is
present in all things," that, as David said, if you should
descend to " the belly of hell," or to the uttermost parts
of the earth, yet you would find the spirit and laws of
Jehovah there; do you not think that your belief in
intrinsic evil would depart, and that a flood of love and
worshipful gratitude would pour from your soul toward
the whole humanity.?
The. equalities and inequalities of human nature are




EQUALITIES AND INEQUALITIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 259
from the infinite fountain of progress, just as drops of
water contain the properties and principles of the ocean
whence they came.  individual qualities contain the
properties of the Father and Mother.  You remember
Pope's couplet:
"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose spirit Nature is, and God the soul."
If Pope will permit this emendation, his lines will
meet the discoveries of later times.  The qualities of
human nature partake of the properties and principles
of the Infinite Spirit. Equalities and Inequalities are
incidental to these qualities. These manifest themselves
first, in affection.  The little child clings lovingly to
its mother; the little bird that is born does the same.
The progeny of the different animals do not learn to
love their mothers. The lesson of love is born with the
heart.  Every living soul returns to the fountain for
sustenance of affection-for the loving magnetic embrace, and finally for all the fertilizing influences which
eventually emancipate the little one from its immediate
dependence upon the fountain. Such love-is deeper than
the intellect; it comes from the essences of God and
Nature.
The inequalities of human nature, when particularly
traced and analyzed, arise not from the Fountain of Love,
but from the sphere of relations, adjustments, and manifestations.  The Fountain is always the same, and the
streams are like their source, but in the sphere of matter and  of its organs, inequalities  are  mamnifested.
Spiritually  unfolded  minds regard  inequalities  as
imperfections incident to the ascending flight of progressive principles. Think how differently mankind




260              MORNING LECTURES.
are put up in their physiological and phrenological
organs! One person is sensitive and impressible; another is clad, as it were, With impenetrable iron.  One
is alive to the impulses and requirements of love;
another treats affection as though it were a piece of
merchandise.  One mind has the faculty of analyzing
propositions.; another has not the slightest conception
of such a faculty. These special inequalities are equalities in the grand system.  One person is incased in
powerful organic armor, adapted to the most Roman
and heroic work among the world's solid unresponsive
substances; another is so constitutionally built as to
tremble and shiver, like an aspen leaf, in the slightest
breath from society, or from an antagonistic emotion
in other natures; there are yet others, who, positive to
earth, are easily moved by the fine celestial currents
that flow through the encompassing atmosphere from
higher spheres. How differently organized, how unequal, are those persons!  Suppose society should accidentally jostle them into the marriage relation! The
iron-clad character legally bound to the sensitive. Progeny come, but they are discordant. One child is born
with little brain and much body; the next, perhaps,
all brain and no body.  One dies from an excess of
physical vigor, producing fevers in early childhoodcroup, obstructions, and inflammations; another dies
from an excess of cerebral nervousness, not because the
brain is too large, but because the body is too small.
In these cases it is possibly well that they do not live.
The great GOD, both Father and Mother, careth for all
-- ctaketh knowledge of the falling sparrow, and
lights a world with glory;" just as attentive to the




EQUALITIES AND INEQUALITIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 261
lilies of the valley as to ",the highest seraph that
adores" in the infinite temple of truth.
I am sorry for every mind that cannot, from a lofty
eminence of interior growth, contemplate the empire of
inequalities as a part of the plan. When one has tasted
of the Pierian spring of immortal truths, and drank,deeply tlhereof, and descended to the terrestrial valleys
of discordant experience, then regret and sorrow for
others blossom in the troubled and sympathizing heart.
Those who have never been on the Alpine summits of
ideas, know nothing of the high countries and magnificent scenes above their heads.
The gentle Nazarene was filled with concern for
people who had no concern for themselves.  He understood their conditions, and appreciated wants and needs
which they had not arisen either to express or comprehend.  What mean these pulpit sayings that some
people ought to be condemned for not taking as much
interest in themselves as a high-minded, benevolent,
spiritual person may feel for them? Is not such preaching illogical, and philosophically absurd? A child takes
as much interest in itself as it is qualified and educated
to take. The Nazarene wept in deep sorrow, and would
have philanthropically gathered the chosen people
together " as a hen gathers her chickens." But do you
think that the s" chickens" deserve to be consigned to
hell because they did not feel in their own behalf what
" the hen" felt for them?
Inequalities in human nature are equalities wher
viewed from  the center of the system.  They are not
necessarily imperfections.  Some men are by naturt
inclined to work in iron and stone, to delve and dig, to




262              MORNING LECTURES.
scrub and cook, to eat and to sleep; other men are
qualified to do many exactly opposite things, and, to
turn the labors of the other party into channels which
widen as they approach the world's wants. These inequalities are imperfections tending to correct themselves through  humanity's growth.  There must be
different notes and ascending scales in music-octaves
one above the other-and whole notes must be divided
and fractionalized. Feet and hands, stomach and bowels,
liver and pancreas, and kidneys, are as necessary to
society as individual man. What would society do
without governing organs-without lungs, and heart,
and brain? And there are individuals who, by organization, seem qualified to perform these various functions
in the social body.
I come now to make the application. The God-code
develops the inequalities as well as the equalities of
human nature. Men who hold that benevolence is an
intellectual abstraction, consider themselves, on account
of their large mental capacities, authorized to use people
who are weak enough to allow themselves to be used.
But persons who have a high feeling, which, like amber,
pours over the intellectual faculties and gives a divine
color to all their decisions with reference to those
beneath them, are certain to make the laborers feel that
they are not useless, or menial, or subordinate, but as
essential in the great plan of the Infinite as are those
whom they may be serving.  And this is the practical
lesson of this discourse.  No mind under the influence
of the Divine principle, will ever intentionally cause an
inferior to feel his inferiority.  In the true order of
humanity no souls will ever realize that they are hands




EQUALITIES AND INEQUALITIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 263
and feet, or inferior parts and indifferent organs, in the
social economy of the rudimental sphere.
Such is the divine government in the Land of perpetual Summer beyond the stars.  Can the head say to
the hand, " I have no use of you?"  No wise head ever
thinks such language. The feet and the hands are delicately cared for and preserved by wise brains, even with
love's refinement; for the hands and the feet are
regarded as both spiritual and beautiful. " All are but
parts of one harmonious whole."  Look at the feet and
hands of society in the South, whose skins are dark, who
are down at the very basis of human concern and interest.
The Divine principles of love and justice teach you to
consider them as essential to the great workings and
ends of the infinite plan as you are.
There are two kinds of ambition: one causes you to
desire the elevation of the world; the other to seek to
elevate yourself. If you would be truly elevated, aspire
to lift those about you; you will rise with the tide of the
divine power which you freely pour out upon others.
The ocean which ceaselessly throbs, and is so remorseless to thousands, is not possessed with the silly ambition to be raised in the estimation of the world.  The
ocean contents itself with being truly and faithfully an
ocean.  It is unselfish, and is therefore Godlike.  It
buoys up innumerable vessels, freighted with countless
human beings, each the center of diversified interests.
They float confidingly on its bosom, flying the flag of the
government that authorized their sailing.
Thus you have embarked for the voyage of immortality. The ocean is the God-code of the universe, the
love-ocean of principles, filled with countless personal




264             MORNING LECTURES.
loves and individualized minds. This ocean floats us
all upon its bosom,_together with inconceivable myriads
who have gone before us in the voyage of eternity.
Now if this divine love-ocean was concerned with
and for itself-was exceedingly anxious that somebody
should get on the shore, and prayerfully tell the universe of its " greatness" and c" wisdom" and s" love," it
would be a very selfish and treacherous ocean for you
to trust your barks upon. But unlike the Atlantic, the
divine ocean sympathizes and throbs harmoniously with
the vessels which it lovingly floats; and in this way,
(for no other way is possible,) it is lifted and made
unutterably happy by the accumulated happinesses which
it has bestowed unselfishly upon others.
Inequalities are as natural as equalities. All efforts
to fix human beings upon a social level of life and
government, are illogical and impracticable. We are
qualified to breathe air alike, to see alike, to hear alike;
for the principles of life are the same; but some can
hear no music in the songs of birds; and take no high
happiness in the joys of others beneath them. Men and
women cannot become alike in any of these great spheres
of action; and yet the divine principle of Love gives to
each an equality of existence to the extent of his or her
capacity.  It is always " more blessed to give than to
receive."  Self-elevation is based in selfishness  it is
the wrong road to happiness and self-improvement.
Forget how you personally look when working in a
good cause; keep away from the looking-glass of public
opinion; be natural, thoroughly honest, and full of
integrity; then virtue's influence will always flow out




EQUALITIES AND INEQUALITIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 265
from you, healing the spirits of those who are crushed
by misfortune and sorrow.
We read that miracles were performed in the olden
time.  What were they?  Christ raised 6" the dead."
Can you not go and do likewise? How often you might
be a Christ to people about you! How many minds and
hearts are dead and in their graves-the graves of
unemployed faculties.  Spirits who have come to you
may have raised the dead in you. Can you not also do
something for the dead in others? Intellectual and
Spiritual faculties, in many minds about you, are yet in
their dark tombs. They await the heavenly summons!
Can you not be the one to sound the trumpet of resurrection?  Can you not knock at the door of the sepulcher? Call you not speak the magic word that will
awaken the sleeper and bring forth life from the silent
tomb? Many faculties in those about you are perishing
for lack of air and exercise.  Do you not feel sad for
such? Do you not often feel more sad for many people
than they do for themselves?
If you would perform miracles, if you would raise
the dead, if you would bring the kingdom of heaven on
earth, apply the God-code, which is impartial love and
progressive wisdom, to all who come within the circle of
your consciousness.
12




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND,
"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye
believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"
It appears to me that the foregoing words are
peculiarly applicable to the subject-matter of this discourse.
The third chapter of John opens one of the richest
mines of Platonic Philosophy. You remember that the
doctrinAe of the ", new birth," or what is theologically
called "c regeneration," is there introduced in behalf of
persons who were imperfectly generated and badly
born to start with-minds only half or two-thirds made
up, "sent into this breathing world" full of physiological mistakes and psychological errors; which must be
either voluntarily outgrown, or else involuntarily agonized through to a successful issue-" regeneration"
being theologically prescribed as the true medicine, the
only Divine plan, projecting over immense sins, shortening the road to Abraham's bosom, economizing or
transcending the methods of justice, and saving the sinner from the pit of eternal and well-merited punishments. But I believe that all who voluntarily leave the
world, the flesh, alcohol, tobacco, and the other devils,
practically set their spirits and their bodies sailing
toward the immortal Future. Such pay the genuine




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    267
coin at the ticket-office of repentance; they comply with
the conditions, and are guaranteed a safe and happy
voyage to the heavenly kingdom.
But look at the Church plan. From the many probations that are granted and accepted, and judging
from the many false steps and moral mistakes made by
the converts, it is probable that multitudes run off the
track. Notwithstanding the fact that they voluntarily
enlisted in the spiritual army, purchased tickets in the
pew-department, and started with all the best sympathies of the brothers and sisters in Jesus, with the combined prayers of a mighty congregation to keep their
souls steady toward the goal; still great numbers
switch off and run for years in the world's popular
tracks.
Nicodemus could not properly understand the mysterious simplicity of a spiritual birth.  I never saw a
Nicodernus that could.  A  materialist, a man who
believes only in the obvious, in weights and measures,
who acquires his knowledge through the external, is a
man whose thoughts extend only to the question which
was put by Nicodemus. One of the most beautiful Sons
of the Infinite Father replied to him in astonishment:
c" Art thou a master in Israel" —that is, art thou a
learned lawyer, a doctor of divinity, a responsible public man, a governor over many people —" and knowest
not these things?"  Think of a leader of the people,
standing up in authority before multitudes, influencing
their feelings and conduct, and yet knowing not that
*" that which is flesh, is flesh, and that which is spirit, is
spirit."
To be born of "water" as well as of c" the spirit," is




268              MORNING LECTURES.
too much like the hydropathic system of cure to be congenial to most persons.  It is supposed to be more
pleasant and less laborious to be c" born of the spirit"of sentiment, of good endeavor, and of the conscious
possession of high motives.  But it is quite too practical to be also born of a clean body, which means
"water."  I am  rejoiced and grateful that some such.man as John the Baptist-the s" forerunner"-perceived
the beautiful emblematic induction, and made the
demonstration that the physical temple is the basis on
which the intellectual and spiritual superstructure must
be erected-that a true c" new birth" begins in the body
department.
"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe
not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly
things?"  That is to say, if a person, when testifying
of common earthly things, is known to be as truthful
and unimpeachable as others who believe a very different creed-known to be as reliable in his speech and in
character as his orthodox neighbors-why can you not
as readily believe the same person when he soberly
speaks of elevated things, which exist out of and beyond
the sensuous sphere?  The question is very simple.
Nicodemus, not being acquainted with the science of
electricity and meteorology, could not understand what
caused the wind to rush from one place and blow into
another. Inasmuch as he could not comprehend the
law of the blowing tempests, nor the wafting of the
gentle evening zephyrs, how could he understand the
simple mystery of the c" birth of the spirit"? The progressive growth of the spirit in truth and right is more
mysterious than the coming and going of terrestrial




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    269
winds. Inasmuch, therefore, as most men are yet ignorant of the common phenomena of the physical world,
is it not presumptuous in them to stand up in the midst
of this temple of God and proclaim their superficial
skepticisms  concerning  profounder, deeper, vaster,
more elevated things? Hundreds pompously denounce
spiritual things while they know little or nothing of the
underlying laws and refined conditions by which these
marvelous visions and rich experiences are obtained.
Such minds arrogantly presume to sit in final judgment
upon the spiritual experience of others. The Nazarene when answering Nicodemus, was compelled to raise
the question of personal veracity.  o "If," he said substantially, c" I am worthy of being believed when telling
you of ordinary things-if I am entitled to be trusted
in earthly things-why should not my testimony be
accepted when I speak of things elevated, supersensuous, celestial, and heavenly?"
Every mind intuitively recognizes the eternal value
of pure purposes. The converse of the proposition is as
self-evident-i. e., the eternal disadvantage of immoral
purposes, nesting and breeding in the centers of individual life.  We should urge this statement of the
question, were it not true that the divine constitution
of the material and spiritual universe so works, that out
of darkness light is born-out of evil, good-out of'
lowest imperfections the flowers of purity bloom on the
high summits of all things, principalities, and principles.  Were this progressive redemptiveness not true,
it would then be true to say —as do the orthodox, who
see only absolute and irreconcilable opposites in the
structure and method of the Divine government-that,




270             MORNING LECTURES.
inasmuch as eternal value is stamped upon the soul with
pure motives, so is there ", eternal condemnation" written upon the soul that is moved with immoral motives.
In all statements, you perceive, there are some items of
truth.
The material point of the present discourse is now
reached —viz., the influence which immoral motives and
impure purposes exert upon man's interior-upon the
centers of his life, character, endowments, and faculties
of his inmost, deathless spirit.  High purposes invariably expand and exalt the best powers of the immortal
mind-giving harmonial roundness, symmetrical beauty,
and celestial completeness of inward growth. Pure
motives go before the individual like a divine magnetdrawing the impressible spirit pleasurably onward, over
all surrounding evils and prevailing embarrassments.
There can be no defeat in that spirit which is actuated
every day and in all moments by the largest, highest,
purest purposes of which it can conceive.  It has been
clearly shown that the rich and powerful Jews, who
persecuted and finally killed the body of the poor divine
friend of humanity, supposing themselves successful the
while, were really and totally defeated —bankrupt and
overthrown in every exalted sense; but the Man, who
passed so completely through the terrific ordeal, was
victorious every instant of time-outriding the temptations of passion, quelling the storms of the ages, and
stilling the tempest of cupidity and selfishness.  The
Jews, successful in worldly matters, were in all other
respects utterly defeated.  Behold the effect of that
martyrdom upon the world. It is teeming with beautiful sentiments of love and charity-with glorious civil




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    271
and educational institutions, that have cropped out and
blossomed from the fertile influence of that one example
of a good Man dying that his truths might live.
High purposes alone presided. If the Infinite Father
was so moved from the interior-this is the orthodox
proposition-as to prepare and send to earth his only
begotten, then the Father was actuated by the highest,
deepest, and most heavenly purpose. He intended good
to all and harm to none. Orthodoxy makes a sad theory
of it. But the spiritual thought, within the crude doctrine, is not destitute of truth. The theory of the flowering out and incarnation of the Divine Spirit in a
human being, exhibits love infinitely higher than force,
and broader than intellect, and more influential-subduing enmities, overcoming evils, and banishing from
the earth, passion and strife and war. This is the
spiritual picture within the theoretical incarnation. In
this light the incarnation has been a success.  Practically and philosophically, he alone is truly successful
who is capable of embosoming and exemplifying those
high motives which Mary's Son felt, inculcated, and
manifested in the far distant past.
The infallible history of each person is written in
the Summer-Land. A man who lives for himself; loses
himself. If he wishes to gain the world, he as certainly
loses it. The death-dealing immoralities of his purposes
demoralize all parts of him, curtail his beautiful powers,
paralyze his natural energies, and defeat him every step
of the way, from the cradle to the coffin.
But a consolation is at hand.  Death is a chemical
screen-a  strainer, a  finely-woven  sieve-through
which, by the perpetual flow of the laws of Mother




272              MORNlING LECTURES.
Nature, individuals are passed on to their true stations
in the Summer-Land.  The squares in the death-sieve
are so exceedingly fine, that only finest particles and
certain powers and principles can go through; while on
the earth-side is peeled off and cast down a lifeless mass
of bones and fleshly corruption.
A process of refinement is this wondrous chemicosieve death-experience.  The spirit with the encasing
soul, hidd'en centers of life, all the characteristics that
have distinguished, and all the motives that have influenced the person —all these easily pass through the
death-strainer, the screen or sieve; while the physical
body and its particles, which cannot pass through, are
dropped; and what is more gratifying, with the physical
body are left behind many of those hereditary predispositions and abnormal conditions which gave rise to
discordant passions and false appetites, called demons
and unclean spirits.  The causes of these demons and
unclean spirits remain on the earth-side of the deathstrainer, while the effects, which those causes exerted on
the soul, being so fine and so mixed with the soulsubstance, pass through, and remain with the individual
long after he has attained to his social center in the
Summer-Land.
Persons, or, rather, individualities, are not therefore
destroyed by death. Nothing is changed save the dense
physical form and the low material world in which they
live. This chemical screenage, this extraordinary refining
process and preparation, is one which all have to submit to at the end of the present life. The effect there is
like the birth of each into the present world.  Mluch is
elevated to the world into which we come at birth;




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    27T
while, at the same moment, and by the same process,
much is left behind in the reproductive sphere.
In the temperaments and characteristics of the individual are laid the foundations of the different" " Social
Centers" that exist in the different mansions of the
Father's house that was not built with hands. Those
mansions, or, to continue the figure, the different rooms,
are inhabited by classes of persons who have taken with
them, through the death-strainer, different intellectual,
spiritual, and social characteristics —integral attributes
and temperamental individualities of character-ruling
affections, and the effects of propensities that have been
generated and strengthened by long-continued practices
in this world before death.
Regeneration is a spiritualizing process, the same
after death as it sometimes is before.  If the person
starts from earth interiorly cleansed, he will arrive at
the next sphere. in a corresponding condition. If the
persons start from their death-screener with the earth,
the flesh, and the demoniac influences impressed upon
their souls, they will arrive at and sojourn in appropriate c" Social Centers," with the accumulated effects still
influencing the inner life and the manifestations of the
affections.  Thus radical differences in men and women
cause different societies in the next sphere. Are there
not many persons about you, perhaps dwelling every
day in your homes, who have s "no part or lot" in your
cherished sentiments and happiest experiences?  You
sit at the dining-table, you look into the eyes of a person on the opposite side, and lo; you are strangers by
leagues, perhaps you are whole ages asunder. Different
sentiments, different attractions, and different social
1 2*




274              MORNING LECTURES.
habits, give rise to different societies, Perhaps husband
and wite, or brother and sister, though livino in this
world in the same house, eating at the same table, will
become members of spiritual societies as far apart as the
poles asunder. Society would be everywhere monotonous, both on earth and in the succeeding sphere, if individuals were all alike, all cast with the same combination
of temperaments.
You begin plainly to comprehend, I think, that if
these things are true on earth-about you and in youdeath not destroying you, there must be great 6" diversities" among the inhabitants in  the Summer-Land.
These various super-mundane societies are predicated
upon the continuation of the radical distinguishing characteristics of men and women.  There are, consequently, societies embodying many of the effects of the
immoral motives and degrading purposes by which
women and men have been actuated and made miserable
in this world.
This is an important and momentous tr~uth. The
Summer-Land is a natural state of human existence —
growing out of' the universal system of causes and effects,
laws and ultimates, just as logically and scientifically
as to-day grew out of yesterday.  Are you not to-day,
in all parts of your being, the legitimate result of what
the laws, conditions, and experiences of yesterday made
you? You are dead to yesterday. Your life is here
and now. All you know of yesterday is remembrance.
No man or woman can live in any past hour, except in
the chambers of intangible memory.  You live Now,
and thus it will be innumerable ages hence.  The universal verdict of reason will be'this ever-present con



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-L&ND.    275
sciousness of existence-the Past a ghost of the memory;
the Future an unfinished picture, illuminated by the
inextinguishable lights of eternal hope.  Throughout
innumerable ages, the Past will appear like a dream;
while the Future will be a subject of' curiosity, of surprise and attractiveness, in the succeeding ages of eternal life. To-morrow is new and attractive to those who
live truly in.the Present.  None can tell with absolute
certainty what will happen to-morrow. There is, nevertheless, an universal confidence in its coming, because
of the immutable and perpetual flow of Nature's laws,
causing the revolution of the planets and the rising and
setting of suns-thus all men believe that to-morrow
will surely come.
Now I will put a question: If your common reason
tells you so clearly of earthly things, why can you not
believe your wiser intuitions and their superior logic
when they tell you of heavenly things?  If ye believe
that the progression of months and years will surely
bring you up to the chemical screen called Death, why
can ye not also believe that the shining river which
flows skyward, in harmony with the noiseless rotation
of this planet, will fldat you through that screen to a
Social Center in the Summer-Land? All men go forward with their thoughts and anticipations-believing,
with the simplicity of very young chi ldren, that to-morrow
will come.  This, I say, is the uprising voice and irrepressible logic of Intuition, aided and confirmed by
experience, and made practical by the constant, habitual
exercise of the reasoning faculties. All men naturally
expect to live over the present, into To-morrow. Thus
mankind buy lands, and hire carpenters, and build




276             MORNING LECTURES.
beautiful houses, and nicely furnish their new-made
homes, as though everything, including personal existence, was vouchsafed to last forever on earth. But this
is the usual experience: After all is completed and fully
prepared-the house garnished and swept, and everything put in order for a long, luxurious physical life on
earth-then the death-screeil drops, the interior person
passes through'6 in the twinkling of an eye," and the
rich, lawful heirs are left to weep, to put away in the
ground what the screen refused, and to live as long
and comfortably as they can upon c" the property of the
deceased."
It is easy for the human mind to fix its imagination
upon a long life in this world. So common was this
inverted testimony of the fancy, that the ancient Jews
supposed "6 the kingdom of heaven" was certainly coming
"6on the earth."  Mankind, they thought, were not to
ascend a progressive Jacob's.ladder. The heavenly
kingdom was to be drawn down oht of the supernatural
realm and made literally manifest here-a fancy in religion to which Adventists are strongly attached-so that
great wildernesses would blossom, animals internally
opposed to each other would become harmonious, and
lions and lambs would, in peace and friendship, lie down
together. Christians, with more Ideality, put a spiritual
interpretation upon the literalness of the Hebrew Scriptures, and thus made tolerable common sense of what
thousands of Jews believed to be true from a very different standpoint.  In the Lord's Prayer, which contains
many Jewish thoughts and expressions, we find this
double-meaning allusion to the kingdom  of heaven.
Now what, think you, was intended by that prayer?




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    277
This answer seems correct:  it was designed to float
the mind out of materialism into spiritual thought and
holy aspiration. c" The kingdom of heaven," to the soul
that uttered the prayer, was a condition of intellectual,
social, and spiritual harmony; in which mental condition pure truth would reign triumphant, even as it prevails in every beautiful and harmonious family in the
Summer-Land, with whom dwell harmony, peace, and
eternal happiness.  The Lord's Prayer is a conception
which, interiorly viewed, does fully harmonize with the
deductions of philosophy; but it was as legitimate a
development from the Jewish basis of literalism as flowers are natural growths from the germs which precede
them.  The prayer was constructed with a literal
"kingdom'of heaven" in it, so that the Jewish mind
could grasp it, and adopt it in its rituals, and thus pray
for the down-coming and universal expansion of the
spirit's beautiful truths.
Now this is my testimony:  The Summer-Land, as
to the origin of the social centers, is made of persons
from all parts of this inhabitable globe not only, but
populations also from far-distant planets that are constituted like this earth-each globe producing an infinite
variety of radical personal characteristics and temperamental differences.  All these individuals carry upon
the life within their faces, as well as in the secret
chambers of their affections, the effects of life on the
globe that produced them. If the person has been
moved and governed by high and beautiful motives,
he naturally and instinctively seeks association with
those who have been similarly actuated and developed.
If; on the other hand, the person has been led by low




278              MORNING LECTURES.
and demoralizing motives, he as naturally seeks those,
who, before death, had been correspondingly influenced.
There a man can elect his friends and gravitate to his
own congenial Social Center-in fact, he can tell before
he goes, by looking through the death-screen; or strainer,
with what manner of minds he will probably live; at
least until the redemptive evangel of 6" regeneration"
through repentance and progression reaches his affections, until perfectly pure purposes are born in him;
the same in effect whether he starts from a Methodist
prayer-meeting in New York City, or from the center
of some spiritual society in the fragrant groves of the
Summer-Land. Progression out of imperfection is a
purely spiritual transaction, growing out of the same
general causes and resulting in the same internal effects
upon character. Societies, in general terms, are natural
exponents of the interior realities of the societies of men
and women on different planets.
There is there a society or province called " Altolissa." Persons have returned from it and testified that
they were, while dwellers of earth, almost wholly influenced by the idea of gaining money, position, power
among men. And it would seem that these invisible
characters are influential still among those who are
similarly organized and influenced in this world. When
persons are actuated by the selfish motives to accumulate
wealth, power, position, and influence, they become
mediums to some extent.  As the violet absorbs all but
the blue ray, or as a red flower absorbs all but the red
color, so is the mind of inan in its impressibilities and
mediumship.  He will take on all that for which he has
affinity. He will absorb from each society in the Sum



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    279
mer-land precisely such influences as are in accordance
with his magnetic powers, and he will exclude all other
influences, from whatever source.
Now if' the death-strainer, or screen, was not perfect —if, when passing through the chemical change, we
do not leave the causes of appetites and passions behind
us  then, in truth,, men in this world would really be
injured and degraded by contact with the unseen populations.  But men are benefited, and not injured, by
such contact. Now and then men are stimulated somewhat in their course; but they are not degraded, are
not made worse by the contact; only patted on the
back, flattered by unwise spirits, and sometimes approved,
as a too fond mother approbates her pet child even in
its errors. So men, moving in very low and demoralizing
circles in this world, will sometimes experience a sort
of self-satisfaction and contentment. They do not have
those "fine compunctions" of conscience, which so many
pious people imagine they must necessarily have;-..these
feelings are for a time laid aside, not by the use of
tobacco, alcohol, and opium, but by sympathetic contact with those spirits who are not wise and grown in
purity.
Such characters on earth absorb the rays of spir'itlife that are congenial to them, and exclude all the
others. Thus you see men moving as earnestly against
the truth as for it.  It is a matter of astonishment to
many Northmen how the Southerners can have their
religious meetings and political gatherings, appoint 1" a
day" for sincere " prayers" to be sent to the kingdom of
heaven, and do all th.ngs just like the c"loyal" and
c" religious" people of the North.  Do you suppose that




280             MORNING LECTURES.
men who have gone from the ranks of' Rebeldom, and
who have passed through the screen of death, suddenly
lost all religious and political notions on the death-bed?
No. The rule works both ways.  They have a political
scheme and a religious experience, and both were to
them  genuine. These return to their brethren in the
South. When earnestly engaged in devotion and prayer,
the Southerner feels  as heaven-approved  as the
Northerner.  You know that the discordant man, who
walks Broadway with murder in his heart, can see the
sun as clearly as can the man of peace., A morally bad
character can physiologically eat and drink and sleep
just as good as can the best.  The laws that operate
in your physical being operate the same in his. He
goes round with the planet, experiences the flow and
recession of emotions; but he can only absorb those influences from society with which he has affinity, and he knows
nothing of what others experience. Suppose,for example,
that I should 1" exchange pulpits" with the evangelical
Brother who lectures every Sunday in Grace Church.
The ladies and gentlemen there would absorb from me
only those thoughts and sentiments for which they have
an educational sympathy. They would reject everything else. There would be between us no sympathy,
no fellowship; yet they are constituted just like ourselves, and in ten years from this they may come to feel
as we do; but it is not at all likely that we shall ever
feel as they do, because souls cannot go back.
Hence those who go- to the Summer-Land cannot
return just as bad as they were before they started.
Going through death cleansed them largely of causes,
conditions, and temptations, leaving with them the




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    281
results treasured up in their affections, in their sympathies, in their antipathies, inclinations, disinclinations,
loves, hates, attractions, and repulsions. Of course they
have sympathy only for congenial associations in that
better life; but such associations are, necessarily, on a
higher plane than though they were of earth. The
"' higher plane," however, is so little removed, so slightly
shaded off from that in which they lived while here,
that it requires but little change to feel themselves c" at
home."
True, contradictory characters often go to the Summer-Land.  Sometimes imagination gets the start of
conscience.  The youth feels, thinks, hopes beyond his
powers to grasp or attain; but as the years roll through
the spirit, he grows gradually solid, and strong, and'
practical.  Conscience is not fully born in some souls
until after death; that is, the idea of right and wrong is.to them "; a theory."  I have seen persons, who, having
a very large sense of right and wrong, wondered how
their most intimate acquaintances could do things diametrically antagonistic to such sense without being surprised or astonished, and still live among folks just as
though nothing had happened.  It is because the conscientious part of the spirit had not yet been fully born.
The person might have been born on three or five sides
of his character, and yet there remain other parts not
born from error and wrong, and hence the defectiveness; hence, also, the monstrosity which the character
and conduct of such a person presents-deceiving, murdering, robbing —yet thinking nothing more of the
self-condemnation of his crimes than most men do of
transacting their ordinary business. It is because these




282             MORNING LECTURES.
men have not as much light in principles as you; they
do not yet perceive the white ray of pure justice; they
cannot take it in, any more than a red plant could take
in the red ray. So a man who cannot absorb the principle of justice is a man who cannot comprehend its
requirements.
Society is constructed so as to require regeneration
and progression. The Christian system prays for the
better time. Nicodemus asked how a man could be
taken out of his defects-brought out of the flesh and
made as pure as spirit.  Jesus did not answer him in
common words, but told him that as he could not understand the ordinary phenomena of Naturie-the blowing
of the wind, for example-he certainly could not understand that which was interior and far more extraordinary, like the birth of the spirit.
It has been ascertained by multitudes of witnesses,
by experiments, and by conversations with those who
have' returned fiom the Summer-Land, that those who
have demoralizing motives in this life have the greatest
density on their arrival. In Altolissa, the section where
many persons go, who, in this world, lived wholly under
the influence of selfishness, the population seems about
as comfortable as general society on earth.  Jews still
believe in the doctrine of their fathers-Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob: the Roman Catholics hold the same views
they did before death; and there are other sects in
Altolissa who think and believe in the same things and
forms of faith they learned on earth.  The sects will
long continue in their various sympathies and educational associations.  Of course, progressively and quite
imperceptibly, this world will grow better and more




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    283
harmonious.  Men will intuitively differ less and less
upon fundamental principles.  But in the "; details"in the ramifications of thought-this endless variety of
convictions and affinities will prevail. The foundations
for countless and various societies in the Summer-Land
are thus laid and established. Death is largely a cleansing process, and is the hope.of the world, not its point
of darkness.  So beautiful are its siftings, strainings,
and other processes, that the active causes of' passions
and appetites are dropped and left on earth with the
gross materiality.  So beautiful is the law of Progress,
that even the active effects that accompany the individual
cannot be perpetuated (as evils and discords) throughout eternity.  Why?  Because in the center of the
universe a positive power reigns, breathing its spirit
throughout the illimitable spaces; and, and by the slow
workings of its progressive laws, it cleanses all personalities of their transient imperfections.  Only eternal
GOOD can eternally exist. There is a universal gathering
of all spirits and angels-not in one place, under the
blaze of one heavenly central sun, but under the influence of musical distributions, of harmonious varieties,
each adding completeness and happiness to the other.
Many persons are harmonized in this world when they
are "cborn again," and thus lifted out of their low
motives and consequent imperfections.  Hundreds and
thousands of ";things" that annoy, vex, and wear the
spirit, before it is thus born, cease to exert any bad
effect. Such minds grow sweet, and gentle, and loving,
under the new life; before, the same persons were hateful, discordant, and full of consuming passions.  The
evil woman, who had c" seven devils" cast out of her, is




284             MORNING LECTURES.
an instance of what good can be accomplished by
exchanging bad motives for good ones. How many
hateful propensities, how many demonic habits, and
how many unladylike characteristics were cast out of
her by the psychological power, is left to every one's
imagination.
The Catholics believe. that each purified soul has
c" died" to the influences of this world. The Shakers
hold a similar white banner over the redeemed"6 Come in and dwell with us, put on the plain garb,
renounce the world's evil habits and cruel customs,
among other things the evils of marriage and marriage
itself, and you will be saved; for thus you die to the
world." Nuns enter convents under the psychological
impression that before death they can leave the world
and its sins, become spiritually sweet and beautiful, and
acceptable brides for the only Son.  There  is a
poetic sublimity in the thought.
Now there are persons yet in the world who know
that they can put their crushing heel on the serpent's
head. They have learned that they can resist striking
a brother, in passion; and, what is far better, they can
resist the passion which would suggest the blow. Strong,
vigorous, full-blooded men, have conquered the demon
of passion. Such conquering heroes would not go
among the Heenans who live in sections of the SummerLand, except as Moral Policemen, as philanthropists,
but never in the capacity of associates.  And yet you
know that there are men, and women, too, who 6" hugely
enjoy" the ileenan style of life; they like the very
thought of it, the exciting.manifestations of it, and the
large, beautiful, abandoned animality which it displays




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    2885
and indorses.  If they enjoy it, how do they enjoy it?
Do they by means of their physiological or phrenological organs?  They enjoy it by means of those talents
and faculties which live within physical organs, and
which the screenage of death does not refine away and
crush out of the person.
Therefore there is a great individual work here to
be done. The ounce of prevention is wanted which
will make the tons of cure unnecessary.  Each person
can start on the right track before death' this is the
best place to get under full sail for a happier harbor.
To-day is better than to-morrow.  The sooner you
begin, the farther you will find yourself in the path of
harmonious life.
This is the doctrine which we are impressed to
teach.  I think all should commence at once to see
what can be done toward preparing for a better,
sweeter screenage at death, and to insure a beautiful
entrance into superior societies.  No one can hurt the
Infinite Father nor the Infinite Mother-you can permanently injure only yourself.  This being the truth,
we have but to proclaim, "' Repent ye, for the kingdom
of heaven is"  next door, just —beyond, on the other
side of the death-screen, through which each must
sooner or later pass. How many persons will.feel,
after attaining the elevation of self-control, that they
have begun anew! But how many cross, sour countenances, there will be while going through the trial of
trying to be good. If Nicodemus could have understood that to be "born of water" was a natural and
indispensable forerunner of being c" born of the spirit,"
he would have first given attention to the correction




286             MORNING LECTURES.
of his personal habits and physical appetites. Thus he
would have had more harmonious, more sweet, and
more beautiful bodily sensations.  He would  have
become a better neighbor and a truer Governor in
Israel, a more agreeable companion; and there would
have been a cheerful, buoyant, juvenile flow of light,
joy, and peace, within his lifted spirit; in short, he
would have soon experienced the difference between a
son of God and a son of Belial.
I know it is a hard doctrine to preach, that now is
"the accepted time."  But this death-screen, which'
hangs before us, is as certain to fix upon each the
effects of habits and mental conditions as that to-morrow
will be the natural result of the causes and conditions
of to-day. Each person can in this world select his
associations after death.  It is, therefore, important
to get a passport to harmonious central societies in the
Summer-Land. You should feel no enmity toward any
human being, however much you have been injured.
The lion and the lamb lie down together only within
the purified human spirit. The hidden, cave-like cerebellum, the back-brain, is a den full of untamed animals.
Spiritual TRUTH is the only conqueror that can enter
and still the passions, tame them to peace, and hold
them in abeyance until the outward disturbance is gone.
Motives, when high, lift up the soul, which is thus prepared to be a better neighbor and more successful in
all the genuine enterprises of present life.
All true progress brings an immediate and glorious
satisfaction.  We discourse upon "slife and immortality," not because it is a spiritual fact, but because it
is the foundation and inspiration of immediate personal




SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND.    287
improvements. It stimulates us to beautiful effoi  and
causes us to teach practical reforms.  We can bring
innumerable tests and mathematical evidences that these
things, which we relate with respect to the other
sphere, are true; but time will supply you with all
necessary testimonies; many of them you have already
heard, many of them you know by heart, and ask for
nothing more. Now, therefore, the time has come for
each to step upon the solid rock of Truth-of eternal
principles —which will surely stand, while the spirit
makes substantial progress toward higher and more
beautiful societies which blossom beyond the stars.




POVERTY AND RICHES.
"All is the gift of industry; whate'er
Exalts, embellishes, and renders life
Delightful." "More precious
Than gold are the treasures
And rewards of wisdom."
The outward body exerts an imperious mastery over
the will, affections, and inclinations.  In consequence
of this imperious dictation, growing out of the physiological and phrenological organization, the mind finds
itself electing motives in the place of ideals, and pursuing
the object of such motives with all the instruments at
its command. Persons therefore, as a result of their
organization, adopt and foster habits which they would
not, if the congress of all the faculties were consulted.
When there is lobbying behind the ears, caucus meetings
on the sides of the head, political legerdemain, wirepulling, log-rolling around the basilar faculties of the
mind, then the person is carried with the wild impulsive energy of youth, to consummate an object not
worthy the whole character. It was an election of only
a portion of the congress of the faculties; a minority
_report.  The majority report is not heeded, scarcely
received, until the person has arrived at a point far
beyond the meridian of human life.  The traveler sits




POVERTY AND RICHES.            289
down and thinks over the misfortunes and successes of
this journey. Then, possibly, some religious question
is broached by the spirit to itself.  Or, he takes up a
newspaper and reads that the celebrated revivalist from
England will pireach to sinners at --     Hall this evening.  The traveler goes there, having no object but
pastime and curiosity, and he listens.  He finds that
the preacher is addressing a class of faculties which
have for years regularly whispered ", religion" to him
through the interstices and crevices, meditations and
intuitions of his experience.  The speaker's descriptive
appeal is so entirely suitable to his own private and
never-before expressed convictions and emotions and
impulses, that he takes all the rest for granted. It
matters not what the preacher's creed may be; the
listener does not stop to consider. He feels for the first
time in his life that c" religion is the chief concern of
mortals here below," and instantly yields.  Down he
goes into the valley of humiliation, on knees unaccustomed to bending before any religious idol, and bows
his head in veneration to his God. After the conversion
is perfected, he rises in class-meeting and reports a
long series of sins; tells what the good Lord has
done for him; that he. has at last taken a position
through the grace of the Lamb of God; that all his past
life has been a mistake and a sham, and that henceforth
all his life shall become new. He thinks nothing about
the theology of his religion.  A convert seldom knows
anything about the creed of his church. No convert has
had any real conception of the goblin doctrines taught
by the preacher who just converted him. The experience of conversion is a serious internal experience, a
13




290              MORNING LECTURES.
report from the superior faculties that the inferior faculties have been log-rolling and wire-pulling and having
their own evil way for years. A variety of unworthy
objects have been pursued, and the person has employed
unworthy instruments for the accomplishment of those
objects. The conversion was brought on by the psychology of the pulpit, which impressed the sincere conviction upon the listening mind that its life was an insult
to the firmament of the superior faculties. Such a mind
gains his soul, perhaps, while lie loses the whole world.
The ambitious person does not want money, but
rather power, though money subserves his object. The
vain person does not want either money or power, but
admiration, and money and power only so far as they
contribute to securing the largest amount of admiration.
Only the passionate acquisitive mind seeks money for
money's sake.  The mind possesses its object by the
automatic elections of the lower faculties. They clamor
andshout through the galleries of the interior legislature.  They drown the voices of the respected, venerable powers; the most wise are the deepest, and the last
to speak the words of protest. Those most cultured in
spirit wait until the noise and tumult of inferior powers.
are allayed; then they rise in their seats in the sanctuary of the soul and announce the claims of justice and
liberty and truth and virtue.  St. Augustine, Fenelon,
Jesus and others, who have spoken and written from
their higher faculties, echo just what has been uttered
from the inner chambers of the temple of every true
mind.
The conviction in the religious world is, that great
riches are identical with great wickedness. Such is the




POVERTY AND RICHES.             291
accepted theory, and yet the religious world is walking
in the footsteps of Mammon. You know that Mammon
sits in the gates of the temples of commerce and dictates
the maxims of trade, saying c" Get all thou canst, and
give as little as possible; so that thy neighbor may fail
and thou be successful upon his ruin." Talk about
", practical Christianity" in this state of society! Talk
about bringing the kingdom of heaven on earth by
prayer, or precept, or example! Men are moved not
by. their higher inclinations and inspirations, but by the
imperious automatic election of their most sensitive
faculties.  They are full of the force and fierceness of
wild animals; to them the locomotive is a savage gratification, and the terrible earthquake a thrilling delight.
No wonder that Dante, Milton, and Pollock, find readers throughout the world. Their most thrilling descriptions of infernal spheres are gratifying to the basilar
faculties.  The back of the head swells and the neck
throbs.  Power meets and welcomes power with luxurious embrace. It is like the nuptial meeting of mighty
forces in the physical world. Thus electricity and magnetism meet in their own appointed way-each rushing
into the other's embrace, with terrible earnestness and
increasing frequency, bringing forth new elements, new
powers and new principles, developing new centers of
energy for new forms and manifestations of matter. So
man's faculties draw into themselves their own proper
foods and drinks.  In the lower states of civilization
their appetite is rapacious and fierce —blood, the fires
of passion, and savage sports are its bread and wine.
Agar in his prayer, said, "c Give me neither poverty
nor riches."  What is the golden mean of virtue?  If




292 ~           MORNING LECTURES.
I have riches and great abundance, I shall be over-fed
tnd too well clothed. I shall feel indolent, proud, and
luxurious. I shall lean back in my easy chair and say,
"Who can tell me what truth is?  The Lord-who is
he?" I shall be too comfortable and superficially independent.  O let me not travel so far into the forest of
evil and despair.  He says, c" Give me not riches."
Well, then, why not give him poverty?  Because he
may thereby lose his self-respect, steal from his neighbor, and take in vain the name of all holy and beautiful
things. Agar's prayer suggests the glorious independence that is found midway between exfreme poverty and
exceeding riches. There is no evil in having riches, but
in fostering a love for it in blinding excess. Neither is
there evil in having poverty, in being decently and
honorably poor; but evil consists in the excesses of
squalor in which many spend their lives. Balance is
the basis of harmony. It is like the golden belt between
the equator and the polar regions, where the greatest
fertility and industry are possible and practicable-a
band of land and water between the two extremes-so
is the pleasant, independent, comfortable place between
excessive poverty and extravagant riches.
This is the gospel of all beautiful relations. Disease, one extreme, is not attractive.  No one's veneration is excited by bodily discord.  Sympathy and pity
*(which hold always a little of the element of contempt)
are excited by disease. You may have rich pity and*
beautiful sympathy for the afflicted. If your sympathies
for the suffering flow from a large love-fountain, and if
at the same moment your magnetic powers are fully
awakened and active; then you are to the afflicted on;a




POVERTY AND RICHES.             293
perfect magnetic savior.  To such an one you can say,
"I WILL, be thou healed!"  And the condition of cure
is established.  Because your WILL is not merely an
intention in such a case; it is the uprising of the healing
virtue from  the life-fountain, the springing of divine
energy from the heart of the spirit; which, showering
down and refreshing the soul-aura of the sick one, fills
the exhausted nerves, refreshes the impoverished blood,
and balances forces long since spent or over-worn; and
so a sweet rejuvenation and the conditions of pure
health come to you from the one whom you should name
a 6" Savior."
But suppose a person treats your case by the exercise of mere will, and by magnetism  conming from the
psychological power of ordinary intention, then all
you will receive is metallic or animal heat. It is nothing
but the breathings of Satan. (Of course5 I use this hateful word in a symbolic sense.) Whatever is simply
galvanic or willful, coming from the decomposition of
metals or from the clash and clank of the animal brain,
is degrading to the spiritual sensibilities.  Everything
which intends forcibly to assail the private rights and
intentions of another person, is fieighted with a subtile
poison. It defrauds you of personality, and to that
extent it is your enemy. The best friend is he who
gives you to yourself. A true friend does not throw
any power over you, to circumscribe or limit the natural
expression and perfect expansion of the elements and
attributes of your being, although  he may caution,
counsel, and develop the beauty and the might of Truth
before you.
Disease, I repeat, is not attractive. Neither is




294              MORNING LECTURES.
poverty. It is said that the poor shall always be with
us.- I do not wonder that the ancients thought so.
Anything which flows far down in the channels of experience, which is in the earth beneath your feet, which
compels you to live down where crude forces move, is
an attack upon the selfish dictates of your self-esteem
and pride.  The position itself is poverty.; The lesson
is, that machinery, not human hands, must go down and
do the dirty work of the world.  In this manner all
true needs will be supplied, and all true desires provided with their fullest gratification.
Riches, on the other hand, are attractive to all
men.  There is no disputing this obvious fact.  The
human mind goes toward riches as inevitably and gladly
as the birds spring from  earth into the blue space in
which they are at home. It is the power and privileges
of wealth which the mind craves. It is similar to what
Hannibal longed for when he was crossing the mountains; something that would soften and melt the solid
substances which opposed his march and his purposes.
Every man is a Hannibal on the question of riches.
Man has by inheritance the aggressive elements of' the
great Napoleon. He wants to be pecuniarily independent, and he will be monarch over the domain of poverty;
he must be emperor in the field of ownership, or he
makes war upon his neighbors. This super-power-this
magnificent feeling of personal monarchy —is what each
soul wants. Autocracy is the perfect and entire ernancipation. of the individual.  The autocrat is a selfcentered  governor.  Every  person wants  to  be a
self-regulated and rich autocrat. America, in political
organization, is not yet up to this conception; and the




POVERTY AND RICHES.            295
church is even a greater stumbling-block than the political combinations.  It says, "Thus far and no farther.
You shall not become independent of restrictions; you
shall obey the laws of these religious organizations."
Order implies organization, and organization necessitates discipline, and the authority of discipline must not
be questioned. How can you induce bigots of this stripe
to investigate a new truth?  You even shrink from
asking them to look at your positive facts.
Autocracy is the rich and comfortable democracy of
the human mind.  This view of riches is creeping into
and through all parts of the human  imagination.
Money brings anxiety, pride, and power; and these
bring admiration for a time.  lMammon is more worslhiped to-day than are the Father and Mother of the
everlasting universe. Mammon is not worshiped with
genuine spiritual veneration; yet he is followed and
obeyed as is no other leader in the round world.  He
dictates all measures to the ministers of both Church
and State.  He is in the path of' every nation. Golden
hammers have arisen over the firmament of the American people; and it seems as though great authorities
are to be subverted and large capitalists crushed in the
twinkling of an eye. It is a great trial that the world
is passing through. During the years of these national
travails and trials, new ideas of Progress will take root
deeply, will grow up vast and mighty, and will spread
out their thickly-woven branches through and over all
the institutions of both Church and State.  Legislators
in the capitals and ministers in the pulpits, and men who
are masters of the press, and those who stand upon the
rostrum, will rise up as so many redeemed angels of




296              MORNING LECTURES.
light, and there will be a unity of thought and a unity
of purpose more complete and spontanuons than was
ever before seen.  Like a spiritual Aurora Borealis, it
will give to mankind a world of light and joy, and a
roseate and a golden opulence to the whole horizon
and firmament of hunman history.
As men do not love disease, so they do not love
poverty.  Health is richly attractive; even so are
riches. No man can say that he hates just and wholesome wealth. He may hate the misapplication of riches.
He hates acquisitiveness, penuriousness and miserly
covetousness.  He hates the evils of wealth; he does
not hate the riches.
It is the destiny of all men to become rich.  Mankind have no business to be everlastingly sick and everlastingly poor.  All men will become asham.ed of it,
for every one has the power to help himself out of both
disease and poverty.  This shame will come with a
larger inward growth.  The time is comming when men
will see that their interests are co-ordinate and cooperative.  Men who have only muscle are brothers to
those who have only brain.  Skill, however, is in the
ascendant.  One true Idea in one master mind sets a
thousand, men at work, because there are thousands of
men who have millions of muscles, but scarcely one
clear idea.
Why is it that our Yankee girls, as they are called,
cannot be found at work in basements? They labor in our
factories onlyjust long enough to get a couple of beautiful
rooms filled with more beautiful furniture, a wardrobe
abundantly supplied, and two hundred dollars laid away
in the Savings Bank.  They very soon get married,




POVERTY &ND RICHES.             297
leave the factories, and settle down in happy homes.
Then only the Yankee husbands go to the factories;
the young women, their wives, remain in the horhies
their own industry has purchased. The American female
mind will not long dwell in the presence of wheels and
pulleys and spindles.  It will not stoop many tinmles to
scrub your floors; it will not garnish up and put your
house in order; for it is independent. artistic, and inventive, and cannot be repressed nor subjected.
Anglo  Saxon  blood  is nearly buried; but the
f" American blood" is fast coming into active life. The
old branches of the Saxon family will, one of these days,
come in embattled conflict with the new-born flood of
America. When that time comes, the empires of Europe
will crumble and tumble forever, and political freedom
will prevail.  The American blood is the best channel
for the introduction and Widest distribution of advantages, opportunities, and national wealth. Where does
the world get its gold in the greatest abundance? From
the valley of the Nile?  From the Libyan mountains
west of the valley, or the Arabians to the east, or from
the Orkney hills of Scotland?  Does it come from the
great mountains of the far South? No. The Eldorados, and Colorados, the shining placers and auriferous
leads, the sparkling channels and gorges, full of magnetic particles, which draw muscle and not skill, are
found in the bosom of America. Skill remains in the
cities; it works through the machinery of commerce;
it sinks the deep shafts, sends down great buckets into
golden wells, and draws up millions of the precious
metal.  Vast territories on the Pacific side of the continent are destined to furnish the world with the metal
13*




298              MORNING LECTURES.
which, like all other kinds of material riches, will take
unto itself wings and fly out of sight ahd out of mind.
In after vears it will fly back and come down heavier
than lead, and become worthless except for useful tools
and personal ornaments.  Gold exists in great abundance. Every little child can have a gold watch and a
gold lJreast-pin and a gold finger-ring. The metal will
become popular and correspondingly cheap. Let commerce and the mercantile power bow to the god, Mammon, who grimly sits in the gates of trade and holds
the scepter, and is the exactor of' this tribute of adoration-a sacrifice for which all men will in the future be
unutterably ashamed.  I have taken great precautions
not to invest largely in metals.  I have made investments in health-a form of riches far above the metals,
and one unsearchable and unattainable to those who
have not obeyed the laws of their existence.  Miners
and merchants and mninisters are bowing and searching
down in the bowels of the earth.  They look downwards for the means of attaining their miserable terrestrial objects.  What is it all for?  Do you not
suppose the time will come when the silver and golden
metals will take a very inferior position in your mind?
Suppose between this and next Sunday one of you should
depart for the Summer-Land. Of what value would be
all this fret and foam about the metals of the mineral
world?  Metals are not riches.  They do not even
represent riches; they only represent the materiality
arid dross-milndedrness of the world of commerce.
Labor. aindskill alone brin(g riches.  Skill is in the
ascendant, and first exhibits itself, through  science.
What is science? It is a true knowledge of facts and




POVERTY AND RICHES.            299
forces, of ponderable substances and the visible organs.
The next manifestation of skill, is art-a true knowledge
of how-to control forces, organs, and substances.  Art
is the control of.those powers of which science gives
you a true knowledge.  Skill, therefore, is the master.
The man of mere muscle cannot contend with the man
of mind. The ignorant giant might as well give up
before he begins the battle.  The conflict in the world
to-day between the poor and the rich, is, when analyzed, a battle between skill and muscle, or bones and
brains. The poor man's salvation is alone possible
through his mind.
The American blood is already making these demands
and these manifestations.  The poor man is kept down
because of two things: first, he has not the money by
which he can "take advantage" of conditions and circumlstances about him; second, and first of all, he has
not, as a general rule, the skill by which, if he had sufficient money, he might make himself' master of the
situation."  Mechanics and other working men, not
American, are generally of this stamp.  In the old
countries poor men and women seldom  get property.
American poor men and women, on the other hand, frequently become rich and masters of their position.  I
begin to see glimmerings of an industrial pathway by
which all the poor of the country are to become possessed of homes and acres of their own, so that they
shall grow neither rich nor poor, but even more independent.  But this prospect does not open for those
whose blood is iiot legitimately progressive. Miuscle and
breast and digestion and brains and the automatic energies will obey the skill and ideas of those who have the




300              MORNING LECTURES.
inspiration and positive intelligence.  Myriads in the
old countries are to be benefited by the exaltation of
minds that are skilled and rich in divine ideas.  The
churches do not see any such prospect. A man standing
in his pulpit, seeing in one of' the front pews a person
whose business is that of wine-selling, or who gets all
his money by "' taking advantage" of the rise of the
markets in flour and in necessary staples, upon which
s" the poor" must pay the combined profits and the largest
percentage, does not dare say to that man that he is not
as righteous as the hypocritical righteousness of the
Scribes and Pharisees.  Because that rich wine-dealer
and stock-jobber and popular swindler holds communion
with the one god which the minister is compelled to
acknowledge and worship, Mammon!  Tinseled rhetoric is subject to the command of metal. If the minister,
in a moment of moral bravery, should denounce the sins
of the pew-holders, he is very soon visited by a coinmittee, who inform him that he is 6" void of ideality;
that he is not poetical enough; that the congregation
wants a preacher who is more refined and impersonal
in his conversation, more ecstatic in his style of sermonizing, and not so direct and vulgar in his references to
supporters of God's holy word," &c. And the committee very soon hear that there is a minister for sale.
Such a preacher is sent for.' He puts his ear to the
mouth of Mamrnmon, and the metallic god whispers c" a
high call'ing;" and he listens all over; he accepts the
congregation in obedience to  the "call,' and you
know that hymns, and prayers, anld sermons always go
just where the minister goes; and the minister goes just
where the implacable metal-and-greenback gods bid




POVERTY AND RICHES.             301
him, even in spite of himself. Then do you suppose that
the speculator and the stock-gambler, who lives and
fattens upon others' misfortunes, will be talked to from
the pulpit?  Will he be told that his apparent righteousness is nothing?  Dare the minister tell him that
without sacrifices, and without integral virtues, he cannot enter into the kingdom of harmony? Never!  And
the speculators' wives will be delighted. They will
say, "What a delightful change! Why, the minister
we had last year was such a coarse and vulgar person!
He would talk his notions'right out,' and preach all
sorts of reforms.  He spoke his mind on every-day
6religion,' and talked' politics' right out in meeting.
Now, how delightful!  We have a gentleman in the
pulpit who is cultivated and poetical; he has ideas,
and never interferes with every-day matters."
It is the misdirection of the love of wealth which
we are called upon to denounce.  All men should and
shall desire to have hoimes and property and position.
It is sad to behold a. person so far down in the deep
valley, of disappointment, that he does not put forth
adequate exertions to make for himself a home, if it be
but twenty feet square and one story high, with only a
place overhead for boxes and trunks.  Uncultivated
land all over this country is calling for men and women.
The unworked fields of America put forth thicklymatted vegetation, saying,  See what I could do, if you
would only bring to me your hoes, your plows, your
implements of industry. I will bring you great harvests.
Open me deeply, let me breathe, then give me the g.erms.
You have but to sit in the door afterward, and under
your own vine and fig-tree, and behold the blossoming




302              MORNING LECTURES.
of the material abundance with which I will bless you."
Behold the prairies of the West!  Gardens are they
that could support the entire population of the globe,
if we but give to them  our skill and our workingmuscles.
Riches are inevitable.  Mankind will not remain
poor. If they do, they are sinners..America is remarkable for her tendency and her power to equalize wealth
and distribute knowledge.  Here fierce blasts topple
down steeples that are too lofty.  A farmer may stack
and store large quantities of grain for the market.
Some great tornado may destroy his property in a single
afternoon. That is what the country prophesies as possible and certain in all great accumulations of wealth.
John Jacob Astor's property will very soon melt out of
his possession,  Let the owning and watching mind
depart, and forthwith the decomposing process commences. Here is no primogeniture. The property of
the family does not descend to the eldest son. Sometimes, instead, the greatest financial misfortunes descend
to the first child. Here is disintegration and diffusion.
Why, the climate itself is full of democracy. Property
concentration in America is possible only for threequarters of a century. Some few New England families are opulent, and have been ever since the country
started.  But the young men and the war are now
making those properties fly to the four winds. The
sons of once rich parents are looking about for business,
to prevent their entire impoverishment.  They descend
from families once aristocratic in wealth, but in mind and
spirit they were very poor and valueless to the world.
Now, mind is taking a lofty position that money can




POVERTY AND RICHES.             303
never reach.  Skill, in the ascendant, indicates mind.
The superior faculties are declaring their aristocracy.
This declaration will show itself in the growing independence of our working men and women.  They will
accumulate property.  They cannot help it.  Spiritual
riches, however, will soonest save all from poverty both
in matter and in mind.  Such riches develop the superior powers, by which man puts down diseases and all
forms of poverty in his spirit.  Ideas, at last, will be
the Saviors of the world.  But ", ideas" are considered
vague.  Are they?  Look at their incarnations. What
is a locomotive, a factory, the invention of the sewing
machine, or a watch, but the incarnation of ideas? Ideas
antedate all literature, art and science.  Ideas will
change and revolutionize the world. Poverty, in the
physical body and in the world's circumstances, will be
overcome and destroyed.  Spiritual riches are impersonal ideas. Present physical life is a struggle for
bread-a battle of selfishness from  which very few
persons come off with clean hands and a pure heart.
Society is full of worn and weary workers for the daily
wants of their bodies and-families.
It is not always to be so.  The moment a man gets
a true education with an Idea, in itself clear and capable of being transmitted to a fellow, that moment he
takes precedence in the field, work-shop, or factory. He
is foreman, an assistant on the side of government; his
wages are increased, and he is thereby put on the way
to soimething better. For it is the Anmerican's ambition
to acquire, not money, but mind; ideas, instead of gold
medals and personal lux:ury.  I would rather have my
invisible brain with its boney-casket than the wealth of




304             MORNING LECTURES.
the wealthiest man.  Who would not?  If a man has a
true education, and a brain-power adequate to the
wheeling of circumstances into line with his intentions,
the wealth of the rich and idle man, who possibly has
no brain-power, will melt into his hands. Truly educated men will become rich through the country; and
thus every poor man, through his ideas and his ceaseless
industry, will have a home and a garden. The world
is on its way to vast accumulations of spiritual riches,
not from any special individual intention, but from the
direct election and development of its innate constitutional powers.
Let no one, however, expect that people will catch
an idea to-day and act upon it to-morrow. To-morrow
people will manifest their characteristics and dispositions according to their circumstances.  They will act
fromi their long-accustomed habits and ruling inclinations.  Mankind do not rapidly change. They will not
be quickly impressed and swayed by great ideas. The
most powerful principles will give but a momentary
inspiration and direction to the general mind.  The
dominating characteristics of the people will be those
which spring from their organic conformation, modified
by passing inclinations and swayed by fleeting circumstances, and all more or less independent of the individual wish or will.
Sdppose your superior faculties should come down
out of their heavens and touch your internal being,
awaken your divinest and sweetest sensations, and bid
your spiritual nature to yield to holier emotions.  What
would then occur?  c"A voice from  heaven" means a
voice from the interior of spirit. It is a divine feeling,




POVERTY AND RICHES.             305
also, which the inhabitants of the Summer-Land will in
your heart increase with aerial music and songs of joy
and anthems of deathless gratitude.  The upper and
higher faculties speak in silvery tones to that which
is ordinary, earthly, and external in you, saying,
"6 Rise! Live worthier!  Be thou whole, healthy, rich,
happy!"
Mankind are on the straight road to ultimate success.  The  harmonial era is coming through  this
beautiful nuptial relation, which will, at the right hour
in history, be formed between the upper faculties in
men's minds and their ordinaryy powers and propensities
of externalism and selfishness, which to-day are highest
in authoritative power, dictating the movements and
constructing the mechanism of Church and State.  The
superior nature in man, the kingdom of heaven, is gaining the ascendency. Its methods and its resources will
be mankind's true Saviors.
There is always greater " joy in heaven" over one'person so lifted and converted than over a thousand
who have walked along sweetly and noiselessly through
life. Moderate saints are moderate sinners.  They are
neither rich nor poor, neither benevolent nor penurious,
but live unobtrusively and indifferently in an even
way-letting  their "moderation be known unto  all
muen" —exciting neither joy nor sympathy among the
philanthropic in the Summer-Land.  But one of those
hard-headed, hard-hearted, thick-skinned sinners, who
has been induced to listen to tnd obey the voice of the
higher powers, who has substantially resolved to live
henceforth in the sanctuary of his immortal spirit, who
has given evidence that he will be a better, a wiser, a




306              MORNING LECTURES.
larger, and a more truly rich man-such an one, when
freed from his bad habits and earthliness, kindles grand
joy in the heavens.
The era of harmony, which is to come, will consist
in the coming together of the powers between the lower
and the highest in man's nature. Such a race will come
out of America's blood. They will conquer the soil,
will subdue the climate, will destroy disease, will rise
above the metals, will overthrow all known standards
of wealth, and will arrange themselves in harmonial
brotherhoods, and will live as they live who inhabit the
higher mansions in the Patller's house.
liTe soil of the globe is in a very undeveloped and
low state.  Its inexhaustible resources have not yet
declared themselves to the eyes and skill of the wisest
men. Science has not yet probed the recesses of visible
matter.  Religion has done nothing more than to say,
"Tl he coming of the kingdom of heaven is a subject of
prayer."  We affirm  that it will become a fact when
mankind pray hard enough in deeds.  Religion  has
soothed you in your struggles.  It has essayed to make
you feel satisfied with bereavements.  It attends your
death-beds.  It goes with you to your grave-yards.
And it has made light with faith the dark and dreary
walks of the world. Religion, stripped of its theology,
has had in it much for mankind in all these things. But
it has not lifted you to the heart of Mother Nature. It
has not turned you out into the fields of progressive
truth. It has not shown you s" the unsearchable riches"
of the physical world, which came out from the unsearchable opulence of the spiritual. But true religion will be
the E1 Dorado of the new world. It will be a Colorado




POVERTY AND RICHES.             307
far more spacious and grand than the golden mountains
of the world. Those who love most and wisest, will
have the largest and richest investments.  Such riches
never fly away.
"Ideas" will preside over this conjugal blending of
the superior with the inferior in the mind.  Wealth is
natural and accessible to all.  Economies and simplicities in dress and in foods will be consequences of the
new birth. Simplicity of habits at the table will increase
your health income. You will be astonished, when you
attain to the life-hights of the new birth, how independent you are by nature of these external things
which give you such anxiety and such selfish distress,
and for the possession of which you must think and
sweat and labor from Monday morning till Saturday
night.  Misled and miseducated, by the false habits
and customs of the world, ladies will search through
New York to find a certain ribbon, for which they will
freely spend the entire day; but the same ladies would
not be induced to do one hour's needle-work for the
amelioration of some suffering person in poverty. Miseducated ladies are not the intentional defrauders of
other people's right and riches, but are the victims and
exponents of a false social start in the world.
The only substantial riches are spiritual; all outward wealth is convenient and transient.  It is not
necessary to bedeck the walls of an artist who lives in
ideas. Who thinks, when in the presence of angels, that
his floor is not carpeted?  I used to think that a studio  for high  contemplations  must be beautifully
decorated and visibly attractive; that my elegant
writing-desk must have a beautiful blue silk velvet




308              MORNING LECTURES.
cover on which I might write these spiritual thoughts;
and that the pictures on.the wall must be high-toned
and very suggestive. I then thought that many beautiful things in my room were indispensably necessary to
induce a state of mind appropriate to these inward
truths and more beautiful revealments.  But one dav I
suddenly awoke to the conception that these externals
were parts of my enthralled feelings. When I entered
into the interior for association with higher things,
when in communion with principles and ideas, or with
the beauties and glories and blissfulness of the SummerLand, when contemplating the beatitudes of the state
future to man, I never thought of or felt these outward
things.  My room at such times was never seen; nor
was my body necessary to me; neither did I realize
my circumstances.  I was in communication with the
spheres of real life, and they with me; we had formed a
true nuptial relation. When out of that condition, the
mastery of place and objects was perfect over my external; indeed I could scarcely write my investigations
unless I was snugly seated in my beautiful furnished
room. At length I said, c" This slavery will not do! A
man with ideas must be free as are the sons of God."
I resolved upon a completer and higher education.  I
lived at the time in Hartford.  I went through a silent
street to the store of a periodical dealer.  In the back
room  of this establishment I found barrels and casks
and bundles of dirty paper, and repulsive piles of
yellow-covered novels, and all sorts of things in dire
confusion, dirt and disorder being in extravagant
abundance.. I seated myself and deliberately made up
my mind that I would go into c" the presence of divine




POVERTY AND RICHES.             309
ideas" then and THERE; for I had awakened to the fact
that I was dependent upon pictures and furniture and
carpets for my harmony and tranquillity.  I worked
every day for three full weeks, and in that dirty place
every day I entered into the presence of riches that
are unsearchable and permanent. I did it in the rear
of a store frequently filled with people, hearing the
voices of purchasers, talking and bartering.. Customers
every day receded until they ceased out of my thoughts,
and the store also vanished, and with it all the world's
externals. Then carpets of imperishable texture and
pictures of immortal beauty were mine-in a word, I
passed from poverty into the possession of eternal
riches.




THE OBJECT OF LIFE,
"Let each man think himself an act of God,
His mind a thought, his life a breath of God;
And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds,
To show the most of heaven he hath in him."
The other day a friend who has listened to this course
of lectures, remarked to me, 6" It seems to me that you
always leave off in the middle of your subject. There
is a great deal of' introduction, but no completion of the
subject at the end of your lecture."  Yes, I proceed as
a tree grows-step by step, from  its first beginnings
deliberately onward to fruitage; and I leave off just
when you first get a glimpse of the fruit, and begin to
be hungry for some of it.
The gentleman who made that remark will discover
that he will resign his physical organization, at the end
of this section of his external life, in a manner somewhat as I cease in my discourse-just at the place where
thoughts and ideas begin to be interesting and valuable.
Men usually die when life begins to be full of sweetness, magnitude, and significance. When, through many
accidents and sorrows, you have learned the beginnings
of a rational way to live, then there sounds a signal
bell telling you that "your work on earth is over."
Thus I speak on the subject before me-begin and




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.             311
end, not with the end of a subject, but rather with the
first sentence in an introduction.  Every theme is susceptible of being amplified and lived through ages yet
to come. You cannot sound to the lowest deep of any
principle that is infinite, nor reach to its highest pinnacle, though you think and speak upon it every hour
between the cradle and the coffin.
The object of life? The careless skeptic thinks and
says, " This existence is the result of a fortuitous concourse of accidents."  Aristotle said, c" the fortuitous
concourse of atoms."  The accidental meeting and confluence of atoms, congregated, making a whole, the
universe, and having inherent vital powers and consequential galvanic energies that work everlastingly or
until they wear out, is the sum of the skeptic's careless
creed.  What does such a skeptic think and say of
humanity?  He says, men are here by accident.  We
have stumbled out of matter into a temporary organization, into breathing, conscious life, and we shall in like
manner stumble back again and drop into the chemistry
of utter extinction.  What then?  What is the sad
conclusion?  Why, that the "object of life" is to eat,
drink, propagate, be merry, and die.
I am acquainted with refined ladies and talented
gentlemen who are, or have recently been, in this state
of mind; they particularly think and say, "Let us eat,
drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die."  They
reject the fine Gospel of Epicurus, and, instead, adopt
the purely sensual interpretation of his grand sentence,
that " True happiness consists in bodily ease and mental
tranquillity."  Epicurus was not one who debauched
his appetites and defiled the organs of his body.  Pure




312              MORNING LECTURES.
and simple was his style of life. Music in flavors, music
in odors, harmony in compounds prepared for the
stomach, purity in the fluids for drirking, and perfect
health in all parts of the body, which is the basis of
tranquillity of mind and repose in the spirit.
There is another interpretation of the object of life.
The Assembly's Shorter Catechism gives the dogmatic
answer to this grand question.  I suppose it is natural
and right that the catechisms and dogmatisms of the
world should be kept securely in the same cage of creeds.
They always give the same hideous howl to the soul's
freest questionings, 6" What is the chief end of man?"
You remember the answer-c" To glorify God."  The
chief end of untold millions already gone, and of innumerable millions yet to go into the higher spheres, is
simply to serve and glorify God, a supposed personality,
and enjoy his presence forever.  What does the dictionary say about 6"glory"?  The word "glory" has
two or thee definitions; one is anything that is bright.
A  bright day is a glorious day.  Anything that is
resplendent and beautiful, is glorious.  Thus the object
or' end" of all these countless myriads of human
hearts and heads will be one-what?  "To glorify
God;" that is to bedazzle his existence, to brighten him
up, to make him shine-that is the first work, the middle work, and the work eternal!  What next?  " To
enjoy his presence forever." This is the chief object of our
creation and immortality according to the catechism.
Who will stand or sit in the front ranks? Will everybody
have an equal amount of enjoyment? If the Christians
are countless, how can they be all stationed for this
"glorious" work in one place? Will there not be some




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.             313
vanguards and some rearguards, some safeguards and
unsafe guards in the midst of' the pent-up kingdom?
Those who are nearest the throne, would naturally have
a better chance *" to enjoy his presence" than those who
are from the necessity of space farther back. Or, do
they take turns in coming to the front to see and
c" glorify" and enjoy the Trinity? Is such a-life to be
the basis of your employment throughout eternity?
Made, as each human soul is, with twelve loving, energetic, intelligent, immortal attributes-fitted for ceaseless and variable industry, for art and for science, and
demanding for their full gratification not less than the
circle of the whole universe-and yet through the endless ages to live and thin/k and work and sing only to
brighten up God, and 4" to enjoy" the radiant smiles
and gratified approbation of the Trinity.! Outrageous,
imbecile theology! An insult to the mind of every
reasonable man!  Our children, thank heaven! are not
taught these heathenish doctrines. To rational minds
the Catechism is like a controversy on the Trinity;
nothing, but " an -oblong blur," a spot on the surn of
progress in the development of religious ideas.
Again, suppose we take the definition that to " glorify God," means to worship and to praise him.  Does
that help it any? Think of a deity whose bump of
approbation and other selfish organs must be constantly
stimulated by the speeches and songs of his children, so
that he may be comfortable and in a happy "6 frame of
mind." Glorify God! Why, a noble human being is superior to requiring that service from either his children
or peers.  A true man is above acclamation or adulation. He stands upon the sublime inherent indorsement
14




314              MORNING LECTURES.
of eternal right and truth!  What other definition can
sectarians give to the words, "; To glorify Goad"? Any
theological definition will be an insult to your common
sense, and an outrage upon a true idea of the eternal
Father-Spirit, who, like the sun, warms and lights all
with love and wisdom to the ends bf the universe.
There are spiritually-minded men and women, truly
religious people, ardent lovers of justice and humanity,
who feel that there is nothing better for the sustenance
and elevation of the soul than the truth of Deity. These
minds are many times tempted to ask each other, c" What
is the object of life?" They would 1" do good," but the
" way" does not open with the "' will," and they flounder
fin uncertainties.  I know  a person who persists in
thinking that woman's highest and only mission consists
in keeping house, multiplying the race, and obeying her
husband in all things; and that man's strongest and
most enduring interest in woman, under the laws of
nature, is wholly of "' the earth, earthy," and so he
scouts the modern notions of woman's equality and independence.  And this man, both a husband and father,
began life with high hopes and sublime anticipations,
believing that something heavenly and grand would
grow out of the reformer's ideal of the holy mission and
beautiful progress of woman.  Of course,.such a man
was too weak to withstand a few of life's disappointments. Others suppose that the best way to answer the
designs of life is to accumulate riches and to enjoy the
power and commanding position which wealth gives.
The Rothchilds and the Asto'rs can give no other reply
out of their practices and experiences.  But the- upshot
of all is disappointment and oppressive cares, with




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.             315
nothing but a place to sleep, something to eat, comfortable clothing, and only such assistance and attentions as
you receive from those to whom you pay the wages due
to labor. A few fine souls think Art is the object of life.
Some say that whatever they feel themselves intellectually, morally, or passionally drawn toward, is the
true indication of the object of their existence. I could
name many other theories and definitions, but you can
trace them out and analyze them for yourself.
Now since, from the mind's constitution, it is certain
that each nature will act' logically from its own temperaments, it becomes of the utmost importance that its
convictions of life's object be of the firmest and truest
character, well founded in science, in thought, in love,
and in wisdom.  Let us, therefore, proceed to ask and
answer this question fron our own standpoint:
First, Look at the lessoffs spread out in Nature's
fields.  What do you feel and see and hear?  Do you
not both feel and see that there is a plan, and a unitary
flow and effort, marked out and imaged forth in all
visible things? The true inductive philosopher traces
" design" backward through the apparent to its central
source.  The earnest effort of each true investigator is
to trace, -through the different series of material organizations, the thiought of God inwar'dly to the center,
which is the heart of the eternal and infinite.  When
he finds the central Cause, he shouts, 6 "Eureka, Eureka!"
More wonderful than Aladdin's lamp is the magical
power of this truth.  It kindles up all the central fires
of creation, fills individual life full of unutterable beauty,
and clothes all forms of matter and animation with an
undying significance. The moral world, a subterranean




316             MORNING LECTURES.
sphere to which we seldom go, is divided and subdivided
into beautiful series of groups or conmpounds. It would
be useful to describe to you the divine wonders of that
dark  and mysterious chemical world. You would
become delighted and gloriously at home among the
elements and their combinations.  You should learn
how beautifully, how entirely in accordance with the
great principle of harmony, the elements and their compounds are arranged in the laboratories of matter.
Series give rise to groups, groups develop combinations
expressing wholeness, and that ",wholeness" constituting
the entire mineral kingdom.  All this arrangement of
matter means something.  The materialist asks, c" Cui
bono?"  Wants to know "what for and what good?"
He asks this wondrous world beneath the soil, and it
points him in silence to the revelations of the wonderful
worlds above.
Come to the vegetable and floral worlds.  Ask our
horticulturists, and our pomologists, and our botanists;
ask those who daily and yearly associate with the varieties of beautiful plants and trees and flowers, who
cultivate berries-ask them, for they are always enthusiastic and glad to be questioned concerning their pets.
You never knew a man, a woman, or a child that had
conime in pure and full contact with the spirit of Deity
in the flower-kingdom, but would speak of it with enkindling enthusiasm, (which means, c" God in the heart,")
speaking to and warming the loving and beloved flower,
the two kissing and embracing, as life meets life in the
angel world. But when the hard materialist looks upon
all this beautiful kingdoml spread out in the world, he
asks, " Cui bono?" "what good?"  Every intelligent




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.             31?
humran being should ask this. question about the glorious physical world, but not without a profound and
reverent desire to obtain the true answer.    A
Next we come to the organic world; out of the
simple into the compound, and animated.  Look at the
finely shaded gradations in this beautiful animal world.
Look at the fishes and reptiles, the families of birds, the
varieties of marsupials, the many branches of the mammalia, the different tribes of quadrumana, the strange
half-human form and features of bi-mana, and lastly
the different races of man. What does all this mean?
It means that Jacob's ladder had an origin long before
the advent of human organization.  Its lowest round
began way down in the rude fish-world, on which the
angels of progress both descended and ascended through
all the higher forms Iof matter.  I do not wonder that
true philosophers are enthusiasts.  I wonder not that
Professor Youmans, and Agassiz of Camrbridge, and
such men as Liebig, look as though they had roses
blossoming in their cheeks when they tell the people
about these beautiful manifestations of the Divine.
Professor Mitchell, who has attained a higher observatory than when he lived in Cincinnati, who laid down
his body while working for the grand old flag in South
Carolina, can now look out into the pure blue and contemplate the stars.  He now sees farther, deeper, and
with infinitely more intellectual and spiritual satisfaction.  And what does he see?  What do the astronomers, Galilleo, Newton, Humboldt, and all such who
have eternal homes in the Sumnrmer-Land, see?  They
see unutterably more than mankind can find in the
mineral and vegetable and animal.  They enjoy the




318             MORNING LECTURES.
life of the mathematical, geometrical, organizational
and harmonious. Look at the planets. They are sown
in space, and they seem to grow broadcast over the
sky. The series are not sharply defined and definite.
The varieties of planets are not perfectly visible, nor
do they seem to be entirely mathematical in their
arrangement.  But the higher astronomers see better.
The planets are capable of divergence.  They have
deliberations and aberrations. The series are, nevertheless, perfectly geometrical and mathematical.  Ascend
to the sublime palace of the upper universe, in which
blazing planets, night and day, more S"glorify God"
than can all the prayers of innumerable millions. They
are rigidly and immutably mathematical, geometrical,
and perfect in the arrangement of groups and series,
which in the combination constitutes a planetary system. This perfect system never varies from its vitalic
laws. It never has a tangential development; there is
never an accident in it; atoms never get up a fortuitous
manifestation; all roll and unfold together in a glorious
harmony, and in strictest accordance with the divine
heart of the indestructible universe.  Do you ask the
question, c"Cui buno?"  What good? and what for?.
Now comes the personal importance of the question.
Here we are, in this world, standing before ourselves.
What does it mean?  It means that man is still man's
unsolved problem. I think I need not assure you that I
have with as much self-forgetful devotion as ever Hindoo
bowed to his idol, with as much sincerity as an orthodox minister addresses the throne of the three deities,
turned my faculties day after day, and year after year,
to the answer of the question, " Why do I exist?"




TiT OBJECT OF LIFE.           319
Why, and for what object or end, does my brother and
my sister, live?
Daily I see about me the phenomena of marriage and
the phenomena of prolification.- Here are the facts of
marriage and parentage, and the facts of bodily disease
and death and disappearance. These phenomena are
conspicuous and come before the world every day. Now
do you not want to know what lies behind and underneath all these phenomena? Then trace the stream of
divine thought back to its fountain. Let us go through
the fields of thought and traverse mountains of mystery
to their very summits.  As fearless explorers work
among the bleak and snowy hights of the physical
planet, making paths for others to tread, so let us walk
upon the beautiful and fertile hights of these mountains of contemplation.  Let us scale them.  Sleep out
every night in your doubts if you choose, or journey
forward with the bare-skin of skepticism, exposed to
truth's sun, but in the midst of it all hold fast to the
healthy idea of the largest integrity and magnanimity
in your motives. To know, and then to put his best
knowledge into harness and to make it draw, is the
grand coronation which accompanies and succeeds the
good man's search after truth. With a full-hearted and
holy devotion, I have pursued this question, and I shall
this morning give you what, to me, is the briefest and
largest answer.  If I ever see more with reference to
it, and can then speak to you as I now do, I shall be
ready to tell it; but if I do not yield a better answer,
I know that each of you will; for what is possible to
me now, is a prophecy of realization for every other
one in the progress of life.




320             MORNING LECTURES.
Leaving the kingdoms of the earth and the mighty
questions which they suggest, and retiring from the
starry firmaments and from all the holy questions which
they awaken, I ask your attention to YOURSELF, because
in yourself alone you will find the explanation of c "Why
do you exist?"  Analyzing the individual externally,
you find a beginning and an end to the career of being.
With the planet it,is just the same.  All things and
bodies begin with the round 0, what is called 6"zero"
in numerals.  Man begun thus-no intellect, no industry, no, science, no art; innocence equaled only by
ignorance, which, under the highest moral standard, is
no excellence at all. It is the absence of both vice and
virtue; a condition equally exposed and assailable. We
began with the negation, 0. But the moment thle intellect awakened out of the impulses, (for everything has
love-roots,) that moment an effort was made to expel
and exclude ignorance, to widen the boundary of knowledge.  All the first steps of the race were full of
stumblings. But through each "o fall" mankind arrived
at much more than they knew before the mistake. Con-sider now that the race was thus started and educated.
What are the results?  Make one straight mark at the
left of the 0, and you will have added 10 to the sum of
benefits.  Everything valuable that men do, adds another mark to the left of the 0.'rhe race has added
many figures to the left, while the idiot,, makes his
marks" at the right of the 0. What does the ignorant
one get? Nothing, because his marks to the right of
the cypher kills its value.  Such is the idiotic plan of
old theology. The progressive plan, on the contrary,
makes its reports at the left of the zero. We are getting




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.            321
used to great figures in the finances of this country.
These great responsibilities will help- to develop the
better character of the people. Once people would open
their eyes to see a man worth two millions. Now it
will do to talk about no less than $3,000,000.  Persons
who plod along through trade and arithmetic, who
look daily up and down their ledgers, can see nothing
higher than that which is before them. They say,
"figures won't lie."  So say I.  Figures will teach
mankind everything. They will bring men's characters
up to their standard, because they will not "lie." There
is that in marks made to the left of zero which enlarges
and expands and makes men magnanimous, even when
the "sum" drives them  into driveling and shriveling
bankruptcy. People never before knew what it was
that enabled them to rise above great obstacles and
outswim the Gulf Stream of adversity.
Figures, in the progressive history of the race, are
made at the left side of the round 0.  What does it
mean?  It means that mankind have been multiplying
and enhancing the inherent value of their relations to a
diviner life. This has been done for you and for me.
It has come out of numbers and out of the teeming centuries.  What is man's organization?  He has a body,
with a sphere of soul-life between the outmost and the
spirit, which is deepest within. The greatest external
success occurs in the middle region; as between the two
extremes on the planet is the greatest fertility, the
greatest industry, and the greatest development of
wealth.  The soul, which is not as high as spirit in
refinement and function, is  in contact with  this
world.  It is the source and the play-ground of
14*




322              MORNIN G LECTURES.
passions and appetites.  It is the fulcrum on which all
passion and force-levers are placed; the bridge over
which all animal emotions, impulses and energies travel
between the body (outmost) and the spirit (inmost).
Only now and then do we perceive glimmerings of
pure spirit in -man.
AMen and women sing about being angels in this
world.  It is difficult to become angels in the cellarkitchen of life; but it is possible.  You can live a
sweetly ordered life, and can use your will-power to
regulate your thoughts and keep discord away. Genuine
angels know nothing about being c" tempted" to do avything that is wrong. If you can be tempted, you are not
yet above the conditions from which temptation emanates. Pure spirit is above the reach of temptation.
Moral strength to overcome or to resist evil, is the
promise of the future angel.  It is, in fact, the basis on
which the angel-character is finally erected; yet if you
are tempted at all, you have not ascended above the
soul-plane. You do not yet live in the Spirit. You
will, therefore, be tempted to do various things-little
things, great things, bad things, indifferent thingssometimes, perhaps, good things may be done unwisely,
or overdone, or done to excess.  I know persons who
do some good things until they get in everybody's wayuntil a very excellent thing in itself becomes a stumbling-block.; like the expression of divine music, continued for hours instead of moments, becomes tedious,
because too exquisite, and ultimately the best strains
would be irksome to the highest master of the holy art.
I said that pure SPIRIT is seldom manifested in this
world. Why? Because eighty per cent. of life here is




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.            323body and soul. Hence men say,; "Well, there are only
two parts of us; one is inside, soul; the other outside,
body."  Some insist that there is nothing but matter
about and within man. Col. Colt, the man who invented
the pistol bearing his name, a great, splendid looking
man, once said,;"Mr. Davis, I don't understand your
doctrine.  You say that I have an immortal soul.  If
you will trot it out, so I can see it, I will give you five
hundred dollars."  Wanted me to "' trot out" the evidence that he would live after death.  A soul! he did
not believe in it as an eternal verity.  Said he, "Here
I am, so much bone and muscle and blood and. brain-is
there anything else? I am perfectly willing," he
continued, z "to help with money to support a good thing.
I go to the Catholic Church, and to other meetings
where I can hear fine singing and eloquent speaking,
no matter where or who, and I am willing to pay for
it; but I would give most to know that I shall always
continue." He expressed the skepticism of vast numbers.
Body and soul, not SPIRIT, are most manifested during this life. Body is uppermost sixty-five per cent. of
the time, and only the rest of the hours is given to soul,
which includes passion, appetite, impulse, and indifferent
emotions.  All the energies that make soul are displayed in the heat of the blood, the electricity of the
nerves, the will-forces of the brain-all enter into the
composition of the soul. Now, this fact ifi life means
something.  I know that men in the churches say, " It
is because individual man is fallen; this is why men
have more body than spirit.  The life of your heart is
blackened by the Adamic curse; so you are working
along and struggling through materiality."




324              MORNING LECTURES.
But look deeper and see if there be not a beautiful
meaning in it all.  We are not authorized to contend
with facts; we are here rather to comprehend and make
use of them. The age of flagellation, of sacrificial offerings, of self-excoriation, of unworthy and imbecile
adoration, is past.  The cosmotheosis is begun.  Those
who linger in the rear of the vanguard will continue to
fall in the ashes, and to roll and crawl like worms in
the miserable muck of ignorance and theological superstition. Well, why is materiality uppermost?
The meaning of it all is, THE BODY IS A FACTORY.
Suppose an Indian should enter a factory at Lowell,
Mass.  Suppose the factory is not at work; that it is
being repaired, as he enters for the first observation.
Suppose the wheels are still, the shafts down on the
floor and piled up in confusion, the belts lying here
and there, fire out of the furnace, and that no machinery
is in action anywhere. He departs without any definite
impression of its utility.  In a few weeks he is again
shown into that factory; he looks at the buzzing cogwheels, at the swift spindles, he sees the tremendous
shafts in the act of revolution, the large leather belts
running with still power, andhe looks upon it with the
same consternation, or with the same stupid expression,
as many people look upon the object of their existence
in this world.  The foreman asks the Indian, "' What
do you suppose is the object of these wheels and shafts
and belts?"  "' Me don't know."  Hie shakes his head;
he is almost dumb. The master-machinist then says,
"sRed man, let me tell you. The wheels and all the
machinery that you see here, are but parts of one design,
and one result will come out of it all." The savage, just




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.             325
like a skeptic, knowing nothing of the end, is confounded.
Now, what is that one result?  Do you see that cloth
piled upon those shelves?  What! it is all designed to
make cloth?  How is it made? and from what?  The
savage is now taken down into the lower stories where
the stock is received.  There he sees coarse and dirty
looking stuff-cotton. "; Do you tell me," exclaims the
Indian to the foreman, "that such stuff is made into that
beautiful material I saw on the shelves?"  The one
perfect result, accomplished through (to him) countless
intricacies and most inconsistent parts, was impressed
upon his savage mind.
Now, are we not all savages on this problem  of
life's central object?  What means this world so filled
with confusion?  Behold fishes and birds and reptiles
and plants and trees and stars scattered and sown about
everywhere.  Is it all a system of accidents; all a fortuitous concourse of atoms?  What means all this to
man?  Are not the brightest intellects confounded by
the wonderful complexity of the system? Let us stand
on the summits of the mountains, in the presence of this
grand machinery of the universe, and learn to comprehend the magnitude of its meaning. The human body
is a factory full of wheels.  The stock to be manufactured into a beautiful fabric, is taken in between the
lips. Look at the miserable stuff that is prepared in
the world's kitchens!  What does it mean?  It means
that one result is to be accomplished by the wheels.'What wheels?  The heart, the lungs, the pancreas,
the liver, the stomach, the gall-ducts, and kidneys.
The soul and body, after taking in stock, wants an easy
chair. The brain, the seat of government, has closed




326              MORNING LECTURES.
doors for a secret session. The wheels are set in motion,
for the engine has received energy from the heated
fiber. You know enough of physiology not to need any
specifications of the digestive process. Material is being
manufactured up into the so-called immaterial.  The
spiritual meaning of life answers the question of the
object of man's existence in this world. The passions
and appetites may be put to high and grand uses; for
all things we eat and drink, and all the elements we
breathe, are converted into a garment, which, after
death, gives personality and form and immortal beauty
to the'SPIRIT.  You are here just as the silkworm is in
the cocoon, winding fine thread into the formation of
your spirit's body, so that the essence of the spirit itself
can have personality and be protected forever from diffusion.  At last the soul predominates and becomes the
crowning work; all the rest is subordinate and
co-ordinate and auxiliary.  Marriage and parentage
and.homes, and the various arts and sciences, are so
many intermediates and accessories and tributaries and
streamlets flowing into the one central object of being
in this world.
Whatever we eat and whatever we drink is'more
or less represented in- the article manufactured. Hence
you may have a soul prepared for the Summer-Land,
streaked with tobacco. Or, it may be very odoriferous
after death with alcohol. Of course, the fluid alcohol will
be left just where you left your money and your clothes,
but the effect of it remains, because you have wrought
and sprinkled it into your spirit's body.  Suppose a
paper-maker says, "6 It is no matter what I put into the
composition before the article is manufactured. I can




THE OBJECT OF LIFE.             327
put in cotton and old rags, old boots, some beefsteak,
some old beans, and I will make paper as good and
white as any other maker."  Do you believe that?
Ask the artist. Can he put any kind and admixture
of colors in  his piece?  No-a beautiful painting
requires a careful arrangement of properly mixed
colors. So with man's foods and beverages. He is
making a spiritual body from  all he eats and drinks
and breathes, and to accomplish this result, in the best
and highest style, is to fulfill the organic object of the
present life.




EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.
"When from the lips of truth one mighty breath
Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze
The whole dark pile of human mockeries,
Then shall the RACE OF MIND commence on earth,
And, starting fresh, as from the second birth,
MAN,. in the sunshine of the world's nuew spring,
Sha11 walk transparent, like some holy thing."
Innovators and reformers are called iconoclasts, or
idol-and-church-destroyers, and' so they are; because
most of them have arisen to a plane of comprehensive
thought and of holier inspiration, from which it is easy
to see that the time will surely come when whatsoever
is fleeting and evanescent in the idol-temples, pagodas,
and churches of the world-their forms, their ceremonies, their rituals, liturgies, and whatever you choose
to name t-hat, in them, which causes one sect to differ
from  and hate its neighbor-is destined to be known
only in the historic monuments of the world, having
passed utterly out of all human confidence, and thus
out of existence.
We, therefore, have the reputation of being opposed
to churches, which many deem equivalent to being
opposed to 6, religion." I have no acquaintance with
any sincere spiritual-minded man or woman who wishes




EXPENSIVENESS OF ERIROR IN RELIGION.    329
to. destroy pure and undefiled religion. Excepting those
who make a great mistake in their conceptions of the
ordinary meaning of words, I know not one individual
in spirituality, who supposes that when he is opposing
the mythological theology of the churches, he is necessarily thereby opposing religion.  Negationists, or the
anti-spiritual skeptics, seem  to think and write as if
anything that bears the impress or label of religion is
worthy of their severest invectives and unqualified condetmnation.  This is not our mental condition; neither
is. it the condition of many skeptics. Sift the actuating
motives of these minds-trace their thoughts down to
the very germs, and you will discover that they oppose,.and desire to oppose, only what they conceive to be
"cpious frauds," and hurtful 1" errors" in the moral and
spiritual sentiments of mankind.  They are no more
opposed to true spiritual religion, which is immanently
fixed in the constitution of the human soul, than they
are opposed to the fragrance of flowers.
The universe, as I have before said, is filled with
DESIGNS. Reason very simply and logically follows the
lead of these designs into very profound depths, and
unto far-reaching hights of thought, partly by inductive
research, by the hints of its intuitions, and by means
of analogy.  The existence of light, for illustration,
presupposes and guarantees the existence of eyes; the
existence of sound guarantees, presupposes, and fixes as
a matter of mathematical necessity, the existence of eass.
If the fishes in the Kentucky cave have no eyes, it is
presumptive evidence-in fact, it is demonstrativethat there is therein no light for them.  Apply this
method of reasoning to the structure of the human




330              MORNING LECTURES.
mind, nearest its moral and spiritual apex or summits.
We find there the existence of superior faculties which
take hold upon truths, ideas and principles — faculties,
with hearts and tongues, which give off unutterable
yearnings and utter holiest prayers to know more concerning human life beyond the grave.  Shall we not
say that these faculties presuppose and demonstrate the
existence of the truths, ideas, and principles, for which
they seek and thirst and hunger? Not only so, but also
that the Summer-Land life to which they aspire, and
after which they perpetually inquire, and into which
they lovingly plunge and bathe whenever the cloud
of doubt is enough removed to admit of an eternal
right, is a reality not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.
These spiritual faculties are dwelling in the summits of
the human structure. They, consequently, are the first to
catch heaven's light when it streams over the horizon
of faithful thought concerning immortality.  The superior faculties, being stationed in the superior part of
the human structure, are also and necessarily the first
to yearn for what is called " religion." They yearn
like angelic-children for knowledge of whatsoever is
spiritual and celestial, pertaining to eternal life, its
beatitudes and its happiness.  These faculties do not
grow under insincerity and persecution. They are in
themselves wise. They are also filled with love. From
the center they grow and put forth the purest and most
enthusiastic aspirations.  These aspirations spring out
of divine warmth, which multiplies and fertilizes them,
and gives them fruitage and happiness. The perceptive
part of mind apprehends, applies checks and modifica



EXPENSIVENESS OF ERR9R IN RELIGION.    331
tions, gives symmetry of manifestation, and perfection
of expression. Persons who are wise in their religious
emotions, are symmetrical in their manifestations. Those
who have only love in their spiritual faculties, and not
wisdom, are full of idolatry and impulsiveness-are
given to extremes, excesses, infatuations, and fanaticisms
— which you can read in the private and earliest history
of every religion.  Now, it is not what these spiritual
faculties love that we oppose; but the forms which they
have gathered about them, and through which they have
necessitated the world to express itself. If the kingdom
of heaven should c" come on the earth" week after next,
do you suppose it would indorse the different evangelical forms of expressing religion? Do you suppose that
an approval would come from  the courts of infinitude,
adopting as essential the various exercises and consequent antagonisms which have grown up full of thorns
in these churches?  Subdue and paint them as much as
you choose, you will still find that the antagonism of
the creeds is anti-kingdom-of-heaven; it is, rather,
propandemoniunm, human in origin, and is marked for
an early consignment to the pit of oblivion.
We reformers come,Atherefore, to announce and to
work for the extinction of these differences.  Not that
all men will or can think alike, but that they can and
will raise above creedal differences and reject mythological interpretations of interior truths.  On the mere
controversy as to what is meant in the Bible by thle
word "G baptism,"5 millions of bigots and thousands of
dollars have been added to churches througlhout the
country.  That controversy, by making different forms
of faith, has built church after church; one to gratify




332              MORNING LECTURES.
the Calvinistic faith, another to gratify the Free Will
Baptists, and a third to gratify the Close Communion
Baptists. Do you suppose that, in the good time coming,
alias the kingdom  of heaven, these shallow-brained
interpretations will be perpetuated? We do not oppose
"' religion," nor what is true spirituality in the human
soul; but we oppose the- misapprehension and creeds
which have clustered about it in the development of the
religious faculties. The controversy as to whether the
grace of God was, from the foundation of the world,
prepared for and meted out to all persons before their
birth, and thus would foreordain and govern their individual destinies through the eternal ages, or whether
the grace of God was a free gift to all who would accept,
has built all these immense piles of property called the
", Houses of God," or churches and tabernacles.  They
loom  up before you in magnificent stupidity.  These
buildings are confessedly coronating the diabolical controversies that have grown from the foolish interpretations of a few unimportant words which somebody, in a
religious state of mind, uttered twenty centuries ago.
Do you suppose the kingdom of heaven, alias " the good
time coming," will approve of such a condition of
things?  If you do, pray for the advent of that kingdom; then, (oh, fearful thought!) you really pray for
just such refobrmers and for such iconoclasts and for such
opponents of the creeds that built the churches, as exist
and speak and write and work for progress in the nineteenth century!
The spiritual faculties, on the summit of the mind,
exist because there are ideas, principles, truths, and
eternal Summer-Lands answering to them. These facul



EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    333
ties yearn for these realities in the universe as naturally
as one's appetite yearns for food, or the thirsting mouth
for drink.  Thirst presupposes the existence of' water,
and hunger indicates the existence of food.  You have
yearnings to know what is beyond, to appreciate, to
realize and to enjoy what is ideal and beautiful and
sweet; and these inborn yearnings are infallible demonstrations of' the positive existence of all that for which
they hunger and thirst, and to promote which they
devote property, yield great industry, and pledge so
much of time, friendship, love, and worship.
Can you wonder that the soul delights to sit and
dream  in this beautiful mellow  lighrllt of the Infinite
Spirit?  The Lazzaroni of Italy, so poor and so infirm
that they cannot obtain wood to keep their bodies warm
in the winter, can go out on the southern side of the
rocks and cliffs and groves, and absorb the warm sunny
influences that emanate from the physical orb in the
blue heavens, a beautiful substitute for the heat of the
wood that would keep them  comfortable.  It is thus
with every human soul at times. You may be a spiritual
mendicant.  You may go about asking heart-charities
and wisdom-alms of your spiritual brothers or sisters.
All peraons in the churches on Sunday are really asking
alms of heaven through the pulpit, even when the minister himself is miserably s" poor in spirit."  But almost
every soul enters the " interior" at times.  This deepening of the mind may come from the reading of ideas,
or through contemplation of holy principles, or from a
sacred enthusiasm, or it may be awakened by some external cause like the whisperings of an angel.  At such a
moment the soul will come into a new relation to the




334              MORNING LECTURES.
infinite sun.  It instantly warms and fertilizes the
affections, gives unity and joy and beautiful happiness
for the moment, and the spirit is lifted beyond utterance.  It is a thrill that goes like lightning throughout
the spirit, awakening its gratitude and filling its loves
with inward songs of celestial harmony.  Such experiences invariably come through the inward faculties,
which, for the moment, are lifted and gratified by contact with the wise and loving life of the Infinite Father
and Mother.
But start with an error, make a radical mistake,
through want of wisdom in opening your account in the
day-book and the ledger of theology, and it will run
throughout all your growth in "religion."  From  the
moment i4 enters into the compilation, your whole record
is vitiated.  Sometimes, in our large banks and in our
commercial institutions, an error creeps stealthily into
the ledger.  At first, perhaps, it is but a vulgar fraction.  In a few months it increases rapidly; in a few
years it is large and important.  In a quarter of a century, when the great dayvof settlement has come, when
the stockholders apply to know  definitely all their
resources and liabilities, then comes an investigation,
and a ponderous and expensive error is found running
through all the books of the institution. Then they
send for the best known accountant to review and analyze the books.' Days and weeks, and perhaps months,
are given to the tedious labor of ferreting out the error
and expelling it from the books of the institution.  It
requires a good deal of money to compensate the investigator, and a great deal of fine insight is expended in
seeing exactly how that little blunder originated. How




EXPENSIVEN PASS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    335
enormously it grew  in twenty-five years!  sweeping
away much capital and the reputation of honest clerks,
and how anxious all stockholders were to get the wrong
righted, the error expelled, and the reform  established.
Now suppose you apply this to the errors of religion.
But just here let us remember it is not claimed that the
business of the mercantile, banking, or commercial institution was in itself spurious, but that there was a vicious,
and expensive, and demoralizing error introduced; but
not necessarily by any evil intent on the part of the
persons who opened the account. Of religious error we
say the same.  The word "religion" I now use to
express the spirit of truth in the human soul, which
includes goodness and virtue and all the higher attributes and beauties of the Infinite.  Truth, and a love
for truth, seems to be the finest embodiment and exemplification of what is called " God." The faculties
group themselves in worshipful love about that conception. That conception is, in itself, a treasure of Infinite
value to the spirit.  It gives joy and holy peace.  But
in gratifying these faculties, which see truth, and entertain the love of truth, mankind frequently commit mistakes and originate expensive errors. The greatest and
heaviest error is what men call 6" theology."  We discriminate with great tenacity, and forever insist upon
our definition, between the 6"religion" and 6"theology"
which has crept into religion. The error of the theology
runs throughout the world, and is threatening  the
so-styled civilized portion of mankind with political as
well-as religious bankruptcy.  To-day it. is necessary
that-our best spiritual accountants should enter into an




336              MORNING LECTURES.
investigation, and ferret out the error, and leave the
pure spirit of religion an opportunity to flourish as the
white rose of heaven.
Reformers, intellectually, socially, and spiritually, are,
like other men and women, more or less imperfect; some
are very good, but very peculiar; some talk and write
and work with a great deal of discord; some *are
exceedingly antagonistic and disagreeable to encounter;
but with all their eccentricities and sledge-hammer
roughness, with all their excoriating adjectives and
unrestrained expletives, they are the necessary agents
of Justice, the vicegerents of eternal truth, working in
the midst of idols and forms and ceremonies, and relieving
the world of expensive errors in its theologies. Theology
is the systematic form in which the spirit of religion is
clothed. Theology I do not at all believe in: while I
believe profoundly in religion.  That is, I believe in
whatsoever my spirit sees and feels is spiritual and interior and eternal.  No deep nature can have faith in
that which is evanescent, fleeting, formal, ceremonial,
and suited only to gratify, for the time, those persons
who suppose that " theology" should give shape and
expression to pure and undefiled religion.  Pure and
undefiled  truth is simple and easily  comprehended.
Every one has faith in it front the source of intuition.
Did you ever hear any one speak of old theologythe legitimate child of an ignorant priesthood-as
being " pure and undefiled"?
Polytheism, the doctrine of a great many Gods; or
Pantheism, in which all being is God; Dualism-meani-ng a God and a Devil; or Deism, which is Unitarianisnl, teaching the one God —these all citlr into the
catalogue of the world's theologies.  Anthropomorph



EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    337
ism, that is, attributing to God the form and character of man, is sacred to many civilized people.  They
will receive no revelations or inspirations which tend
to dissipate the notion that God is a great man.  If it
be affirmed that c" God is a spirit," and that spirit is
diffused throughout the universe, the statement is labeled "pantheism."  And yet this is the doctrine of the
New Testament. (See John, chapter iv., 24th verse.)
In the Old Testament, on the other hand, you will find
the doctrine of anthropomorphism, the man-God, or
deism-Jehovah, the concentration of almightiness, the
focalization of all stout convictions concerning the attribute of omnipotence-Jehovah, the Jewish God of infinite, desperate, and destructive attributes, with nothing
for the heart, and generally repulsive to everything
human.
When the heart grows warmer and larger, it sees,
or thinks it sees, a Father in the maker, and calls him
by that endearing name.  Such hearts pray to the
6"Father" instead of to Jehovah, whose omnipotence
and implacable justice overwhelm the mind.- The human
soul is filled with conceptions of pure tenderness, which
callfor tender eternal relations. These spiritual faculties require tender relations in every stage of their
development.  Hence the Father was revealed, prayed
to, besought, invoked, and teased too much by the childhood stage of the race.  It makes children fretful,
peevish, and small-minded to cry all their wvants and
troubles and sorrows into the ears of the Infinite Spirit.
But this absurdity is a part of theology, and here is an
error, and yet it is a spontaneous, though unwise,
expression of the spirit of love and worship by the reli15




338              MORNING LECTURES.
gious faculties. Many souls affect to be severely shocked,
and their children in Sunday-schools are really shocked,
because their theology says the all-beautiful, all-loving,
all-embracing Father is particeps criminis to the eternal
damnation of nine persons in every ten! There are
civilized ministers in the city of New York to-day, who
are (I trust) ashamed to the very heart for ever having
believed and taught any such error in religion.  And
yet there are some persons who affect to believe this
stupid error with all their heart-of course that organ
cannot be very spacious; and there are ministers who
yet preach it with all their heads-the capacity whereof
does not excite anybody's astonishment. But, unhappily,
they have the power to make mothers believe,:and the
innocent children whom such mothers send to the Sunday'schools also believe, that God is a great Baptist,
instead of a Presbyterian sprinkler, or that God is a
red-hot Methodist instead of an easy-going Quaker, or
polite Unitarian.  These are the errors-that creep into
religion. Whether God be a Quaker, or a Sprinkler,
or a Plunger, it is of little consequence in the great
future of true religion. God is infinite, a spirit, a man,
or a tyrant-just what you choose to make him in ylur
seven-by-nine creeds and dogmas. If the whole isle of
New York was soft, malleable, and golden clay-if you
could move it and shape it into anything that suited
your fancy by your hand, you would doubtless undertake to do it, and all the children would follow your
example, and thus you and they would begin to make
various forms of thought and countless toys out of the
universal plastic substance.  Your conception of the
spirit of God is like that clay. You make all kinds of




EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    339
idols, creeds, and theologies out of the universal plastic
substance. The spirit of God, however, being the same
everywhere and at all times, is not thrown from  its
equilibrium by these childish forms and toys made by
learned theologians. The tangible and intangible Gods
and Jesuses, which are made by the cartload out of
theology, do not disturb the Infinite heart, Mother,
neither the Infinite mind, Father.  In this light, therefore, theology is an innocent error.  And yet the men
of the city of New York have spent money enough, to
gratify these foolish idolatries, to give ninety-seven
thousand families a comfortable home worth five thousand dollars each!
The early Jews, who were in many respects, by far
the most intelligent people, maintained a distant allegiance to common sense. They believed in a Jehovah; in
one God, in no devil, and in a new Jerusalem. They
did not exactly know whether the new Jerusalem would
be in this world or in the next. And generally there
was a difference of opinion upon these points. The Rabbis differed widely on many religious questions, but they
never concocted any of the monstrous errors of theology
which have built modern churches. They had their synagogues. Their temples of religion were devoted to the
gathering together of the people, so that they might
sing and give full expression to their convictions of
supernaturalism. They had their shekinahs, their image
temples, and their decorated tabernacles; but their
forms were all symbolic and brim-full of spiritual meanings.  They enjoyed their festivals and glorifications;
it was a pleasant way to pass the time. The same old
forms are observed by Jews at this late age of the world.




340              MORNING LECTURES.
The tinsel and paraphernalia of the New York synagogues would.suit thirty-five hundred years ago. The
plan was at first a simple organization of persons,
believers in theocracy, for the enjoyment of religion,
and not to teach a mythical theology.  The first conception that formed the basic error in theology, was that
man, by an incomprehensible fall, had lost all connection
with the Infinite Spirit. Theologians have never tried
to reconcile this doctrine with common sense, because it
is never necessary in theology to have things reconciled.
It is a proud peculiarity of the system to be supernatural, which is the name for what is absurd and impossible.
Theology began with the assumption that the human
race was out of joint with God's will.  God is represented as being just as anxious as man was to get out
of this state of eternal difference and conflict.  It was
necessary to turn a fable inside out, and wrong side
foremost, in order to fix an explanation of the great
quarrel between God and his only two children, which
happened in a very small place called Eden. They had
willfully diverged from the Infinite Love! Theologians
say that God could not help it!  He must be excused
for the straying of' his two children!  He was all
benevolence and all wise. He concocted the atonement
long before the sin was committed, know.ing from the
first that Adaim and Eve would cut up just'the caper
they did in the fable. Preparations were accordingly
made from the foundations of the world.  The remedy
was ready to be administered to all who would shut
their eyes, open their mouths, ask no questions, and
swallow. This is what theologians call the atonement.




EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    341
That is a desperate and most expensive error.  It is
based on the doctrine that you are totally sinful, or that
you are sufficiently sinful to deserve an eternal existence
in cheap brimstone. To recover you from that dilernnmma,
the atonement was prepared. By its provisions you are
to be accepted in the kingdom of heaven, and esteemed
worthy of that state of existence, on the merits of
an innocent man who was made to suffer for sinners.
Such is the machinery of error in theology. There
is nothing of the kingdom of God in it; there is no religion in it.  Many excellent persons suppose that their
hope of happiness in the future is annihilated with the
overthrow of the atonement.  Thousands cling to a
shallow error, and suppose that by faith in it, they will
be prepared after death to enter upon the joys of the
kingdom of peace. But thousands come back from the
other life to tell us a very different story.  What is
necessary to make this atonement universally accepted
and efficacious? There is but one-third of the population of this globe that has any confidence in or any
knowledge whatever of such a supernatural institution
as the death of Jesus. Only one person in three of the
earth's population-about 370,000,)000 out of 1000,000,000-know anything about this error of theology.
Some have heard it; some see it in the newspapers.
Away off in China the missionaries preach this absurdity
of superstition. They do what Bishop Colenso did,
teach the theories of theology; religion, pure and undefiled, they do not often explain to the heathen. What,
we again ask, would make this atonement universal and
efficacious?  Reason will have nothing to do with such
a theory.  "cFaith P"  Here is the third error which




342              MORNING LECTURES.
follows of necessity the first, which is the "c fall," and
the second, which is the " atonement."  Look at these
churches, and look at their ministers. They are, doubtless, just as earnest in their labors and just as faithful
to their convictions as are they who work in a better
cause. I am satisfied that, for earnestness and honesty,
there is nothing to choose between a Catholic, a Protestant, my brother Beecher, or my brother Tyng. They
are as honest in their calling, and as faithful to their
internal convictions as are less or more civilized minds.
Toward the individuals of the different forms of faith
I do not feel any uncharitableness.  I do not believe
that they are hypocrites and deceivers.  Disreputable
as the fact may be to their intelligence, they do believe
earnestly in the errors of " theology" as well -as in the
truths of "c religion." But theology, and not religion, is
the origin of their churches. Their religious hatreds and
creedal antagonisms arise from theology. Hence we are
c"in duty bound" to oppose the diversal systems of
theology as the first step toward the developinent of
true religion.
Christians, impelled by their theology, and moved
by their benevolence and charity, which are the best
elements of religion, send off millions of money and
hundreds of missionaries to carry a knowledge of
"faith" as well as of c" sin," and of the " atonement," to
the heathen.  As the person of African descent said:
6"It is an ill wind that blows nowhar."  So this missionary movement: By necessity it carries some items
of useful education, somewhat of the impulses of civilization, more advanced habits of social life, a few notions
about cultivating the soil, new patterns for garments,




EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    343
and several plans for building houses and churches. It
carries c" glory" and 6" grog" to the heathen. The missionary work is, therefore, associated, for the most part,
with what is good. For these reasons men willingly
subscribe their dollars to help the solemn-hearted missionary on his perilous way. Although his theology is
of no consequence, you think that possibly there may
be something connected with the minister's family which
may be useful and ennobling to the savages. But it
will not do to say a great deal in that direction. We
do not get encouraging reports from travelers. The
flattering reports of great works among the heathen
Icome through the religious papers, written by the missionaries themselves. Of course, they. give a ministerial
report of the missionary work in which they are involved;
and to which they have, with great self-sacrifice, consecrated themselves to carry the c" efficacious" errors in
religion to the savages of the forest wild.
What follows faith?  c" Regeneration." This is the
climax of the theological structure. Look about you in
society and see the original characters who have been
born nearly two thousand years after this saving (?)
theology was started.  Who are your chief men at
Washington?  Who are they who occupy your highest
places to-day? Are they Spiritualists, Reformers, Progressionists-persons who are wholly and unqualifiedly,
publicly and privately, opposed to the absurdities of
old theology-who have no faith in creeds and ceremonies?  No.  Thev are men who are known to be
publicly allied to the sectarian churches and to the follies of theology; but they are not as fully known to be
allied to pure and undefiled religion. These public




344              MORNING LECTURES.
men at Washington are, many of them, much advanced
in years.  Some of them are dead —have you not read
their obituaries in the papers?-in trespasses and sins.
The Republicans and Democrats to-day correspond to
the publicans and sinners of the olden time.  The
American government is engineered- by persons who
openly and shamelessly profess to have adopted all the
four errors of theology: " sin," the c' atonement,"
" faith," and  " regeneration."   Somebody has been
unkind enough to say that I am opposed to " religion."
Does it necessarily follow, because a person is opposed
to the forms of error in theology, that he is therefore
opposed to pure spirituality, and opposed to what in
good and true in religion?  Let us discriminate carefully, lest we be stranded upon this rock of illogical
reasoning and wicked prejudice. It is like the passage
between Scylla and Charybdis-ignorance on one side,
theology on the other.  Man must steer his bark, his
reason, his intuition, and his character between these
dangerous obstructions on either side of the channel, dr
he will be dashed to pieces.
Religion, without wisdom, is fanatical. It is a crusade of the sepulcher-it worships and fights for a little
piece of ground; it sacrifices everything to an idol.
The simple-minded and loving-hearted nature loves to
appeal to the Infinite Spirit.  No person thinks of any
form of faith while under the experience of devotional
prayer. The spirit enjoys the luxury of contact, as the
sense of smell enjoys the special fragrance of a beloved
flower.  There is little differenuce between the rapport
and the spiritual gratification. When you truly approach
the Infinite, you sensibly become part of it. The theory




EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    345
of the contact is theology; the experience of the contact is religion. Theology stands off and builds up
a system. But when your spirit comes in contact with
the spirit of truth, which is the spirit of fraternity and
unity, you then know nothing of theological notions. A
grand joy and a loving happiness thrills and fills the
whole temple of your spirit.  Then you are divinely
warm and tender; you feel kindly and sweetly
toward all members of the human family. You were
-vindictive, but you are now forgiving; you were angular, but you have become harmonious. That is the
blessing of God; the fragrance of the Infinite Flower.
You now feel that there is nothing in the world as
important as pure spirituality.  One more step and you
become fanatical.  You believe devoutly that religion
is the chief concern of mortals here below.  From this
abnormal state it will take but a very slight alteration
in your mind to make a religious twaddler or fanatic.
Because man's spiritual faculties are not the whole,
but only a part of his mental structure.  Look at these
faculties throughout the other parts and windows of the
temple. Examine them with your reason. They mean
something, do they not?  They have a high work to
do, else why are they such a superior power?  Go into
these upper chambers of your spirit, and dwell there for
a time.  Nothing is more important than the just and
complete gratification of the desires of y9ur spiritual
faculties.  But a religious "revival" is mostly abnormal.  Methodists frequently experience the fascination
and fanaticism thereof.  The new convert is too happy
to sleep quietly; she gets out of bed, kneels, and prays;
but she cannot attend to getting the next morningl's




346              MORNING LECTURES.
meal.  John, who is not converted, wants to go out
early on his farm to work; but Jane, his wife, has just
"4 got religion," and cannot attend to such labors. Of
course the potatoes in the pan are burned, and generally
things have grown "irreligious" in the house.  But
John goes out to his work, and Jane goes into her bed.
She prays long and devoutly; then lies down with great
exhaustion, and sleeps. Presently she awakes and turns
over the leaves of her Bible.  She remembers the minister's last text.  It is the first sentence that meets her
eye! It seems as though God himself had spoken it to
her.  It goes right to her heart.  Then she remembers
the last song that made her heart so joyous, and immediately she sets up to sing the heavenly hymn. By this
time her excited feelings have made her very weary.
John has just come home for supper, and there is the
same difficulty.  This folly continues about ten days.'Thus some families get religion very bad.  Now and
then these 4'"revivals" are attended with violent symptoms which subside into imbecility.  There is a vast
space between pure religion and religious excitement.
We come now to consider the expensiveness of error in
religion.  We will confine our remarks to this city, saying nothing about the other great cities of superstitious
Christendom.  In the city of New York alone theological error has erected 33 Baptist churches, 4 Congregational, 22 Dutch Reformed, 18 Jewish Synagogues,
7 Lutheran, 35 Methodist Episcopal churches, 5 African Episcopal churches, 1 Methodist Protestant, 46
Presbyterian, 6 United Presbyterians, 56 Protestant
Episcopal churches, (the latter being the genteelest of
all), 31 Roman Catholic -mother and daughter you see




EXPENSIVENESS OF ERROR IN RELIGION.    347
close together-miscellaneous additional 20, and among
the whole of them we find but three Quaker meeting-houses, two  Unitarian, and  four Universalist
churches.
Therefore we find 284 temples consecrated to error
in religion, in New York alone; not counting any of
the churches just over in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and
Jersey City. These expensive buildings indicate what
theology, or religious error, has erected on the island
of Manhattan! These temples and pagodas must have
talented and expensive ministers, and in addition they
have sextons, and they must, (thank heaven!) they must
also have choirs. By calculation you will find that the
cost of the gas per annum-and there is a great deal of
this article used-together with the heat, and sexton's
hire, and the excellent music for the churches, amounts
yearly to about $500; the  average amount of all
expenses, in all the churches for ministers, &c. is a little
over $2000,-for each church per year. Now suppose
we add up the original cost of all these churches, and
combine the interest on this sum  with the annual
expenses, for thirty years, or a generation.  Salaries,
gas, fire, sexton, and music, with interest on the first
cost, amounts to not less than one million of dollars
per annum; making the aggregate expense of religious
error for thirty years in the city of New York more
than thirty millions! Now ask Dr. Spring, or any
orthodox gentleman, how many souls. have been probably saved in the city of New York during thirty
years, and he will shudder.  For his theology says
that only one soul in ten ever gets within sight of the
kingdom of heaven!




348              MORNING LECTURES.
If homes at the rate of $5000 a piece were purchased for the poor of this continent, and given to them
out and out, they would amount to just what New
York sectarianism costs once in every thirty years.
Thousands of worthy fathers and mothers with their
families might thus become proprietors of homes worth
each $5000, and virtue and happiness would increase in
proportion to such benevolence.  Various excesses,
intemperance, despair, recklessness, and the thousands
of influences that go to make up the vagrants and the
criminals of the world, would be utterly prevented by
the increase of the benevolence of pure and undefiled
r eligion-leading to physical, spiritual, moral, and
intellectual education, and to universal democracy and
enrichment. Crime diminishes in proportion as people
are lifted above the oppressive forms of poverty.
Churches absorb immense amounts of money merely to
give shape and form to religious errors, which the
believers worship as truths.  You know  that under
such perversities and misappropriations, crime must
stalk through New York society, and your police system must be doubled and trebled as the population
increases.
Mankind must be brought to see that theology is
error, and that Religion is "pure and undefiled" and
inexpensive; and that to be more, and to profess less, is
fulfilling life's grand objects, and taking a diviner position in the universe.




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND..
"Open thy soul to God, O Man, and talk
Through thine unfolded faculties with Him
Who never, save through faculties of mind,
Spake to the Fathers."
Portions of the New Testament are opulent with
hints of eternal truths. They are parts of the unspeakable harmonies of God and Nature. In the writings of
John (chap. xix., v. 2,) there is a beautiful, social,
spiritual affirmation, which begins, "In my Father's
house."  Like a child he speaks of his father's possessions in a pleasant and grateful spirit. "C In My Father's
house there is one immense room-no separate chambers
and no compartments-adapted to only one family of
one mind and one faith."  Does it read so?  No; but
it would suit the orthodox sectarians if the verse were so
written.  The passage reads thus: "In  my Father's
house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I
would have told you."
Yes, if there were not;r"many mansions" in the
house of God, the intuitive Nazarene would have known
the fact.  Multitudinous human hopes and tender aspirations have sailed over the river on that beautiful
barge-on that mystic affirmation —which, floating on




350              MORNING LECTURES.
the flowing sea of the olden time, comes very near to
our hearts to-day, not valuable because it is laden with
priestly authority, but because it comes indorsed by
the spiritual discoveries and positive facts of the last
fifteen years.
6" In ny Father's house there are many mansions; if
it were not so, I would have told you." How tender
and beautiful, how simple and true, how childlike and
sublime! The earth is the Land of Winter, of storms
and sorrows; but the second sphere is the SummerLand of repose and infinite blossoming. Many apartments in the Surnmer-Land for different peoples and
races of men.  Various localities and spheres for different inclinations.  Provision is made for the complete gratification of the diversities of spiritual desires
in human character, so that all races and all states of
mind will be " at home" in the Father's house which is
eternal in the heavens-friendly brotherhoods all,
though billions, trillions of leagues apart!
Whose -heart does not beat in melodious harmony
with that beautiful sentiment from the Intuitions of long
ago-with that ever dear and lovingly sweet affirmation
from the source of positive revelation?  It comes clad
with the majestic authority in which all truth travels to
mankind.  It stamps the spirit with an inward conviction of " eternal reality."
On this globe there are high mountains yet utter
strangers to human footsteps.  Those grand old monuments of matter, with their tops perpetually cloudvailed, have been for centuries innumerable unknown to
human intelligence and  contemplation.  Storms are
beneath their lofty summits. No man's foot has pressed




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.          351
their dizzy hights.  The tempests are lower down. So
our mariners report of storms on the vast oceans. But
down deep in the waters all is still; high enourgh in the
air, all is calm. The middle ground is where the fierce
battles of the elements are fought.  The conflicting
powers meet and pass each other, never to meet again.
Sometimes they meet and fight with such terrible energy
as, for the moment, to shake the neighboring earth and
cause the bending heavens to tremble as though they
were to be rolled together as a scroll.  And yet deep
enough in the inanimate apartments of the physical
world all is still and peaceful; high enough in the ethlereal space all is equally silent and without commotion.
Indeed, so perfectly still is the air above at a certain
bight, that the stroke of a hammer on a log's end could
be heard from New York to California.  The slightest
accent of the human voice could be there heard for
hundreds of miles.  Persons might converse with the
Atlantic between them, in a voice not louder than is
usual, if they were high enough up in this ethereal
realm. The sun that shines with such glory and splendor,
distributing warmth and fertilization over the earth's
bosom, playing so sweetly and tenderly with the flowers and laughing with the rivers that come flowing
down from the mountains, exerts no influence upon this
upper sky-region.  Go up fifteen to twenty miles, and
you find utter night, notwithstanding the noontide glory
and blaze of thesun's rays on the face of the earth.
The effect of the sun's rays is altogether terrestrial, not
atmospherical; that is, the manifestation of its light
and warmth is attributable more to mundane than to
solar causes.




352              MORNING LECTURES.
The wonders of -the physical atmosphere, within the
fifty miles, would be a tax upon any one's faith. And
yet I ask you to ascend in your thoughts millions and
billions of miles beyond our earth's atmosphere. In the
physical world you find works and wonders inexpressible.  How expressive of the spiritual grandeur and
omnipotence of the Infinite Soul! How can you but be
filled with adoration and most glorious contemplations
when the celestial truth is brought to your mind, that
"in the Father's house are many mansions."  If it were
not so, the seers and mediums would have told you.
Let us think of the physical aspect of the SummerLand.  Many persons have understood me to have said
that it is a globe.  I do not mean to be so understood.
The beautiful Land, as I have frequently seen it, and as
many have testified concerning it, is a solid belt of land,
or zone, round in form like the tire of a wheel, but it is
not a globe-is not spherical nor inhabitable in all
directions.  Imagine a belt extending above the eart'h
two-thirds of the distance from the sun, and say seventy.millions of miles wide. Imagine that belt to be immeasurably larger than the sun's path around Alcyone in
the deep of immensity. Suppose this belt to be open at
the sides, and filled with worlds and crowned with stars
and suns, and overhead and all around a firmament just
like these heavens above the earth.  Look in that
direction and you will see just what you see on earth,
only everything further' unfolded and more perfect.
There is exhibited the perfect.ions of the plans of the
infinite temple which here is only fractional and fragmentail. Thus you may somewhat imagine the appearance and shape of the Summer-Land.




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.           353
What is called the 9 "Milky Way" is really a belt of
suns, and planets, and satellites.  There seems also to
be branch-fields of stars, setting off sidewise f'romn the
body of the belt. Then when the telescope is pointed
in certain directions, where the unaided human eye can
see nothing, there are developed, first nebulm-cloudy
regions; next, if the telescope be strong enough, like
Lord Ross's, it reveals the fact that what were supposed to be only star-clouds, are immense fields of stars,
suns, and lesser bodies. Those star-fields open here
and there and make a vista,! and, looking through, there
is revealed a black space which no telescope has yet
been able to dissolve; but clairvoyance has made the
promise that when the telescopic power is adequate,
what now appear to be only empty portions of immensity
will turn out to be as full of' those orbs as the great
meadow is full of spears of grass. There are large
islands of atmosphere between the planets.  These-airislands serve as silken cushions (so to say) to keep the
rolling planets supplied with electricity and also to prevent the friction which would exist were all the spaces
occupied with worlds. So that there are really "6 atmospheric islands" (as I am impressed to term them) as well
as immeasurable star-systems, in the far-off immensity.
Now the Sumtner-Land is in harmony with  this
physical circle of planets called the 6 "Milky Way."  It
is a belt, a zone, or girdle, of real, substantial matter. It
is beyond the Milky Way only in the sense of its being
far-off according to our habits of using language. When
liberated at death, we do not move on toward the sun,
nor drop downwards into some dreary depth of darkness; we embark on a sidewise voyage, directly above




354              MORNING LECTURES.
the southern extremity of our planet, and thence onward
until we reach the Summer-Land! What shore do we
gain? We gain the shore of a land just like this earth,
if this earth were a stratified belt composed of the finest
possible particles that you can imagine thrown from all
the orbs composing the Milky Way.  Pulverize and
attenuate the finest particles of matter on this earth;
then bring them together in chemical relations; make
them  coalesce and form into an immeasuiable golden
belt with all the visible suns and stars, and you have
the Second Sphere in its substance, position, and formation.
Do you not comprehend that that Land is as substantial to those who live there as this earth is to its
inhabitants? The proportions and the adaptations are
the same. The Summer-Land, so far as the surrounding
immensity is concerned, is bounded on all sides by aerial
seas. Suppose you should go down to any of those high
points of land along the coast, and look off on tihe
watery expanse of the Atlantic ocean. What would you
see? No islands are visible; only an atmosphere over.head; clouds are floating in the blue sky, and all the
rest is water. Now suppose you had never seen, or read,
or heard of such a spectacle. What would be your
first impression? Your first sensuous impression would
be that all the immensity beyond was water, as all
above is sky, and that, if you should sail off on that
dreary waste, you would be lost utterly to land afid to
human society.  Such, I say, would be your impression
or apprehension on the supposition that you had no previous knowledge of any such spectacle in Nature.
Now imagine yourself standing on one of those




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.          355
shining shores on the margin of the Summer-Land.
Looking toward the Earth, and Sun, and Mercury, and
Venus, what would you see?  If' you were not a farseeing clairvoyant, but was contemplating with the first
opening of your spiritual eyes, you would see an illimitable ocean of twinkling stars overhead and zones of
golden suns shining, and you would realize a holy,
celestial atmosphere, bounding your existence on all
sides, and from  your feet the departure of an ocean
without shore or island, without form, and void of all
relations.   If, however, your clairvoyant sight was
opened-if your spiritual eyes had the light of farpenetrating clairvoyance in them-you would' instantly
perceive that the aerial ocean, which flows out into
infinity from your feet, ripples off and divides into beautii'ul ethereal rivers, and that those rapidly flowing
rivers lead away to the planets, even to this Earth,
whence you departed, while another river flows onward
to Mars, another to Jupiter, another to Saturn, and
other celestial streams to other more distant planets
belonging to other systems of suns; and so on, and on,
throughout the star-paved regions of the firmament, you
would behold, in every imaginable direction, streams
running musically down these gentle atmospheric
declivities, just as tangibly as the rivers that run down
the mountains and flow  through  the spaces in the
rough landscapes of this more material world.
I wish! oh how I wish! that I could picture to you
the reality of these musical rivers of the heavenly spaces.
They are musical to the ear that can hear them flowing
between the constellations.  Pythagoras and his school
believed in the deathless (" music of the spheres."  Did




356              MORNING LECTURES.
not the students of Pythagoras listen to catch that
compound symphony?  And was it not this very starmelody which caused them  to be such enthusiasts in
Music'?  Did not some of them  in the far-off olden
time have clairaudience enough to hear th1rough the
physical, and also clairvoyance sufficient to see that "6in
the Father's house there are many mansions"-many.
happy and beautiful places —many apartments or spheres
of human life-and that these different apartments in
the celestial temple were so many local scenes and landscapes, belonging to the Summer-Land, which breathe
eternal harmony throughout infinitude —" the music of
the spheres"?
Now suppose you were this moment standing on the
shining shore of the Summer-Land and looking this way,
the out-flowing sea would appear about the same to your
sight, without the light of clairvoyance, as would the
Atlantic Ocean to the natural eye firom the promontories of Nahant. It would, perhaps, at first, be no more
of a startling spectacle of incomprehensible sublimity.
Very many persons depart every day from this Land of
Winter for the Summer-Land.  When they are led
through the celestial gardens and down by the shining
shores, and when they begin to hear the lapping of
musical waves as they ripple in from the very remote
planets, bringing upon  their  throbbing, undulating
bosoms, new persons who had but just died (left their
grQss bodies) on those planets-the scene operates upon
them (because yet uninitiated) just as though you were
to see spirits with beautiful forms suddenly coming from
off the water by the seaside, or persons walking and
riding upon the surface of the waters at Nahant, or down




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.         357
here on the ocean near the rocky shores of Long Island.
I say the first exhibition astonishes them as much as
such a novel scene would surprise you of this world.
I will now relate a true story:  A little girl, who
had lost her darling playmate, dreamed about the
Summer-Land. This sweet little weeping dreamer lived
in Boston.  I knew her well. Death had taken her
beautiful mate away.  The funeral procession went by
the door of her father's house. Her mother owned a
cushioned seat in a fashionable church, and of course
the little daughter had a fashionable, religious direction
given to her thoughts.  What were her thoughts on
death? She thought all of her little mate was put
" into the ground"-laid low in the cold, loveless earth;
and that when the insensate gravel, stones, and chilly
soil, were thrown from the spades upon the coffin, they
covered all that there was of her, and all there would
be of her, until that nmysterious s" trump" would sound
in the c" resurrection morn," when Jehovah would call
those long-sleeping "jewels" that were particularly his
own, to himself.
Well, little Mattie stood weeping by the frontwindow as the pageantry went solemnly through the
street toward the green retreats of Mount Auburn. She
asked her mother what it all meant.  Over and over
again the mother answered that they were going to bury
the little girl c" in the ground"! This seemed to strike
IMattie, for the first time, as something horrible to think
of.  She had, perhaps, never thought seriously of it
before; the dread reality of this false view of death
never touched her affections till now.  She had seen
funeral processions; but this particular,funeral went




358             MORNING LECTURES.
out of her saddened heart to the silent cemetery.  Her
mother said that. God always did so; it was his own
mysterious way.  When people die they are put into
the ground, then the ground is thrown over them, and
the grass and the ages grow over them; when the time
comes, they arise from their long sleep and hasten to
God, if they are called; if not —you know the rest of
the story.
Mattie sadly swallowed all this religious error,.and
shuddered.  She was a beautiful girl then-a young
lady now.
Two weeks after that funeral there was a fashionable party in Boston. Mattie received an invitation.
Her parents were very rich, and she had gold rings and
chains, and many beautiful dresses; but she now wanted
another and a more attractive ring, which she had accidentally seen down in Washington street.  It was a
splendid  ornament.  She wanted it in time for the
party.  Her parents shook their heads and opposed
her wishes. They said she had so many ornaments, was
always so beautifully dressed, and so elegantly and
expensively arranged in her person, she ought not to
ask for anything more.  It was difficult for parental
love to deny her, an only chitd; but they did, nevertheless, refuse to purchase the ring.
Disappointed and grieved, Mattie hastened to her
room and thought it over; and on the second day in the
afternoon, as her mother chanced to be looking out of
the rear window into the garden, she saw the child
working away with a little flower-spade, digging a
small, deep hole in the ground.  The mother watched
for a while, and then went down to her and said,




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.         359
"Mattie, my child, what are you doing?"  Mattie
blushed.  Already she had deposited in the ground a
letter, and was throwing the fresh dirt upon it.  She
was embarrassed at her mother's question.  She feared
that she could not quite explain herself. In explanation
she at length confessed that she wanted that 1" letter to
go to God." She had secretly written, praying and
entreating her heavenly Father to influence her father
and mother so that. they would consent to buy that
beautiful ring for her. Her plan was, to send a letter
"c through the grave to God."
Now Mattie got the splendid ring; but I think she
was never quite certain whether it came in consequence
of having" buried" the letter or not. She did not then see
why a letter could not go to God through the earth. But
in the course of the same year little Mattie had impressed
upon her mind a beautiful dream.  She told it next
morning with a full rose in her cheeks and a new light
in her eyes.  She saw  her playmate!  She was in a
beautiful place, standing by the side of a great silvery
sea. The water was shining and twinkling in every
part like a lake of white light. She said it seemed that
the sun was sending a golden shimmer through the vast
space of glittering waters. - Mattie described the scene
very finely, and said that her playmate was standing up
there and sending kisses to her way down that silvery
river.  She declared that she felt every kiss as it fell
upon her lips! And then she added, s" She told me that
I need not bury anything to go up there, and that I
would myself come there and play with her in that
beautiful place."
Now this little girl knew nothing whatever of thle




360              MORNING LECTURES.
Summer-Land. I was at that time a great many leagues
away; and her mother, whom I knew, was very cautious
to never so much as; "whisper" the slightest word
favorable to truths of the Harmonial dispensation.
Visions like Mattie's have been duplicated and triplicated over and over throughout this new country.
Of course they have been modified and varied in a large
variety of ways, but the testimony from different minds
is invariably the same-viz.: that there are up there
lands, rivers, mansions in the Father's house, temples
of beauty in the home of the living God; that countless
people live there as naturally as they do here-with the
difference that up there are not the earthly customs, nor
this routine of daily fi'et and fight for physical necessities, neither a continuation of the vexations consequent
upon men's spurious desires and appetites. Yes, kisses
have been sent down the shining rivers to the lips of
many human hearts.
A little girl in Bridgeport, in 1853 was moved to
utter words of wisdom which only an archangel could
authorize. She spoke under a celestial afflatus from the
Summer-Land. "c Fools confound the wise," when the
former are under the inspiration of heavenly minds.
Thus, sometimes, the most ignorant grow wise in ten
brief minutes.  All such mediums and spontaneous
c" sensitives" describe rivers of light!  This is supposed
by materialists to be poetry.  They are right.  It is
poetry.  In essence all poetry is immutable truth, and
essentially false imagination is a philosophical impossibility. Take the crudest and most grotesque superstitions of the past, and at their deepest heart you will
find, if your own ability to discern is deep enough, reve



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.         361
lations "4 pure and undefiled" of the realities and inhabitants of the Beyond.'I have frequently called your attention to the
naturalness of the Summer-Land. Its reality is among
the philosophical discoveries of the present out-folding
century. The most ancient Spiritualists, in the very
earliest centuries, be it ever remembered, gave inspired
sentences, and made intuitive statements, and wrote fine
revelations of these same celestial wonders and postmundane verities.
Let us now contemplate some of the "Scenes" in the
Beautiful Land.  Approaching the shining shore upon
one of these silvery rivers, that sets out from the southern
extremity of this globe, you behold thousands of 6" Piradela," or grottoes and natural temples of clustering
foliage, vines, and flowers, closely resembling laceworked chapels.  In these peculiar pagodas, or family
prayer-grottoes, you behold persons who still believe in
Ammon Ra, the original Egyptian name and conception
of the Supreme Being.  I have already mentioned that
the Egyptians had chosen a star," Guptarion," and that
they have long seasons of worship, of joy and festivity,
equal to an hundred years of restful Sabbaths, or as
long as the star of their choice, Guptarion, shines over
that particular portion of the Summer-Land.  When
the great star (sun) of their destiny sinks out of their
sight, they'cease their worshipings and festivities and
return to other and less religious interests.  They are
about the same people they were while living in the
valley of the Nile; only they are now in a higher
Egypt, clothed in spiritual bodies.  Many of them con16




362             MORNING LECTURES.
tinue their old-time worship just as thoug'h they would
always remain Egyptians.
It is marvelous how immobile and persistent are
some of the human temperaments! In some races they
yield almost nothing in the course of a thousand years.
The prevalence of other opinions, other thoughts, an.d
other conceptions, exert no remodeling effect in some
minds.
Now many persons think this statement is unreal.
Well, look at the Jews of this generation. Are they
not still the Jews that they were eighteen hundred years
ago? The variations and improvements are very slight.
The Rabbinites and the Talmudians are the same. Look
at their physiognomy, too, and look at the combinations
of their characteristics, their inclinations in religion and
in trade, and you will find them the same unaltered
people. Or, look at the Roman Catholics. You may
think that they are greatly modified. No, they are not.
There has scarcely been an alteration in them from the
first days of their faith. Those who come to this country, are occasionally modified by Protestant influences.
But the great Catholic establishment is characterizedby a constitutional immobility. It is based in the fixed
temperaments of those peculiar minds who belong to it.
Protestants still revert to the Catholic Church.  Such
-minds belong to the sphere of authority.  They believe
in religious system, and *they seek and find it in the
original establishment.  They believe that Protestantism is all afloat; that there must be some "; tying-up
place," or there will come chaos and destruction in
morals and religion. Such persons need some place of
discipline and worship where they can "'hire their




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.        363
thinking done for them," according to authority extending backward over centuries to holy Saints and holy
Fathers whom no Protestant ever undertakes to impeach.
In this way this state of mind becomes fixed and immobile.
Now suppose such a person should die: what is the
next step? Are such minds instantly changed? Are
they ever suddenly re-molded from within? True, they
are changed from a natural body into a spiritual body
in "Lthe twinkling of an eye."  But are they not the
same persons, with the same education, and influenced
by their long-accustomed thoughts?  Many such after
death still believe that somewhere, beyond the bright
fields of beauty, and even beyond the trials of purgatory,
they will find the burning pit.  They frequently think
that if they should walk off but a few hundred leagues,
they would find something worse than purgatory. They
naturally enough understand that they are in purgatory, and thus the fact dawns slowly upon them, that
they are in their appropriate private places, and are
receiving the just discipline of Progress in the moral
government of God.
So these ancient Egyptians, born in the valley of
the Nile-strange children of a strange, sandy, symbolic
country-erect countless little c" pyramidalia," or temples of festivity and worship, dedicated to their longchosen planet Sirius —sometimes called the dog-star;
but up there they name it c" Guptarion"-a large sun in
the distant heavens, which our astronomers call a C"star
of the first magnitude."  It rises and sets in the firmament over the Summer-Land once in twenty-seven of
our centuries! Suppose a bright orb about one-tenth




364              MORNING LECTURES.
of the apparent size of our sun, rising and shedding its
rays over a particular portion of the Beautiful World,
and you get a conception of the star of destiny in the
Egyptian Brotherhood. The pyramidalia are natural
vine-draped grottoes grouped along the shore of a deep
river that branches from the one which flows thither
from our globe.
You will keep in memory how this earth of ours
sends off its main celestial river which flows off southwardly in the upper air, and which, being a magnetic
combination of imponderable elements; ascends very
gracefully in the channel of its flight, terminating and
mingling with the silvery sea that bounds the SummerLand. The planet-rivers flow through the vast expanse
of sea as the Gulf Stream flows through the Atlantic
Ocean. Thus through this vast celestial sea of magnetic atmosphere the planetary streams flow directly to
the shining shores of the Summer-Land; but nearest to
that shore which is nearest the earth, and along the
inland lake called  "Mornia," which is filled with
attractive islands, you will find these embowered chapels and prayer-grottoes of the Egyptians.
In 1853 I was enabled for the first time to see
them. I continued to investigate and to make inquiries
until I got at the motive for the cultivation and continuation of these pyramidalia. They said that those
fragrant floral structures are little statuettes, or miniature pyramids, dedicated to the celebrated dog-star,
Sirius, or 4" Guptarion," being the accredited home of
Ammon Ra.
I seem to be impressed with the desire to urge upoI
your understanding the entire naturalness of the next




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.        365
state of human existence.  It seems desirable that you
should see that the inhabitants there live in harmonious
accord with each other, because of the omniscient system which is adapted to the infinite varieties of human
character and consequent diversities of destiny. When
you arrive there —and you may embark thither before
the end of this year-you will not be a stranger, for
you will have cultivated some prescience of the  house"
constructed with different'C mansions."
Have you.not had fore-gleams and intuitions of what
I now relate? Have you never had thoughts or impressions-in your dreams and visions of the night-of
floating or flying through the air? If the thousands of
seeresses and clairvoyants and true dreamers could rise
up to-day and relate their 6"experiences," I should have
unimpeachable accumulative testimony, sufficient to overwhelm all the skeptical clergymen and logical lawyers
in the wide world.
You occasionally read the New Testament, do you
not?  I suppose that you believe somewhat in the
Pentecostal experience which is therein recorded.  It
seemed that, in that joyful day, they all arose from their
seats-and then what? They spoke in ",unknown
tongues"! Of course unknown tongues were tongues not
understood.  The manifestation must have been gibberish and fanatical to those who witnessed and
recorded the circumstances.
Suppose that in these days there should be a public
repetition of that ancient spiritual "cexperience."  Instantly some mediums would begin to discourse in Persian, others in Indian, others in Chinese, others in
Japanese, others in Latin, others in Greek-would it




366             MORNING LECTURES.
not be "all Greek" to the most of us, and more especially to spectators and non-sympathizing minds? What
would we say? And what would the people say? This:
"Give us something that we can all understand." Yes,
that' would be the popular demand. But just step back
into the New Testament and read the statement over
again.  In Pentecostal times or seasons there was a
general uprising or condescension of the celestial spirit.
"cc The spirit of the Lord" was poured out without stint.
Of course you know that every sweet or powerful influence from the firmament was called the "c spirit of the
Lord." Influences from the concentrated minds of
millions in the Summer-Land could cause the largest
human audience to rise to their feet in an instant. Then
would occur manifestations according to individual gifts.
Some would exercise the mnagnetic power and make
passes over the sick; others would hasten off on sweet
missions of mercy; some would declaim in unknown
tongues; while-others would fall prostrate and swoon
into a trance, and physicians would say, cc Oh, that is
only excitement and hysteria."  And all this would be
analogous-identical-with what you so reverently read
in your Testament.  Now it this Bible statement be
true, it is interesting and applicable to us only just so
far as it is known and corroborated by spiritual experience in the manifestations of these days.
If modern minds were consulted, many would say,
"we have seen something of what you relate." "i In the
visions of the night, when deep sleep comneth upon men,"
many a sensitive soul would say,,' I have seen beautiful landscapes." These visions come and depart suddenly.  Sometimes, indeed, they are nothing but the




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.          367
play of a fertile ideality; but in most instances they are
-real glimpses of scenes in the Summer-Land. True, you
might imagine a tree to be where there is no tree; but
your ideality obtained its first lesson from seeing a tree
which was real. One man may be able to imagine in
his dreams just what another man cannot imagine without first seeing. So that the one man would have an
actual objective experience, and the other only an ideal
subjective experience.  And  it is philosophical that
there should first be an object outside to impress the
surfaces of the mind with a correct notion of its existence.
Certain constituted minds go into the "superior
state" in the natural slumber of the night, and never
during their ordinary and waking condition. Never,
during the day, can such minds be quiet enough. But
at night, when all is very still, then the sensitive mind
and soul for the first time have an opportunity to realize
a sort of independence of material surroundings, then
the person's spirit rises up from beneath and attains to
a finer state of-thought and feeling.  This higher conception of spirit-life comes through a vision. But when
morning comes, and the business of the world is
resumed, the dream may not remain to cheer the weary
heart. But if the same person. should enter a corresponding state, even if it be after the lapse of weeks or
months, the mind will instantly revert to and go on with
the corresponding previous experience. The long time
which may have elapsed between the two experiences,
does not break the chain.  To the spirit, years seem
like fleeting moments; for spirit, you will remember,
"Lives in deeds, not years;
Infeelinrgs, not in figures on a dial."




368             MORNING LECTURES.
The spirit realizes no time between an experience of ten
years ago and a corresponding experience of last night
or to day.
Once I stood, while in the clairvoyant state, by the
overwhelmed brain of a large man in an apoplectic fit. I
examined him both physically and spiritually. I watched
by his bedside until he recovered from the apoplexy.
Being in clairvoyance, I saw the working of his spirit,
and could easily understand the state of his mind. He
had, in the midst of his sufferings, a clear and truthful
vision of the Summer-Land! When he recovered from
the fit and came out of c" the state," he knew nothing of
what had happened. And I too, at that time, when I
came out of the magnetic state, did not recollect what
I had seen.  (I remember everything now.)  In the
clairvoyant state, subsequently, I examined him a second
time. He was then in a deep coma. I plainly saw
what he was seeing, and might have felt what he was
feeling. His mind was connecting the experience of
six months previous with his present vision.  He saw
his heart's own happy companion-the loved wife who
had gone before him-coming to welcome his spirit up
the shining way. Hle saw the beauty of her coming,
and I saw the beauty of her coming. The doctor put
his ear down to the sick man's mouth to catch his
whisperings. A joyful thought tried to gain utterance
through his paralyzed physical organs. He wanted to
tell his vision. But in a few moments he passed into
the Summer-Land.  Before he weht he did not realize
the six months which had intervened between his first
and second vision of the silvery rivers and the scenes of
immortal beauty.




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.         369
A  traveler may suddenly turn a corner in a new
road and see a house and bridge before him, a few
trees, a stream pouring through the grassy meadow, and
some farm-houses in the distance, and, though the road
and the country are really new to him, somehow the
whole scene is familiar to his eyes. He knows that he
never saw it with his physical eyes before, and yet he
is not surprised. He is surprised only when he realizes
that he was never in that region before.  Now I find
that the picture of that scene was perfectly transferred
to the sensitive canvas of his faculties while his body
was in a deep sleep in the night-time.  While in your
" superior state," your spirit takes on its impressions of
distant objects and scenery. This experience has misled
many into the hypothesis of pre-existence.
So the life of the spirit is natural. Your spirit does
not realize any difference in feeling, whether you are
dreaming or in a state of wakefulness. You travel
about- in the sleep-state just the same as though you
were awake and in open day. You visit people, you go
into houses, you cross rivers, or take a long voyage,
just as satisfactorily as though you had your physical
body around you. Now this experience arises from a
projection of your consciousness into the open world
about you. This will explain the wondrous phenomena
of the whole interior life. - It may not explain the private double-consciousness of some persons. One mind
may see a real tree, another mind may imagine a tree
to be where no tree is; but the latter is a subject of
impression in which a tree is involved.
Some peculiarly organized minds have the most horrible dreams. Such dreams are reflections from the
16*




370             MORNING LECTURES.
structure and state of their minds. And there are persons who live rightly and abstemiously, who also have
horrible dreams. Why is this?  Because they have not
yet outgrown or overcome the influences from the temperaments of their ancestors. They are representatives
of branches of temperamental roots, which go far back
and down in the ancestral soil. They still- vibrate and
pulsate in the living generations. This fully accounts
for the "' night thoughts" of many who are pure and
beautiful, and who think beautiful thoughts during the
daytime. These same persons sometimes dream  the
most repulsive dreams. Ancestors predominate in their
personal consciousness, and they have not will-power
sufficient to keep down the rising hereditary impressions,
especially during the less guarded hours of slumber.
Already I have said something concerning the
c battle between the spirit and its circumstances,"
showing how all may acquire the power of conquering
the unpleasant inheritance from their ancestors. I have
somewhat conquered the discordant temperaments of
my ancestors.  (I do not know who. they remotely
were, and I am not anxious to know.)  I have a fairminded, honorable father yet in this world, and I know
that I had a true, and sweet, and beautiful, and saintly
mother, who now resides in a celestial community. But
there were certain hereditary influences and predispositions which I found absolutely in my spirit's way.
Those inheritances stood sternly up in my presence sometimes when I wished most to be utterly quiet.  When
I would gather spiritual strength and restore my
exhausted physical powers, then up would come some
hereditary " imp of darkness," who would propose to




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.        371
carry me into discordant thoughts and scenes. At such
times I would dream that I was where strange, murderous-looking people were secreting themselves in
dark passages, or some other equally unpleasant dreaming.  It has been so with some of you. You need not
claim  that you have always had harmonious, splendid,
and attractive dreams. Human nature is organized on
identical principles.  And the action of the human
faculties, under a given set of circumstances, is the
same, and the experiences arising from such action is
the same in all structures of mind.
Some men think there is essential truth in astrology.
Well, I once visited an astrologer, with a desire to test
the possibilities of destiny.  A distinguished professor
described to me the influences of the several stars. He
drew my horoscope, according to the day and hour of
my birth, and then went on to tell when I was sick, or
when I should have been; that certain planets were my
ruling stars, both for weal and for woe; and that when
certain planets came into conjunction with the body of
Mars, &c., that certain things would be likely to happen
to me-whereupon I concluded that I would not be
steered in my individual career by the stars, and I have
not been. The very star that was astrologically fixed to
rule my private destiny I forthwith put out of my house.
I would not have a star intercepting the orbit of my
individuality.  Therefore the events that astrologically
were to happen to me, have not occurred in the slightest
degree.
Thus I teach you self-possession, although I believe
that every great soul will best succeed by steering and
steadying himself by the stars.  Keep down the disai



372             MORNING LECTURES.
greeable which -you have received from your ancestors.
Prune away, among your roots and branches. Expel
old discords from your minds, and you will then have
the satisfaction of knowing that your dreams are at
least your own. And from this starting-point you can
go right onward to solid facts in your mental operations.
What is important to the speedy accomplishment of
this result?  First of all, physiology: correct habits of
eating, drinking, working, and resting. If you eat
this, that, and the other thing, it will, to some extent,
appear in your nervous force.  Wrong conditions in
your nervo-vital energies will induce your faculties to
produce unpleasant dreams. As soon as you know what
is obstructional, you can and ought to remove it.  My
investigations are all between six o'clock in the morning and twelve o'clock of the day.  At night I do not
dream. I sleep then. If there are any persons present,
who, as witnesses, heard the lectures given in; "Nature's
Divine Revelations," they will remember that though
three or four days might have intervened between two
discourses, yet sometimes the first words would finish a
sentence which perhaps was left incomplete at the end
of the previous lecture, and the thought would be thus
fully expressed-showing that the spirit keeps no
account of time, but takes cognizance only of events,
feelings, thoughts, ideas, and principles.
Many have seen the places and the scenes which I
have been describing. I hear mediums mention spiritual
things and describe scenery, and I recognize them as
things and scenes which I have seen. If a man tells
you that he saw Central Park, ana that he entered at a




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.        373
certain gate, which he truthfully describes, then you
say, s" That is true, for I have seen it myself."  In like
manner I have had convincing testimony that others
have seen the Summer-Land.
Auloania is the name of the island which was ages
ago dedicated to those Greeks who steadfastly believe
in many Gods-the polytheists. Auloania is still devoted
to poetry, rhetoric, history, the ode, and to music. The
winding, dancing, silvery river, which flows around this
island, is named Sil-Miral, meaning a hymn, or an
anthem.  It sings songs like pine trees.  In certain
seasons, or under the influence of certain breezes, it
gives off hymnal melody —rich, varied harmonies, and
teolian, mournful symphonies. Myriads of song-birds
live and sing in that region, as the birds live and sing
on earth when the warm days of spring come o'er
mountain and plain. The birds, of highest beauty, by
thousands enter into the aeolian symphonies and mournful melodies of the beautiful Sil-Miral.
Vivium is the name of a golden, fountainous spring,
on the island of Auloania. I have seen it many times.
You will see it in some of your spiritual dreams. Put
down the errors in the temperaments inherited from
your ancestors.  Become natural, and substantial, and
wholly yourself.  You cannot enter the " superior
state" by any way less straight. Become healthy in
your inmost; then you will see the Summer-Land in
visions of the night. You read in your religious book
about "o the Dayspring from on, high," and you think it
is a beautiful figure of speech.  But I find that there is
something corresponding to it in the fields and islands
surrounding the house with many mansions. Suppose




374             MORNING LECTURES.
I should say that "6 Innocence is represented by a lamb."
Now you read about the 6" Lamb of God;" but is there
not also an animal known as a lamb?  And in like
manner may not the fountainous Viviurn-the dayspring
on high —be something more than a mere figure of
speech? Has'not every figurative expression a corresponding literal side?
The scenes of the Second Sphere are reflected upon
the human mind whenever it is accessible and impressible.  It is accomplished either by our own clairvoyant
powers to rise into sight and sympathy with them, or
else by the artistic pencilings upon our faculties by
those who are our invisible guardians. They either do
it for us, or else they kindly clear the celestial way, so
that our own impressibility may invite and secure the
picture.
I would now like to tell you about the Elgario, as
they call the plant of sorrow. In the Summer-Land
there are melancholy characters, who seem disposed to
remember and dwell upon the exceedingly hard times
they experienced on the earth. They look like very
badly abused people; were not appreciated before
death, and are not happy. They are downcast and sad
for a while, being indulgent of feelings of melancholy,
like certain unfortunates in our lunatic asylums. But
this wondrous celestial plant, which the botanists of
that region call Elgario, is their sweet medicine and
perfect antidote.  The sad ones are led to it.  They
soon begin to inhale its fragrance.  They breathe its
atmosphere.  They chew it a little every day. They
soon know this flower is for the healing of Gor's heartstricken children.  They carry its petals and  are




WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND.         375
influenced by them. The plant exerts a mystic charm.
They make bouquets of it, and it relieves them of their
earthborn mishaps and long-cherished sorrows.
Is not this revelation also natural, beautiful, and
simple? Your gifted guardian will bring the Elgario
to you and say: "Take this, my beloved; smell of its
holy breath; its odor will quickly relieve your aching
heart."  Why, a homeopathic physician, when treating
a patient for a disease in the throat or lungs, may,
perhaps, wish to administer phosphorus. He knows
that the odor of phosphorus will sometimes relieve a
severe stricture.  Thus the higher physicians hand
forth this beautiful plant to spirits depressed with
earth-born errors and misfortune.  They give it to
their patients, and lo! its odor heals and translates
them into a healthy, happy, and comparatively superior
state.
Thus sometimes beautiful "births" take placebirths out of states of confirmed despondency.  A
mother, for example, in order to feed and clothe her
children, has been overworked.  She  has literally
worked herself to death for the sake of her dependent
family. She at last died from excessive bodily fatigue
and heart-broken weariness.  She is borne away on
the silvery river to the Summer-Land; but she is still
weary! This beautiful plant is brought to her, or she
is conducted to the garden that is filled with it.
Gradually it lifts her into her s" superior state." After
a time she realizes somewhat of heavenly comnfort, sweet
and pure; and in the flow of the ensuing seasons, she
begins to believe that




376               MORNING LECTURES.
"There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Eternal day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain."
From her refreshened memory she says, " I used to
sing that song, when I was a girl, in the Methodist
Sunday-school, and in our Bible-class meetings. Then
it was only words  now it is all so real."  She looks
about and sees her old neighborhood acquaintances and
loved friends. She finds them in the," Father's house,"
where there are c" many mansions." If it were not so,
the seers would have told you.




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN TIlE SUMMERLAND.
" Get but the TRUTH once uttered, and'tis like
A new-born star, that drops into its place,
And which once circling in its placid round,
Not all the tumult of the earth can shake."
The several languages called "' dead" in this world,
have certain roots which push themselves vigorously up
through the memory-soils of the human mind and continue to bear fruit after death. Thus the Hebrews,
Arabians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Grecians,
Romani, Celts, even the Scots and Picts, and various
other smaller tribes and semi-nations, continue for a
long time to to speak the educational language of their
earth-life, and to cherish thoughts that flow through
such verbiage; and often when such spirits have sought
to communicate with impressible or congenial persons
on the earth, they have succeeded in controlling mediums, so that the communication would be imparted in
their native tongue. The celebrated Professor Buchanan,
of Cincinnati, testifies that he heard in the City of
Cleveland, ten years ago, an uneducated American
lady discourse finely in French. And it was reported
that Mr. Selden J. Finney, in the same city, and, I




378             MORNING LECTURES.
believe, on the same occasion, uttered a glorious poem
in the Indian language, which, it was said, was perfectly well understood by an Indian who chanced to be
present.
I know how most people feel and think with reference to these trans-terrestrial questions —that after
death call is different with the individual."  There
never was a greater mistake. You might as well
suppose that Mother-nature, and God-nature, and Mannature undergo radical transmigrations and reconstructions.  Quite otherwise.  There are no essential
changes in the plan of ultimates. The final type of
organization, remember, is the spiritual interior of Man
and Woman.  Both reason and intuition sustain the
doctrine of no central change after death. The Bible
says: c" As a tree falleth, so it lieth."  That is, an oak
tree does not become a peach, a birch, or a mahogany,
the moment it falls.  It is an oak tree still.  Even so
if man's body falls, in sympathy with the chemistry and
gravitation of the physical word, the spiritual man does
not fall with it.  Only the external casing is peeled off
and rejected, while the personal-inmost, who thought
and spoke and acted before, goes onward, unchanged
and individualized, to the Summer-Land.
It is the lesson of the naturalness of the After-life,
which the mind must fully conceive in order to realize
that the other world is really a "; home in the heavens."
Earthlings will not be orphans or strangers there.  I
must know and recognize my acquaintances, and they
must know and recognize me, a hundred, a thousand, a
million years from this, yea, an eternity hence, or immortality is nothing.  The cessation of leading personal




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  379.
peculiarities and the reconstruction or abolishment of
the essential traits of the individual organization-the
mergement, of the person at death from substantiality
into a vapory, gauzy, ghostly inhabitant of the kingdom
of heaven, there to dwell and sing and adore forever
in the presence of the wifeless Trinity-is a supposition
too absurd to occupy intelligent minds, being a conception eminently suited to the brainless cranium of oldtime orthodoxy. And yet there are ministers who seem
to pride themselves upon their profound ignorance on
this subject, saying: "It is an unlawful mystery; it is
supernatural." In other things those same pulpitarians
are just as sensible as fellow-sinners in general.  But
come to this subject, and forthwith, with a slam, the
gate of investigation is shut, and you are driven to the
authoritarian's "faith," which they invariably present
as the best antidote for heart-bereavements and spiritual
prostrations.
Now the after-existence opens before us as a continuation of individual progression. Instead of being a
" discrete degree," as Swedenborg describes it, it is
seen to be another mansion, another story, in the same
house "eternal in the heavens."  The heavens are not
remote.  The earth itself is situated and rolling noiselessly "in the heavens."  Do you not know that it
travels from January to July about ninety-seven millions
of miles, and directly through "c the heavens"?  Else
how could the earth movre in its path around the sun?
You see, therefore, that the earth itself is " in the
heavens"; and, reversely, that " the heavens" are about
the earth.  We float at the rate of sixty-four thousand
miles an hour round the sun, which is not more really




38.0            MORNING LECTURES.
in "6the heavens." Now, I affirm that the SummerLand is no more "c in the heavens" than is our sun or
this earth on which we at present reside.
The mind of man is stationed over his visceral
organs, which are immersed in darkness within the
physical body. But there is a constant communication
kept up between all parts of his body and his sensorium.
Consequently the mental person who resides in the
upper parts of the brain is omnipresent through the
physical organs and sensations. In like manner, the
Second Sphere is- so situated with reference to this earth,
that we, its inhabitants, float under the constant
inspection of its population. This earth is analogous to
a ponderous organ in the perfect and symmetrical
anatomy of the stars. I think you will agree that this
planet of ours may be, in general analogy, an 6" organ"
in the physiology of the sidereal system; and that the
celestial brain, which is the Summer-Land, caps and
coronates all these different planets, just as the mind
of man covers and crowns the different organs within
the trunk.
Earthly languages, perfected, carried out to their
ultimates, and simplified to a fine, beautiful orthography, become the language of the other Sphere. But
education still sways the mind and thoughts.  Suppose
your affections are wrapped up with expressions peculiar
to the German language, then, on reaching the higher
Land, your memory (which is a spiritual organ,) holds
not the English language, nor have you attachments for
any other save that in which'you were primarily educated.  So true is this, that persons who had been in
the habit of using c" profane language," as it is called,




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  381
find themselves over-accustomed to expressing their
thoughts and emotions through those worthless viaducts
and conveyances; and such habits become serious impediments and obstructions to progress, just as in this world,
when the coarse, vulgar-word speakers would enter
refined society, they meet embarrassment because they
cannot use profane language with their customary freedom. If they use it constantly among ignorant men,
they find themselves, when among educated persons, in a
state of nervous trepidation lest the next moment they
may stumble into the use of an oath.  When thrown a
little off their balance, they will involuntarily show that
they are accustomed to very improper and very disagreeable words. This you know is true in this world.
Now look into the Summer-Land, and you will find
that the memory of many is checked when they come
into the presence of finer and more educated organizations. There is a tendency, even after death, to indulge
in those mental habits in which the individual has been
most strongly educated.  Thus, the first form of speech
is that which the person most used on earth. A friend,
who recently died in the Union Army, took the first
opportunity to make himself manifest, and expressed his
thoughts in the peculiar language which he had been
accustomed to use all the years before he went.
Although he was situated in finer circumstances, and
influenced by the example of finer associates, still his
thoughts flowed along in their accustomed channels
of conversation.  His thoughts were finer and higher;
but they came down through the old verbiage.
The second language used in the higher world is-the
language of Music. The spirit of this language is sepa



382              MORNING LECTURES.
rated from  the educational tendencies of the different
races. The language of' Music is employed in the teaching of what we call ", Science." The truths of' science,
the beauties of science, and very high and glorious lessons in celestial principles, are communicated by means
of symphonies, melodies, songs, hymns, anthems, and
chants. Hence the impression that heaven is a place of
eternal song! This wondrous music fills the whole
heavens and awakens echoes among the distant planets;
so that, when the stars are touched and summoned to
erter the orchestra and make the magnificent chorus
full, then the very earth itself seems to vibrate responsively to that grand harmonious beat, which converts
the universe into a harp of infinite perfection 
The third language used in the higher world is
what we here call," the language of the Heart."  It is,
more properly speaking, the language of emanation.
Every private affection throws out an atmosphere.
Whatever your predominating love may be, it emits an
atmosphere which winds itself about your person. And
when the temperament is fine, sensitive, and susceptible,
the odor and influence' will correspond. If the individual is the victim of an inverted love-a love turned
out of its pure, native channel-he throws out upon you
a coarse, vicious atmosphere, which in these days is
called a " magnetic influence."  Mediums, sensitives, and
clairvoyants see it, and many persons not so gifted, frel
it, and they know not whence or why.  "TThat person
gives off a peculiar influence," you say; "I feel it." It
depresses you; or, it makes you angry.  Another person makes you feel "cheerful" and "happy" and c"joyous;" and you are physically quieted or spiritually




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  383
aroused by mere contact with these more exalted characters.
In the Summer-Land this 6" language of the heart"
is carried to an inconceivabie degree of perfection. For
instance, suppose you and your brother,'or you and
vour sister, should meet-you who have not met for
long, lonely years. If you have outgrown the necessity
of external speech, and if you have been taught through
the mysterious suggestiveness of pure Music, you then
deepen into the language of impersonal and perfect
LOVE! In the higher Spheres such language is alone the
medium of communication.  It is the language of absolute contact of personal love-atmospheres; by which is
meant that two persons, meeting face to face, meet also
heart to heart, and are forever friends.  On earth it is
but the hands, or eyes, or lips, that touch and speak.
There, it is the indescribably sweet and perfect meeting
of soul with soul.  They thus inhale and thoroughly
understand 6ach other. For the first time there sweeps
through the gladdened heart the eminent satisfaction
of receiving perfect appreciation through the deathless
wisdom of a brother, a sister, or a companion. Your
most secret history is wordlessly told and forever
known; the details of your earth-life appreciated, and
with all their innumerable bearings upon the shape of
your character; and so, too, are comprehended all the
steps that have brought you to that position in the upper
existence; so that the c" communion" which takes place
at that time extends through all the years, days, hours,
events, and moments of your terrestrial pilgrimage.
The delightfulness of this conjunction constitutes the
beautiful, glorious happiness which diversifies, gladdens,
and exalts the inhabitants of the Spheres.




384              MORNING LECTURES.
This interior, unspeakable language, is sometimes
called ": the language of Communion" —the unutterable
speech of the immnortals —which poets try in vain to
reach and express; which Music; with its unsearchable
attributes and great powers, very nearly approaches.
When your love is warmest and deepest, when you meet
it in another, or when it meets you, then you catch the
rudiments of this infinitely finer, this inexpressibly
beautiful, this trans-mundane, this celestial, this heartemanational conversation, which is so divinely-blissful,
so spiritually-refreshing, and so exalting to all who
dwell under its blessings in the Summer-Land. Let it
be once more affirmed that words are not the most eloquent expressions of the Soul. There is no joy so intense
as that which sparkles in the eye and crimsons the
cheek, yet refuses the aid of the voice; there is also
". no grief like that which does not speak." Where the
heart has a tale to tell, how poor are the utterances of
the lips! Need we these ever to tell us that we are
loved? Is there not something in arbitrary signs that
breaks the spell of our sweetest feelings? There is a
mental electricity more mysterious far than the subtile
fluid that thrills through material substances.  Its conductors are the soft light of the human eye, the smile
of the human lip, the tone of a subdued and earnest
voice. Pleasant, indeed, is the solitude that is broken
only by this silent speech.
Concerning Traveling in the Summer-Land. Traveling there is, at first, just what it is here.  Arrived, we
use our legs and feet; we see with our eyes; hear with
our ears; and we also touch, and smell, and taste
things, just as the very young child does on being intro



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  385
duced into this world.  The mind of every one is
interested at first in what is most external, and yet,
what is called ", external" there, is here even too deep
for mankind's comprehension at the present time. When
arrived there, you find yourself in possession of higher
senses, in every respect similar to these, and with the
same attributes and faculties, only more susceptible, and
with the essential habits and inclinations of your character even more active. These all begin to call for their
complete gratification. They lead you along the vernal
margins of musical waters, or you traverse different beautiful fields, or away you go on attractive excursions-all
in accordance with the most powerful necessities of the
ever-active, never-dying, always youthful spirit. Now
and then you meet persons who are still laboring with
the effects of an earthly sadness. These undeveloped
souls remain with organizations, or become members of
Brotherhoods who have not yet arisen out of the
depressions of terrestrial mishaps and imperfections.
Every one goes to appropriate and congenial places.
Let your mind be duly impressed with the fact that
"6 great minds," so called while on earth, often lose
what was considered the properties of their great
"reputation." It is instantly stripped off from some
Pf them, andthey are not known, named, nor bowed to
as 6"distinguished persons."  Great men, so styled on
earth, are of no consequence in the Summer-Land;
neither king nor queen, nor prince nor princess, are
known  as such; for all go there clad in their true
peri-spherical garments, and not in the costly habiliments you procure at Stewart's.  When arrived, you
will appear dressed and adorned, plainly or otherwise,
17




386        - MORiNTNG LECTURES.
in rigid accordance with your internal nature and
status. Thus Henry Clay, when he reported himself in
the city of New York more than ten years ago, said
that his "' great earthly (political) attainments had not
availed him much." This distinguished American gave
a message to a number of personal friends.  His communication, which was perfectly verified at the time,
shows the mental condition in which the statesman
found himself soon after his arrival.
HIENRY CLAY'S MESSAGE TO A NUMBER OF FRIENDS.
In July, 1852, the following, with much more of
high significance, was delivered: "c My worldly wisdom
availed me not when my new life commenced.  It is
very beautiful to become a little child again; and now
I understand the meaning of the words: c Ye must be
born again;' and in true sincerity and gratefulness I
feel that I am born again-in a life where the vanities
of earth have faded from my view, and the bright glories of heaven are opening upon my soul.
c" O soul made pure, be thankful for thy high estate,
and adore thy God who hath endowed thine eyes with
light, and thy soul with the ability to enjoy the pure
beauties which crowd upon thy new existence! And yet
how I am overwhelmed with the foreshadowing of the
glory which is yet in wait for me! But now a form of
brightness appears, and saith unto me:' As thy day is,
so shall thy strength increase; and thou shalt grow and
wax stronger in the stature of wisdom and the might
of love.'
1"I am surrounded by those who are, like myself,
exploring the wonders of this heavenly land. The
realities become more and more transcendently sublime
as we proceed. And the beauties of knowledge are
increasingly unfolded; more vast and  commanding
becomes the wide-spread plain of glory, as we travel
on in our heavenly path, guided by wisdom supreme
and lov.e'unbounded.".




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  387
The  mind  is'overwhelmed," as Henry  Clay
expresses it, with the unexpected naturalness of the
post-mortem existence. Persons who read this, I think,
will not be as much astonished as was the "Sage of
Ashland," who ascended from the Old Kentucky State.
He was not "astonished" in the Halls of Congress at
Washington-he could easily grasp the great rising
propositions before the Government of his country but
when he entered another mansion in the Father's house
" not made with hands," then he became as 6"a little
child, guided by wisdom and love."
Persons sometimes change their views rapidly, and
they hasten to return, saying that they have experienced
a s" change" in their convictions.  Dr. Emmons, who
was a preacher of the old-school doctrine of eternal
punishment, conres back after having thoroughly investigated the geography and government of the SummerLand, saying that there is no place hot enough to suit
his sermons.
A MESSAGE FROM DR. EMMONS, IN BOSTON, 1851.
" You of the earth may pretend and think you
believe ever so strongly in eternal punishment; but
when you bring it home to your own hearts, and those
you love, the strongest terms you dare to use are: We
leave them in God's hands. He doeth all things well!'
Yea, verily, I respond to that with all my spirit
powers —' God  doeth all things well!' Amen  and
amen forever! saith the spirit of Dr. Emmons.  Does
not that very remark imply a doubt in the minids of
those that thus speak? You could not better express
your doubts, if you would; your firmest, strongest
believer in eternal punishment, dare not say of the one
he loved: He or she hath gone to hell! In plain words
let us speak; for you that believe it may not shrink




388             MORNING LECTURES.
from speaking it. I was one of the old-school, a strong,
bold preacher of the doctrine of eternal punishment;
would that those sermons were buried in oblivion!
They are a curse to the world, a dishonor to the memory
of him who could believe or utter such sentiments, a
libel on the character of a just and holy God. And
yet, as my spirit returns to the friends and scenes of
my earthly days, often do I hear the words I uttered in
life brought forth as the faith of a good old man; and
by those, too, who cherish my name and memory with
almost holy reverence. I long to make my voice heard
in tones of thunder, that they may know the truth, and
not grope in darkness longer."
Again, the celebrated American author, J. FENNIMORE COOPER, in the year 1850, gained access to an
elderly gentleman in Western New York, and reported
in brief as follows:
4'I little thought, when, a few months ago, I was
investigating the developments that were interesting
some of my acquaintances, that I should so soon be
seeking an opportunity to make my identity manifest.
I was astonished at what I then witnessed, and was
afraid to investigate, lest I should find true what others
said, and what had been so marvelous to me, because I
dreaded the scorn of those whose good opinion I valued.
Hence, you see, I was not well prepared for a high
mansion in the spirit-life; for I felt ashamed to seek
the truth wherever it might be found, and such cowards
are not fitted for high enjoyments in the Spirit-World.
Yet I was introduced into a state far better than I
deserved, for which I feel thankful; and that feeling
of gratitude, as it is cultivated, I feel advances me."
Some spirits report themselves as they were, or as
they appeared just before death, in order to satisfy their
remaining relatives that they are still in existence, and




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  389
that death was not the extinguishment of their personality. A remarkable case is reported by Professor
Brittan, eleven years ago, showing how entirely simple,
yet terribly impressive, is the method which some
departed ones adopt, to cause their identity to be fully
known to acquaintances who yet live in the body.
CASE OF IDENTIFICATION.
Mr. S. B. Brittan, in the year 1852, put on record
the following:
",Last winter, while spending a few days at the
house of Mr. Rufus Elmer, Springfield, Mass., I became
acquainted with Mr. E. ——, a medium.  One evening
H I, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer, and myself, were engaged
in general conversation, when-in a moment and most
unexpectedly to us all —H-    was deeply entranced.
A momentary silence ensued, when the medium said:'Hannah  B      is here.' I was surprised  at the
announcement; for I had not even thought of the person indicated for many days, perhaps weeks or months,
and we parted for all time when I was but a little
child.  I remained silent; but mentally inquired how
I might be assured of the actual presence. Immediately
the medium began to exhibit signs of the deepest anguish.
Rising from his seat, he walked to and fro in the apartment, wringing his hands, and exhibiting a wild and
frantic manner and expression. He groaned in spirit,
and audibly, and often smote his forehead and uttered
incoherent words of prayer.  He addressed men in
terms of tenderness, and sighed, and uttered bitter
lamentations.  Ever and anon he gave utterance to
expressions like the following:
"'6 Oh, how dark! What dismal clouds! What a
frightful chasm!  Deep-down-far down —I see the
fiery flood! Hold!  Stay!-Save them from the pit!
I'm  in  a terrible labyrinth!  I see no way out!
There's no light!  How wild!-gloomy! The clouds




390-             MORNING LECTURES.
roll in upon me! The darkness deepens! iMy head is
whirling! Where am I?'
c" During this exciting scene, which lasted perhaps
half an hour, I remained a silent spectator, the medium
was unconscious, and the whole was inexplicable to Mr.
and Mrs. Elmer.  The circumstances occurred some twelve
years before the birth of the medium.  No person in all
that region  knew aught of' the history of Hannah
B, or that such a person ever existed.  But to me
the scene was one of peculiar and painful significance.
The person referred to was highly gifted by Nature,
and endowed with the  tenderest sensibilities.  She
became inlsane from believing in the doctrine olf endless
punishment, and when I last saw her, the terrible
reality, so graphically depicted in the scene I have
attempted to describe, was present, in all its mournful
details before me."
Now, the testimony of Professor Brittan would
probably be taken as unquestionable and trustworthy
on any other subject, and perhaps at this late day his
word will also be accepted in this direction. In the
whole realm of psychology, or of sympathy of mind with
mind, there is no known law  that will explain the
effects he delineates.  But those who have held communication with the Summer-Land, find that those who
still earnestly desire to communicate, take the first
opportunities to stamp the impression which would produce the strongest conviction of personal identity upon
the remaining relative or friend.  I suppose there are
two thousand instances, all of them substantiated so far
as human testimony can go, showing that spirit-communications are  6 literal facts' recorded in history
beyond the possibility of refutation.
Some minds who on earth were intellectually inter



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  391
ested in "Ideas," on entering the Second Sphere, begin
to communicate, as soon as possible, to impressible persons remaining, the fact that, in their cogitations, they
had conceived of something like what they now behold,
and that they are so glad to find that the realities of
the higher life are even more gratifying than they had
dared to expect.  To illustrate this point, I refer you
to the testimony of Margaret Fuller, given in 1852-a
year remarkable for the outpouring of' this peculiar
description of commanications 
TESTIMONY OF MARGARET FITLLER, OTHERWISE
COUNTESS OSSOLI, DEC. 5, 1852.
6" My sojourn on earth seems now as an indistinct
dream, in comparison with the real life which I now
enjoy.  And'I regard the raging of the elements which
freed my dearest kindred and myself fromn our earthly
bodies, as the means of opening to us the portals of
immortality. And we behold that we were born
again —born out of the flesh into the spirit.  How surprised and overjoyed was I when I saw my new condition!  The change was so sudden-so glorious-from
mortality to immortality-that at first I was unable to
comprehend it.  From the dark waves of the oceancold, and overcome with fatigue and terror —I emerged
into a sphere of beauty and loveliness. How differently
everything appeared!  What an air of' calmness and
repose surrounded me   How transparent and pure
seemed the sky of living blue!  And how delightfully
I inhaled the pure, life-giving atmosphere!  A dimming mist seemed to have fallen from my eyes-so calm
and so beautiful in their perfection were all things
which met my view. And theh kind and loving friends
approached me, with gentle words and sweet affection;
and oh, I said within lly soul, suLcly heaven is moL01
truly the reality of loveliness than it was ever conceived
to be by the most loving hearts! Already are my




392              MORNING LECTURES.
highest earthly impressions of beauty and happiness
more than realized."
Here you remark a vivid contrast between this
communication of Margaret Ossoli's and that reported
by Professor Brittan.  In Margaret you see a mind
retaining its characteristics in the transcendentally ideal.
She reports the intense gratification which came over
her idealizing faculties immediately on her introduction
to the Better Land. But the other lady came back purposely to impress upon Mr. Brittan's thoughts and feelings the fact of her presence —not through ideality, but
through the frightful gesticulations and paroxysms of a
painfully-remembered insanity.
TRAVELING in the post-mortem Sphere. is at first just
like pilgrimizing on earth.  But the higher inhabitants
have acquired what we shall never be able perfectly to
imitate in this world.  They have the power, without
wings, to rise up and put themselves in harmony with
the currents that sweep through the atmospheric spaces.
With the spread of light they ride on those currents
millions and trillions of miles.  It is accomplished by
the marvelous power of inherent Will.  The ability of
the will to check the pulse is a promise of ultimate
achievements.  It is possible to develop and educate this
inherent power of Will.  By it, in this world, we lift
our heavy bodies from beds or chairs, and cause them
to move on the ground through low space. It is a mental power holding insensate muscles to its rule. This
executive energy of the arisen human spirit, instead of
wings, is the secret of its lightning flight. I do not say
that spirits travel by a continuous exertion of the will.
They seek the upper currents by will, somewhat like




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 393
the balloon excursion which occurred some few years
since between St. Louis and the northern part of this
State. Professor Wise speaks positively of the existence of an unvariable current, and thinks that if the
venturesome aeronaut could strike it, he would be rapidly
and safely carried from west to east.  -lis first experiment was a failure, as all Jfirst experiments usually are;
but it sufficiently illustrates what is the universal method
of traveling in the Summer-Land, when they depart on
their far-away excursions.  They gain that particular
current which sweeps away through the spaces between
the orbits of the planets, and which takes them s" with
the celerity of thought" to the destination which they
desire to reach, however remote it may be from their
point of departure.
We shall not obtain that method in this life, save by
uncertain balloons. We see the lesson and the example
in birds.  But that is done by a direct exertion of the
will, and by sympathetic contact of their swift-moving
wings with the electricity of the air-partfloat developed by friction, and part momentum developed by Will.
Just as a message of intelligence can be sent through
space by vibrating the telegraphic current over thousands of miles, so the spirit-body and Will can, by the
vibration of the celestial rivers which flow between the
Summer-Land and the different planets, mount and float
and ride upon them with inconceivable speed, and gain
any desired destination.  Traveling there is social.
In the New Testament you read with wonderment
and with longing the report of the Pentecostal experiences.  How could such things be unless there were
spirits invisible, who gathered as in convention, and,
1 TX




394              MORNING LECTURES.
by one united effort, baptized with sublime zeal whole
congregations of Spiritualists in Syria, in Palestine, in
Rome, or wherever the upper Pentecostalians happened
to be in contact with the lower assemblages of sympathizing and impressible minds.  The spiritualistic congregations of' the old time were supposed to be baptized
by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from the great
Jehovah himself.  That was the shortest explanation
furnished by the converted Pharisees. They always
furnished the most literal explanation of spiritual phenomena.  Thus Moses imagined that he never could
be visited by any power less exalted than the great
Creator himself: That was the Hebrew mistake. Many
of them have not yet unlearned the error in this world;
and some in the Summer-Land have not changed their
sentiments.  But the truth is, that a combination of
minds, just like ourselves, coming in contact with earthly
congregations, pour out the spirit of real love, uplifting,
elevating, giving inward gladness and unity of feeling
"in the bonds of peace."
By permanent magnets I sometimes illustrate the
law that spirits impart communications with'whom they
can enter into direct contact, and with none others.
Hence some have passed all the way through life with-.
out receiving a single evidence that any such thing as
a spirit exists; while others havefelt it and known it
from their earliest recollections. I well know that there
are minds who have not felt the blissful influence of
such spiritual contact, and of course, have no evidence
whatever of the truth of these things.  And yet such
persons are many times helped and saved by proxies.
Guardians cannot reach them, save through the agency




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  395
of other parties-a succession of intermediates-the way
a great variety of special providences come to pass. As
an example, I give the case of an African woman, to
show that the benevolent in the beautiful Brotherhoods
of heaven still watch over the lowly and unhappy of
earth:
HOW A FAMISHING AFRICAN WOMAN AND CHILD
WERE SAVED BY THEIR GUARDIANS.
The case is cited from the Moral Instructor of 1850.
It exhibits interposition, sympathy, and calculation, to
a remarkable extent: " A lady medium  in this city,
whose name we are not at liberty to pronounce, while
walking in the streets, in her usual physical and mental
mood, was approached and controlled by a spirit, caused
to enter a bakery and purchase some victuals, thence led
out of the city by a circuitous route into the suburbs,
where she met'a colored woman sitting by the roadside,
weeping, with a small child by her side.  She was
traveling to find friends, and, destitute and exhausted,
she had sunk despondingly down to bewail her condition.  Using the organ of' the medium, the spirit said
to the sufferer:' Sister, why weepest thou?' The reply,
in substance, was, that she was away from friends, and
had no means of procuring food for her famishing child: —making no mention of her own privations.  She said
she had knocked at the doors of' those who appeared
abundantly able to bless, but had- been refused even the
morsels that fell from their tables, and now despaired
of succor. The spirit then gave her the bread, telling
her that her afflictions were known, and that he was an
angel sent to minister to her wants.  Overjoyed, the
poor woman fell upon her knees, essaying to offer the
spirit a prayer of' thanksgiving.  But he said:' Thank
not me, but G,:31:,hAat sent me.'
"cThe me,.ii'~  was then conducted home, having
been unconscious during most of the transaction, and
retaining only an indistinct recollection of the bakery,




396              MORNING LECTURES.
one or two points in her road, and the meeting with
the woman."
Many a man has been saved from committing' suicide, by his guardians, by the intermediate method of
approach.  Why are not all men saved from their
temptations and indiscretions? Because they can be
neither directly nor intermediately reached. Of necessity all such must walk through great agony to a higher
intellectual and moral condition.  It is the impulse of
their inward being. Guardian angels see that it is
better for some children to fall down a whole flight of
stairs than to be rescued; for the one sad accident or
stumble may save them from the misfortune of forty
other worse falls and blunders in the course of their
lives. The saving and protecting arms are not thrown
around some gentle natures simply because there is no
contact. But what a beautiful law and system of
providences are sometimes displayed!  Here is an
example 
A MAN SAVED FROM SUICIDE BY THE INTERPOSITION
OF HIS GUARDIANS.
The following authentic case was reported by a
New Haven gentleman, in 1852: 6 "Many years ago a
couple of gentlemen, who were room-mates, graduated
at Yale College, and became ministers of the gospel.
At an after period they settled in the ministry in different States, and carried on a friendly epistolary correspondence during a large portion of their lives. One
of them was in the habit of receiving impressions upon
his mind of that vivid character which usually constrained him to comply with the dictate of the moment,
or suffer loss touching his wonted peace. And though
he.was seldom able to divine in advance what the result
of his compliance would be, he was always obedient to




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  397
the dictate, and afterward saw clearly that he had only
done what duty or interest would have demanded.
6"Among the many occasions upon which he was
called to act in obedience to this higher power, the following is singular and instructive, and shows, in the
language of Cowper, after he had been foiled twice on
the same day in his attempts at self-destruction, that
cGod moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform'-that he accomplishes his purposes by ways and
means unthought of by man. A vivid impression came
over his mind that he must, without delay, get upon the
back of his horse, and with all possible speed reach New
Haven, a place which he had not seen since he left college, and one that was many miles distant. As had
been his custom, he was obedient to the impulse, and
reached the place at the midnight hour of a dark night;
and finding it greatly altered from what he had ever
before seen it, and not descrying any suitable place to
stop at, he was induced to ride to the door of a small
house, in which he discovered a dim light at the attic
window. After knocking and waiting a considerable
length of time, he heard footsteps upon the stairway
advancing slowly; soon it opened, and a man with a
lamp in his hand, and with a stern countenance, and
corresponding voice, demanded:' What do you want
here at this unseasonable hour of the night?' The
messenger of life, as he proved to be, replied:  I can
scarcely inform you what I came for; I am a stranger
here;' after which a short pause ensued, and the man
with the lamp, in low and quivering accents, said:' I
will tell you what you came for-it was to prevent me
from committing the atrocious act of suicide! When
you knocked at this door, I was putting a rope around
my neck to hang myself! Your knock broke the spell,
and I have now neither desire nor power to destroy
my life.'"
Do you not read in the Testament that Saul, mounted
on his horse and at the head of a vast army, was bent




398              MORNING LECTURES.
upon persecuting the Spiritualists of that day? He was
determined to ride them down and then exterminate
them.  When he had very nearly reached the point
where the desperate conflict was to occur, the c" scales"
began falling from his eyes, and he tumbled from his
horse to the ground. He was taken away by some friends,
and remained in an unconscious condition for some
time.  When he came to -" himself," he was a convert
to Spiritualism.  He felt ashamed, and said he had
been entirely in the wrong-a short-sighted old sinner.
Now what is the difference between a modern Spiritual
case, put in modern language, and this ancient case
related in the New Testament?  The law is identical.
A combination of truth-lovers in the Spirit-Land, who
are loyal to the Divine principles that regulate the universe, directly accomplish these results which men call
" special providences." The facts of the overthrow and
rapid conversion of Paul are no more ";mysterious,"
when analyzed in the light of modern Spiritualism, than
was the modern transaction of saving the lone man from
suicide. Neither can you say that the New Testament
facts are better substantiated by witnesses than are the
analogous facts of to-day. Here is another instance of
special impression:
AN ENGINEER IMPRESSED BY HIS GUARDIANS.
The following statement was published in the Caledonian, January, 1853, and is, therefore, testimony from
an editor not committed to Spiritualism: 6 "Mr. Butterfield, who was killed by the late unfortunate accident
upon the Passumpsic Railroad, for a week or two before
it occurred seemed impressed with the idea of some
impending evil.  He mentioned his impression to his
friends, appeared downcast, and did not wish to run an




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMAIR-LAND.  399
engine any more. Indeed, he had gone so far as to say
that after that week he should leave the place he occupied on the road.  He was ready to do anything else
but to act as an engineer.  In passing up a few days
previous to that on which the accident took place, before
it was daylight, he whistled for the train to' break up,'
insisting that the fireman should go forward and examine
the track; for he plainly saw the figure of a man moving
slowly along. He also stopped at another, and about
the same time, believing there was a man on the track.
It turned out in both cases to be an illusion. If Mr. B.
had been a timid and nervous man, these impressions
would readily be accounted for, perhaps; but he was
just the contrary-cheerful, cool, deliberate, and fearless-so far even as to be remarkable for these qualities.  His impressions, viewed in connection with his
wellcknown character and melancholy end, are certainly
mysterious, and we do not know how they are to be
accounted for, unless it be that evil is sometimes portended to man by a superior intelligence."
Spiritualists, instead of rejecting the Bible, find in
its pages experiences that are identical with what in
these days has become well-nigh universal.  In the
Apocalypse of John you read marvelous descriptions of
events and awful thinogs which would happen if there
was a fair chance for such occurrences. Instead, why.
not take up some of the equally wonderful visions of
Judge Edmonds?  Why not read them and believe in
them with the same unprejudiced eye and heart? If you
look believingly back to Daniel or to Ezekiel to find
prophecies, and if you next search the New Testamelit
to find their fulfillments, why not also go faithfully back
eight or ten years ago and find whether it be not true
that Judge Edmonds had a vision in which the present
American Rebellion was predicted and depicted with




400              MORNING LECTURES.
wonderful clearness and exactness?  He gave it out
with the conviction that it was simply a picturesque
representation of the great battle between Error and
Truth. But when it is read in connection with the
current political history and experiences of to-day, it
will appear as. literal a prophecy of what has occurred,
and is occurring in this country, as anything prophetical within the lids of Testaments:
THE AMERICAN REBELLION FORETOLD IN A VISION
BY JUDGE EDMONDS.
In the New York  tlarmonial Advocate, published
ten years ago, vol. 1., we find the following: "A A
vast plain is spread out before me, and far-in the distance a crowd of human beings.  Above them is a vast
banner, outspread all over them.  Its groundwork is
black, and its letters still blacker- the extract of blackness itself.  The words inscribed upon it are:' Superstition, Slavery, Crime,' forming, as it were, a halfcircle.  Many of those beings have smaller banners of
the same material and device, which they hug closely to
their bosoms, as if part of their very life.  All have
dark shades over their eyes.  It is a sad picture-dark
and melancholy!
" A broad battle-field is being spread. And dark
beings, with their black banners, are coming out, arrayed
for battle with brighter ones. The contest will be fearful.
Those dark ones are confident in their numbers; for
they are as a thousand to one.
6" But see! there comes from that bright mountain a
herald of light, and he cries aloud through all the
nations,'Which shall conquer-Truth, Liberty, and
Progression, or Superstition, Slavery, and Crime? His
words are heralded in the air.  How beautiful are his
looks! He is a spirit of light.  His thrilling tones
infuse new light into the brighter ones, and they rise
with renewed energy, determined at last to conquer.




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  401.: It is a mighty contest, and is to determine the fate
of nations.  All the base passions that have degraded
humanity are awakening in their might, and rush on in
their fury, battling for their very existence.
6 A more brilliant beam of light shines from the
faces of the progressed ones, showing the light and the
life that are within them, and that are cheering them to
the contest.
"Now, lo! the view opens beyond the dark mountains, and behold there a glorious scene, where Love,
Truth, and Wisdom are enthroned. I see the beautiful
landscapes, dewy lawns, winding rivers, and rich pastures, and an atmosphere so sweet and balmy, that the
spirit might dissolve itself in its loveliness.  A race of
spiritual beings inhabit there.  An unearthly radiance
flows from the brain of each, and is wafted up by unseen
zephyrs to make the glorious light which shines from
behind the dark mountains.
"It is the home of Liberty, Truth, and Progression,
and has sent forth its spirits, holding up that glorious
banner. It is upheld by their unseen hands, and it is
their brilliancy which casts the radiance on the inhabitants below. From that beautiful place they send forth
spirits that whisper, in voiceless tones, encouragement
and hope to those who battle in that strife."
You will find nothing in the pages of Scripture, I
repeat, more exactly descriptive of events which have
occurred years after the vision was given to the world.
But this is only one of five hundred prophecies, many
of which are in my possession, sent for publication from
Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois, and from different
parts of New England.  I know a gentleman who had
rejected Spiritualism in toto-over five years ago —in
consequence of these extravagant prophecies that there
would be c" a great war in this country," that "6 blood
would flow," that the people "; would have diseases,"




402            -MIORNING LECTURES.
anrd that the " Government was to be broken," &c.,.&c.
Prophetic communications of this strange character
came to him very frequently. But the gentleman could
not believe that we were to have  "a war," in this
peaceful country.  He denounced the communications
as unprofitable, and he would not further receive them.
I met that gentleman not long since in this city, and he
said: " I have repented.  Those extravagant spiritual
communications have all been literally fulfilled. There
was no exaggeration in them."
A MOTHER IN THE SUMMER-LAND.
The gifted poetess, Mrs. Hemans, communicated,
December 25, 1852, a picturesque account of scenes in
the social life of the angels. The following is a brief
extract concerning a mother and her child:  "How
lovely she seems! As she glides along, she holds in her
arms an innoeent babe. What holy affection and
chastened love is expressed in her countenance! She
pauses and speaks, and caresses her babe, and says:' O spirit, I have left my home on earth, and I have met
my beloved babe already, and how joyful I am. But
will you not send back to earth and tell my dearly
loved friends how happy I am, and how useless is all
their weeping for me? Oh, tell them I am learning
the ways of peace and happiness; that I am preparing
to receive and instruct them when they shall arrive
here; that, although a mother's form has left the earth,
a mother's love still shares all their hopes and joys.
And oh! bid them be hopeful and seek to have the love
of God shed abroad in their hearts on earth, that I may
be able to approach them on their entrance into the
Spirit-World.' Happy, happy mother! bearing her
babe in her arms, who had been brought to meet and
comfort her on her upward journey.  But mark how
she pauses to send back a word of encouragement and
hope to those who are left behind."




LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND.  403
On another point she says: s" The spirit, on entering its next state, only becomes more awake-more
sensitive to the realities which lie beyond its view; it
but steps on another round' of the ladder,. which leads
upward and onward to spheres of eternal love and
unfolding wisdom.  -And by thy life here, 0 man, dost
thou make thy heaven fair and lovely, or thy existence
dark and gloomy, until thou hast overcome thy errors
by earnest labor."
In conclusion, I wish to  call your attention to
persons in the Spirit-World who take great interest
in exciting the hopes of humanity, and in holding up
the banner of Progress and Reform.  I have already
given accounts of these public-spirited  societies.  I
will give one out of hundreds of instances, of a communication to minds on earth, who were at the time
somewhat despairing:
TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF FREEDOM.
In November, 1852, Judge Edmonds reported the
following from the Summer-Land: c"This is the day
when Freedom shall be known among the sons of
humanity.  This is the day when the chains shall fall
from the oppressed spirit.  This is the day when the
pulse of humanity shall quicken with an inward life.
And now shall the arm of man be made strong. Now
shall the stream of truth brighten and deepen in its
flow. Now shall the light of heaven grow clearer and
bighter amid this glorious dawning.  Prepare ye for
the resurrection of humanity.  Stand ve up in the
strength and majesty of spiritual manhood.  Let the
scenes of earth no longer enthrall your senses and
deaden the soul.  A voice calls you to a higher destiny.  It is the voice of Freedom breaking from the
skies.  Listen! not with youri ears only, but with your
souls.  Listen!  And in the deep silence of your inner




404             MORNING LECTURES.
being may Ve find its earnest whisperings to lead you
up beyond the vale of darkness, beyond the tumults of
this lower sphere-to lead you up-up-far up in the
pathway of unfolded angels, and give you strength to
mount on high, as the eagle soars, to breathe the air
of Freedom forever and ever."




MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL
WORKERS.
"This world is not a fleeting show,
For man's illusion given;
He that hath soothed a widow's woe,
Or wiped an orphan's tear, doth know
There's something here of heaven."
In relation to this subject it is deemed necessary to
set forth three propositions:
First, that the material and spiritual universes are
regulated by immutable laws. Law is the external
manifestation of principle; a principle is the external
manifestation of an idea; an idea is the thoughtful,
loveful life of Deity.
Second, that man is endowed with a self-conscious
power called Reason; Reason is the harmony of all his
faculties, including the elements of affection and intuition; by the exercise of this power he discovers the
laws by which those universes are kept in unvarying
order and irreversible harmony.
Third, that he is endowed with abilities and attributes to apply his discoveries to all the common conditions from which he proceeds, and of which he naturally
is the governor and supreme head.
The Infinite fountain is composed of ideas. Nothing
could be more abstruse, more metaphysical and abstract,
than the truth which is hidden within this statement.




406              MORNING LECTURES.
Most persons use the word "idea" according to the
dictionary sense.  An idea, in popular definition,is the
formor conception or image in the mind of' anything
which you read about, or which you are thinking, or of
something which is being related to you.  To catch
"an idea" is to get a definition of whatever may be
presented for your reflection.  That is not the sense in
which the term is used in this discourse.  The common
definition is applicable to " thought." A thought in
the mind is derived from a description, or by means of
an object, a sound, a flavor, an odor; in short, whatever
may address you, through your senses, will evolve a
thought among your faculties, and if that thought is
coincident with and exactly representative of that-which
excited it, the result is a truth, or else a fact.. From an
accumulation of such facts and truths all positive sciences
are developed and established.
But such truths and such facts are not Ideas. If you
have an idea, you have the essential life out of which
all things and thoughts spring.  Clairvoyance is the
ability, to discern things afar off by coming in contact
with the life of things, realizing their inherent essences,
becoming instantly acquainted with the intelligent
principles by which things roll out from unfathomable
depths into the phenomenal universe. An idea within
vegetation causes all this variety, not only of the form
and growth, but also of the distribution of the colors
and of the arrangement of the atoms which are inseparable from and coincident with those colors, and of the
odors also which come with the colors and out of such
an atomic arrangement.
There is in the fields no chaos; nothing is left to




MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS.   407
chance; all is system-harmony.  Man's function is to
learn the principles and ideas contained in the source;
to ascertain the scientific laws by which atoms, visible
and indivisible, come into their present arrangements;
and thence obtain the secret of the harmonies which
pervade all the ways and works of Wisdom. Having
made discoveries his next business is to reduce them to
what is called "c science." Science regulates the perceptive
and intellectual parts of his mind-gives system, proportion, and regularity of action-by means of which
system of thought and precision of procession he makes
all his progress and expands his civilization.
But the restless, progressive mind soon exhausts his
discovery.  He must go higher in the same direction,
make further discoveries, and thence more beautiful
expansions in Art, and more complete applications in
common things. Having applied his new facts to things,
he exhausts them, or loses interest in them, and thus
it becomes necessary that he should sow a new crop of
discoveries. So he charges the soil with new fertilizing
thoughts, and puts the old land to other uses.  His
restless, progressive mind, needs it; for he is endowed
with a wondrous variety of powers and functions and
attributes, which must be gratified.
The consequence of such awakening is that his mind
is more than ever anxious for advancement.  Humboldt
could not rest in his study after having investigated the
physical facts of a quarter of the globe.  His discoveries were accurate, so far as they went; but they were
only doors to greater and grander things. Humboldt's
mind is not at rest to-day; he is still traveling and discovering sections in the ", house not made with hands."




408              MORNING LECTURES.
His immortal feet press other hills and mountains; his
new-lit eyes see other landscapes; and his large mind
is measuring new scenes of imperishable beauty and significance. Astronomers, too, do not soon rest. Having
discovered one planet, they must discover another. The
discovery of a hundred planets makes it necessary (for
the feeding of such hungry minds)' that two hundred
shall be discovered.
The time comes for the application. Then millions
invest in one discovery. All men buy and read almanacs, because the discoveries of a few earnest, truthful,
scientific men have fixed the facts that regulate the
seasons.  Suns and moons and stars rise and set so
mathematically and unmistakably accurate, that millions
of people, without a thought of skepticism, purchase
almanacs, regulate their business:-in-doors and out, and
conduct nearly all their agricultural and commercial
affairs, by means of the application of the discoveries
of a few able, earnest friends of science.
Men must go forward in their work of progressive
civilization; they have the grand example of the
expanded universe ever before them. The physical and
spiritual universes never fail in any of their functions,
because they are regulated by laws that never fail to
carry out the designs with which they were freighted
from the heart. Principles are the life of laws; ideas
are the life of principles; and GoD Is THE LIFE OF IDEAS.
No man or woman is spiritually-minded until he or she
has arrived at spirit. To be a spiritualist, is to nominate yourself by a mere term; to be spiritual, is to
possess a great soul-stirring and progressing Idea.  A.
spiritual worker is one who works from the essential




MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS.   409
center-from Ideas, through the leverage of laws, using
principles'as the fulcrum over which the lever acts on
any solid substance with which it comes in contact.
Standing with the long end of the lever (a knowledge
of natural law) in their hands, such workers can 6" move
the mountains" which stand between them and the
attractions and benefits of the future. Faith and works
are inseparable. No soul is wholly destitute of faith in
God.'Truth and Love and Wisdom  and immutable
principles-these millions believe in even when they
have no conception of a super-personal consciousness,
God, or of an inter-personal love-essence called Nature.
No man is destitute of faith in principles. Virtue and
goodness and philanthropy, and whatever is high and
noble, command the reverent love and respect of all
mankind.
Those who possess Ideas are truly spiritual andprogressive people. When they work, they work as
flowers grow, from centers through their own organizations. Organizations come up here and there around
them; they spring up and bring forth like harvests in
the fields. Thousands, yea millions, are this' hour
waiting  for such  center-born  organizations.  The
world's busy millions do not get at Ideas; they need
temporary organizations and  supporting substances.
When a building is in process of construction, a scaffolding is a necessary part of the work.  The carpenter
calculates for a scaffold just as carefully as for the various materials out of which the building is to be made.
When the structure is perfected, the scaffolding is
removed.  Even so when progressionists elaborate an
idea and get it into the world, let them take down the
18




410              MORNING LECTURES.
no-longer needed  scaffolding —the  organization  by
which the idea was attained.  Let the temple of Truth
stand white and immortally beautiful before the eyes of
all men. Let it be based upon the solid rock of scientific knowledge; let it be seen and p'elt by all; let it be
inhabited by every one who feels the essential attraction.
Must a man wear the clothes of his youth forever because
they fitted him once?  Or, must men always cling to
their creeds and doctrines because by means of them
they attained newer ideas in religion and a few finer
habits in civilization? Let creeds, doctrines, definitions
cease, as, indeed, they finally do with men and women
of ideas. Distinctions vanish like the mists of morning
in the presence of ideas that burn with such unutterable,
glorious effulgence.  But before you get to Ideas, such
scaffolding as forms definitions, doctrines, thoughts,
creeds, theories, systems, are necessary.
I never stop to battle with the size of the clothes
that children must wear.  Little patterns are natural
to little folks. But I will remonstrate, and pronounce
an injunction in the holy authority of Ideas, when I see
grown-up persons still trying to keep in the garments
of their childhood. Behold sectarians! See the little
garments with which they swathe themselves, in which
they are bound and cribbed and cabined and confined,
and dare not move-miserable, fashionable mummies,
grown up apparently as big feeling as anybody with
brains-great, handsome looking ladies, and great,
beautiful men, going into the churches and taking on
the old garments and sitting in sackcloth without ashes
-all of it a part of the machinery of childhood in oldtime religion!  It is plainly a demonstration that they




MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS.   411
have not ideas.  They are not free. -The children of
light are free, because light is truth. Truth gives freedom, not only to your judgments, but also to your
affections —just as true and as free in your externals as
in your inmost. Freedom and purity are commensurate
and inseparable. Pure freedom comes from pure spirit.
License and unrestrained indulgence are the impulsive
freebootery of the impassioned soul toward that to
which it is directed.  You can see lustfulness and
licentiousness in their disguises all through the world
-in politics, in society, and in the social relations.
Democratic notions of freedom  are but the uncouth
prophecies of what one day will be the common experience of the people, accepted as divine, without any
thought of impurity, and incorporated in the unwritten
statutes of the universal heart.
But there are persons who, destitute of ideas, see
merely the forms which restrain and circumscribe them.
Such externalists think that the world is wrong, and
must be brought to their standard of right.  That is
bigotry.  Must I hate my brother because he enters the
Calvinistic church, and shun my sister in the Church of
Rome, because she does not think as I do?  Ideas lift
us out of thoughts, above forms, above creeds, above
doctrines and systems, and breathe the spirit of
unbounded charity and oood will.
Man's power is to discover-not to create.  Man
can "create" nothing; he can only discover and apply.
Now man is destined to discover the laws by which the
Infinite has expressed imperishable harmony throughout
the material and spiritual universes-the discovery of
the laws by which all eternal harmony is established.




412             MORNING LECTURES.
Succeeding this discovery will come the power to apply.
This application will bring in new social, political, and
religious relations, like that higher harmony which he
beholds and worships in the physical universe.  Thus
man is endowed with a very vast mission of eternal
uses to him.  If men were destitute of ideas, they would
)e animals.  If men were animals, they would be regulated by the harmonious laws of life and instinct which
regulate animals.  But mankind have ideas; therefore
we are what animals can never be —capable of winging
our way through the empyrean of light, through the
universe of boundless freedom.  I do not mean that we
are free in any absolute physical sense.  No inan can
fly outside of matter.  No man can reverse or violate a
principle  no man can mortally offend an idea; rio man
can disturb God. But man can by discovery bring
himself into relation with ideas and principles and laws,
and become physically healthy like the material universe, and spiritually healthy like the spiritual universe.
Then, like them and with them, he is in harmony. Then
he can bestow happiness, goodness, and divine strength
on those about him.  This seems to me to be as simple
as any sum in the rudiments of arithmetic.  No creations are made in music.  Sounds exist through all the
temple of Nature.  Man can merely discover the laws
of the Omnipotent by which sounds may be made to
harmonize in different combinations.  6 "Music" is the
name given to the science thus discovered, and to the
application of the science.  But there is a central keynote by which all notes and chord, are arranged and
attuned.
Man's position with relation to all, the kingdoms




MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS.   413
beneath is the master chord, and the central key-note.
If he is not attuned, his discords shiver through all the
subordinate kingdoms.  If he is in harmony, all the
kingdoms of the earth feel, enjoy, participate, reciprocate, and justice reigns.  Reciprocation is an expression of Justice. Distributive justice is seen in the equal
expansion of natural reciprocation. From your own
system outwardly into society send forth a good and just
condition, and you thence and thereby expand into a
state by which you can be fed and built up stronger
and better.
It is necessary that many should be together in one
place in order that all may be fed and nourished and
made to grow by spiritual things.  All persons testify
against and naturally shrink from isolation, desolation,
loneliness.  They  testify  against those  conditions
because Nature, the Spirit-Mother of all intelligences,
has determined that society shall be the form, the menstruum, the universal ocean in which all are molded,
fashioned, and dissolved.
There is a social sovereignty which is just as obligatory  as individual sovereignty.  Some accept the
doctrine that "individual sovereignty" covers and
comprehends all-that a man is allowed by Nature to
practice and carry out his individual preferences and
decisions "sat his own cost."  But this doctrine is but
half the story of man's relation to society. It is logical
and true; but true only just so far as the half of anything is true. Social sovereignty is larger and grander,
more perfect, more binding, and more divine; just as
the ocean is larger, grander, more perfect and more
divine, than the spring on the mountain's side or the




414              MORNING LECTURES.
rivulet that starts from the quiet valley.  The life of'
the individual is the stream that flows down through
the valley.  The ocean is made of all springs and all
streams, and all the rivulets that flow down from the
millions of hills hasten to seek their common social
level.  The ocean is the grand symbol of' the Infinite
Spirit in which all minds dwell, and out oif which all
things  spring  into  manifestation  and  animation.
Geologists tell you that all things came from the sea.
First, the water was universal; then came the dry
land.  The first is society.  Society is universal; then
came institutions, organizations, dry land, solid places;
but the individual life is inseparable from the universal
society of mankind.
The spiritual worker is one who sees the idea, who
catches the spirit within a principle, who works for the
harmonious molding of whatever is about him, and not
selfishly for personal advancement. For example, look at
the question of "s intemperance." The Maine liquor law,
a matter of so much controversy some years ago, was
passed to legislate alcohol out of existence.  But the
moment you ascend to the presence of an idea, you discover that men are not constituted to be driven into or
out of existence.  Their appetites and passions cannot
be easily destroyed by legislation. It is true that good
laws may hamper and destroy, to a great extent, the
vices of society.  But how do most of our best laws
originate?  They originate with legislators and governors who have Ideas.  A  few good men first proclaim  the principle; then the office-seeking politicia-ns
grasp it and say: " There is success in that creed," and
they take hold of it, and carry into politics what was




MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS.   415
at first a glorious effort with a few philanthropic minds.
In ten years the good thought, the good idea that was
first promulgated, is degraded or obliterated.  Then
come organizations, scheming, wire-pulling, log-rolling,
all these desperate and diabolical plans which selfish
men without principle have instituted, in order to carry
out what they supposed would be successful.
Then what is to be done? Why, the Moral Police,
composed of men and women, must continue the work.
They must go interior-close to the life of the law —to
the Idea! They must stand upon platforms in public and
in private places, and utter those divine thoughts which
go deeper than the plans and policies of the world.
They are commissioned to act just where and in proportion as they comprehend the idea of justice.
The spiritually-minded person is inspired.  Justice
is not a word; it is the name of a sacred principle. It
does not mean that you must do what I think is right.
It means that you must be just; first of all to and
within yourself. Your justice to me will be like your
habitual justice to yourself.  Suppose you meet a man
who has indulged largely in intoxication. It is useless
to appeal to him with s' What will people say?"' He
don't care what they say; he is, perhaps, lost to that
kind of respect; he does not seek it; he has been too
many times deceived and debauched. The sailor lies
down in the hold of his ship, drunken as a beast. And
the deserted, abandoned woman cannot be successfully
appealed to from the social side of life.  There is only
one thoroughly practical way to reach those who have
got so low in the bed of sorrow. It is by affectionately
inspiring the hearts of such persons with the idea that




416              MORNING LECTURES.
they are immortal, and not only so, but that they have
in them the resources of sweet happiness, and that
those resources can be opened, and that you will faithfully aid them in such opening and to their consequent
happiness.  First assure the person that no reliance
can be placed upon such help from you, or from God's
angels, or from spirits in the flesh or out, until there is
basis in the soul's will and aspirations.  You reach
the heart the moment you ascend to this point of wisdom.  It is bringing justice to the person.  The sad
soul feels it. S" Bathe yoAr body, my friend; you have
a beautiful body.  You have feet and can walk; you
have hands and can use your arms; you have eyes and
can see; you have ears and can hear; and a tongue
with which to speak. the words of truth. Do you.disregard these parts?  Can you carry them  day after
(lay and respect them not?"
To such teaching the soul will listen. I knew a person who at once abandoned the use of tobacco when he
discovered that his fine teeth were being spoiled. You
might have preached to him the "'Sermon on the
Mount," or any other sermon, but nothing would reach
and reform so soon as the appeal personal. The selfish
are touched when you appeal to that which is in harmony with their mental conditions. Plenty of persons
are lifted out of the mud and despair, not by an idea,
but by a pair Of comfortable shoes. It is so much better to begin with people where you find them.  Show
that you are a genuine brother or sister, that your
interest is not selfish, but of divine ideas, and the heart.
You work from the life of God that is within, from the
idea of fraternal affection and resurrection.  Preach




MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS.   417
resurrection to the dead, and tell them that the trump
must sound. I believe that the trump is now sounding in the ear of every person in this wide world.
The gospel of' progress is the trump of the resurrection.
The dead are all around you, and sometimes within
yourself; that is, dead faculties, or thoughts " dead in
trespasses and sins." If you are anywhere inert, you
are to the same extent dead, and involved in this question of the resurrection. What portion of you do you
feel to-day to be of no service to yourself or to mankimd?  That portion calls -for the influence of some
resurrecting mind. We should be to each other a thousand times more precious than we are; each should go
out of self, and enter upon a broader and more glorious
field of work.  Do you wish to promote your own personal. development?  Then work  for the personal
development and happiness of others.  Only on these
terms will you advance. It is like the blacksmith
unthinkingily developing his right arm. Does he swing
the hammer with the intention of expanding and hardening his muscular power? He stands by his anvil,
and you say' What a strong, brawny arm that working man has! What a deep, large chest! What great
muscles about his shoulders!"  " Yes," he replies; ", I
have continued-at my daily work." He is healthily,
muscularly, beautifully developed, be.cause he has
wrought with the iron for others, and not for the personal purpose of building upon his body.
Thus, if you work and pray for your own private
spiritual development, you will not be developed very
soon. If I unfold this lecture in your presence for any
personal gratification, of the selfish kind, 1 shall be




418. MORNING LECTURES.
neither gratified nor improved by what is uttered. Do
a benevolent act for the express purpose of being publicly applauded for your organ of benevolence, and the
result will do you- no good. The motive would be sellish, and the action could not bring a blessing. If your
existence needs expansion and your mind culture, theii
promote benevolence and culture in others.  Go out of
your selfish circles into the society of the poor.  Never
think that because you go to the bedside of the sick,
you will yourself' be cured.  If you bestow healthful
influences upon the sick, without undue exhaustion, you
are sure to be personally benefited.  Do good from a
selfish motive, and you will find a chemical poison at
the very heart, which will leave your nature as poor as
a miser is with his full coffers.
The spiritual worker is one who, impressed with the
idea of fraternal love, and feeling its holy warmth'in
the soul, goes right out into society with healing in his
wings.  Such a person goes and comes as a peacemaker.  Natures of this stamp are commissioned from
the heaven of heavens to do unto others as they would
have others do unto them, and that, too, without a
thought of the golden rule.  They obey it because they
are as good as it. They who so live and so act, are
constantly dwelling in that state to which they would
elevate all mankind.
Man is destined to bring about in society the harmony of all the passions which are demons, and of the
appetites, too, which are unclean spirits, and the balance
of all the various discords of his mind, which are his
ever-present.satans. Demons and unclean spirits are to
be vanquished, but only by the power of spiritual work



MATERIAI, WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS.   419)
ers who start from the throne of IDEAS.  No man can
conquer a passion for tobacco, or destroy the force of
any appetite, by merely acting upon it from his will.
The soul and body are raised by means of an inspiration, toward health and purity, which reaches and
buoys up the mind until the physical passion subsides
and the besetting appetite departs.  Some minds attain
this state by a sort of change in their physical or chemical growth; others reach it by means of what they call
religious revivalism, or conversion. But the cultured
vway to it is through the comprehension and application
of Ideas.  The principal idea which exalts and equalizes mankind, without filling the individual with egotism, is that each is supreme head of all the kingdoms
beneath; that the high function of each is to discover
the unchangeable laws which give harmony and perfection to the universe; and finally to apply the teachings of those laws to all the kingdoms, powers, functions
about him not only, but also to all the passions, organs,
demons, satans, or appetites and discords within the
temple of private being.  Mankind are destined to be
"lords of creation," both materially and spiritually.
What is possible to all, is possible to each, and vice
versa. All may become gentle, and useful, and beautiful,
loving their nDeighbors as themselves. None can live and
work in this way, save the truly spiritual. I know that
such souls are in the churches, at the bottom of all religious organizations.  They are  the spiritual men
who first realized IDEAS.  John Wesley, John Murray,
John Calvin —- t hese, and many who are visible all the
way down the steeps of time, wrought from the life of
Ideas.




420(             MORNING LECTURES.
Let us, therefbre, concern ourselves not deeply with
organizations and instruments of labor; for, with true
Ideas, helpful organizations will inevitably  come.
Thus every wholesome organization comes up. An idea
starts the principle; the principle divulges the law;
the law dictates the method.  An organization, consequently, is inevitable.  Individual labors for mankind
will bear "6good fruit" when governed by the inspirations of Ideas.  Such labors may be distributed and
imitated throughout parts of civilization. Great philanthropists slumber here and there waiting for some
occasion to resurrect them.  Act well the part of a
spiritual being; be faithful to what is true and good;
the future will take loving care of both itself and you.
This is the heavenly rest that comes from true inspiration of ideas.  Think not of to-morrow, or next year;
work now, living nobly in your day and hour. Be true
to the rife of truth. The life. of truth is God. Be
faithful ever, and true-hearted to all who love you.
Years ago men used to say to me, "' Well, Mr. Davis,
if God is in this work, it will succeed, and if he is not,
it will come to naught." Assuredly; nothing is more
certain.  It is the good, wholesome, old-fashioned
not-ion about special providences in man's life.  I like
it. Yes, God is always in everything, and more especially in the idea of everything.  You and your God
may walk, together. The Divine is not afar off, looking with a great eye to see whether you are doing the
fair thing or not.  An IDEA is from God. - Work from
its inspirations, and you and your God are ONE. Thus
the inheritance of life becomes a perpetual blessing.




ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND.
"There are some qualities-some incorporate things,
That have a double life, which thus is made
A type of that twin entity which springs
From matter and light, evinced in solid and soul."
By the term  Summer-Land is meant a sphere of
perpetual youth, where physical disease, which is discord, does not, because it cannot, prevail; where the
effects of moral imperfections and evils continue; where
the consequences of bodily and mental infirmities are
visible, not in the constitution and appearance of that
existence, but wholly in the constitution and appearance
of those who possess those infirmities when they go
from the earth to that land. This lecture is concerning the existence and appearance of s" ultimates" in the
Summer-Land. In a future volume I hope to be enabled, by means of new astronomical and picturesque
diagrams, to illustrate what I cannot impart through
language. There are yet very important lessons to be
conveyed in connection with this glorious question of
man's immortal existence.  Word-painting cannot adequately impart to the mind what a few illustrations
would  beautifully  and permanently impress.  This
question of," ultimates" in the Summer-Land, in con



422              MORNING LECTURES.
tradistinction to primates and proximates, may be very
plainly and briefly stated.  In- this discourse, however,
I can do little more than lay out the work.
To properly prepare your minds to see the ultimates,
it may be necessary first to speak of primates and
proximates.  Let us endeavor to strike the key-note to
which the music of the world is set, so that every ear
may hear and every heart understand  the glorious
truths of eternal existence. We must search the volume
of Nature, because in its pages we find the gospel of
death and of eternal life.  "The firmament," which is
overhead in the temple of Nature, 6"showeth handiwork." The firmament, therefore, is the open scroll of
the infinite volume.  Its contents are the true " scriptures' for mankind c" to search."  Everything in artificial bibles which corresponds to the teachings of the
Scriptures in this expanded universe, is eternal truth.
Everything, on the other. hand, which conflicts with
these natural scriptures, must fall among the tares and
errors, and be swept away by the billows of the rolling
years, with every other thing erroneous and outgrown
by man in his onward march.  Men never shrink from
errors that are burnt up and gone. They only shrink
from the mortification and "'the pain" caused at the
moment of their destruction. A new truth, like a dentist,
puts his iron grasp upon the old-time and loved error,
and pulls it out " by the roots" from its deep socket in
the brain. Sometimes, indeed, the root of the error is
deeper-in very sincere and delicate affections.  Not
many pains suffered by human souls can be more intense
than the extraction of worshiped and costly errors
made sacred by time and important by the pomp of




ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND.         423
circumstance and occasion.  I know tender souls who
shrink from the pain and mortification inseparable from
such reformation, somewhat as cowardly men dread the
tender caressing of the professional dentist.
But the trial must come sooner or later.  Errors,
however beautiful and gold-enameled by time, must
be extracted from the human mind by the archangel of
eternal truth.  Search the scriptures of Nature-the
handiwork of the firmament-for in them you will find
the holy truths of eternal life.  To  understand the
apocalyptic glories of the universe, study the Genesis of'
this God-inspired volume.  The Genesis and the Exodus of the book are the Primates and the Proximates.
The Ultimates you cannot see in this world except logically from  the force of philosophical principles,.  In
this lecture I may not speak of the Ultimates as I have
seen them, and as you will see them one of these days,
because time will not permit, and justice to the question admonishes me to present only the fundamental
lessons for consideration.  Humanity is now divided,
by scientific men, into distinct races.  Whether such
division be correct or incorrect, we need not now stop
to consider.  They commence with their classifications
-down or up, as the case may be-first, the Caucasian;
second, the Mongolian; third, the Indian; fourth, the
Malay; fifth and lastly, the Negro. This order is
tracing mankind from what might be termed Ultimates,
down to their rudiments, or Primates. - Let us commence
with the roots —with the Negro-and come up through the
Malay, the Indian race, the Mongolian, and halt at the
Caucasian, which civilizees have both thehonor and
the dishonor to represent. We leave this classification
for the present, lodged in the mind.




424              MORNING LECTURES.
Scientific men, whether correctly or not, have also
classified the organic world into regularly ascending
stages. No intelligent mind can long think chaotically.
An intelligent mind, to make intellectual progress, must
think as Nature compels him to think-from primates,
on and up through infinite complications and endlessly
successive combinations, to ultimates.  Thus he makes
progress both by the reflex action of education and by
the legitimate and natural exercise of his faculties.
Truly scientific men are constrained by Nature to think
progressively up from the mollusk to full-blossomed'
humanity. They arrange the scale musically if they
are inclined to music, or arbitrarily, if they are inclined
to follow the routine of scholastic learning.  They
arrange it naturally and deductively if they have
spiritual illumination. It is very much like the botany
that is taught in the schools; there is the natural
analysis of plants, and there is also the artificial method.
Some commence naturally with the roots and go on
upward, following the chronological order of its
growth. The artificial analysis commences with the
surfaces and works toward the basis.  Nature compels
man to investigate with system, because all is-a perfect
system.  Whoso questions Nature aright, truly reads
the scriptures which teach of God and eternity.
Nature, by scientific men, is studied and classified
in her organic relations progressively. Commence with
the lowest form of fish life; work up through the age
of serpents; come to birds; study the marsupials;
then the mammalia; then the quadrumanals, troglodytes, and the gorillas; then stop at home and investigate Man.  I think the scientific world has not yet




ULTIMATE$ IN THE SUMMER-LAND.          425
taken its own position into the account; it has not
yet ascertained its own relation and importance to the
onward progress of the race, Not having done this, it
is overlooking the very key-note to which all the music
of the world's intellectual growth is set.  I suppose
that this  blindness is right, because Nature makes
science masculine, superficial, proud, exclusive, exact,
always on the surface, yet necessary to the world's
growth.  But there is something more inspiring than
science, i. e.-Art. Art is but Nature in her 6"superior
state."  Science is Nature reporting herself with material eyes and in c"a common state" —always positive,
never designing to confuse chalk with cheese, never
intentionally calling a thing black when it is white.
Granite is always granite in the eyes of science.  It
is natural, therefore, that science should decide that
man's  life goes out like his breath when he  dies.
Science very honestly, stoutly, sternly, godlessly says
that man does not survive the decay of' his organs. The
religious world takes up the evidence not seen  by
science.  So far as it goes, however, science is the
world's grandest archangel —without wings, without a
heart for humanity, with only a front brain, having no
affections for theories, creeds, or philosophy.
But Art comes to our relief.  She comes from the
woman side of Nature.  Art reports the most interior,
and unfolds the ultimates of the life of things.  Music
can never be separated from  art.  Poetry and music
have pure affections. Painting is but another expression
of universal art.  Science commences at the right side
and works leftward; art commences in the left side
and works rightward; thus they meet, and interlock,




426            ~ MORNING LECTURES.
and silver-chain  together in their marchilgs.  Art
rises spirally toward heaven, but science continues horizontally with the earth; with its eyes upon the stars
it rises not; for it sees only solid bodies reflecting
light.  Art alone interprets the light of the stars and
gives the music to which all bodies are wedded. The
magnificent beauty of the physical world is unfolded
through art. Science respects art only so far as it will
illustrate and develop the exactitudes of science.
Nature works in this wise and beautiful way.  She
starts her men, the masculine power, from the right,
and her feminine elements from  the left, and thence
they work in opposite directions.  Art moves upward
until it reaches a certain elevation, and then it begins
to draw its credentials firom science. Then it lets down
its buckets in the deep- wells of exact discoveries, and
draws up thence its best and most enduring lessons.
As spiritualists, as searchers for eternal life, we
should become acquainted with both the right and the
left hands of Nature.  Let us contemplate nature in
man and nature in woman; nature in God, and therefore God in nature.  God commences with the right,
and thence works leftward round and round, and circles
over and over throughout infinitude.  Nature commences with the left, and thence works rightward and
reaches the ultimate center, and unites with the soul
and mind inthe fountain of' all supreme excellence and
glory. The two meet and flow through each other,
returning and circling to and fro perpetually, the one
being represented by Science and the other by Art.
The negro may be said to represent the left side of'
humanity.  This statement certainly puts a new com



ULTIMATES IN T1HE SUMMER-LAND.        427
plexion on the subject. The negro starts from the left side,
the Caucasian from the right, and the opposite races work
leftward and rightward in all countries and in all history.  The negro is artful and emotional.  He represents nature in her senses; the Caucasian is nature in
her brains and organs.  The filrst manifestation of taste
in the female nature is surface ornaments, display,
colors, gems, eyes, teeth, personal presentation.  This
is the feminine power in the senses; the first manifestation of the left side attractions.  The masculine cornmnences with the brain and works into the senses, and
scarcely ever gets out of them.  If more men were out
of their senses —in their superior condition-and had
arrived at Art, "; the world would be the better for it."
Woman commences leftward and works rightward.
She begins in the heart of things and expands and
reaches to the surface-plane from which man started.
The middle or neutral ground is occupied by the
transition races-say the Malays, the Indians, and the
Mongolians.  The middle ground, therefore, is occupied
by these bridges, which connect the two sides of
humanity.  These three types in the organic world, I
repeat, bridge over between the feminine and the-nmasculine in ethnology, and in the interior attributes of'
opposite - races.  You have often seen the beautiful concentric lines of work in the shells on the sea-shore. All
sea-shells are made with spiral lines; they can be constructed in no other way.  What does it mean?  It
means that they are illustrations of Art, which coinmences from Nature's left side and works artistically.
All the shells in the depths, caves, and grottoes of the
sea are adorned with her glorious artistic impress and




428              MORNING LECTURES.
handiwork. But Man's art is not like the art of Nature.
His art is science, a thoughtful child of the brain. He
studies and works to find out how Nature made her
shell, and fish, and birds, and stars. His aim is to
imitate such labors.  An cgg is one of the most simple,
wonderful, and beautiful works of Mother Nature. By
the fullness and undulations of the large end, and by
the spiral crinkles at the small end, an experienced eye
can tell which is feminine and which masculine.
All forces meet and conspire in the human organization. You will find that all powers of mind come out
in the highest types of the human race.  But in the
negro you find what men call the sentiments and emotions.  He fully enjoys his senses.  Loving simple
pleasure, he seeks it on the surface, but readily deepens
by education.  The Malay is very different.  It is the
Rhodent.  It is the class of mind that seeks to live on
others. It chooses a dark abode and burrows in the
ground.  The Indian, whether he be North American
or Oriental, is very different.: The squirrel and the
raccoon, and the animals that live like them in the
forests, represent the Indian, and they will live and
they will die together. When Nature gets old enough
to destroy all of thie animals that live on nuts and
acorns and berries and fruits of the field and the forest,
and when she also destroys all that live upon the flesh
of other animals, then will she be also old enough to
seal the destiny of the Oriental as well as the western
tribes of the screams and wildernesses.
But the system works onward.  She next gets into
the Mongolian.  The Mongolian is represented by the
quadrumanial.  Horses, cows, dogs, wolves, and the




ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND.         429
domestic mammalia, correspond to this branch of
the human family.  The Caucasian world is represented by the European and the American.   This
portion of mankind pursues all parts of nature by
science, and lays all existence under heavy tribute.
The Caucasian subjects the world to himself.  No
representative of anlly other race has such preeminence.  He eats freely of everything, breathes
all atmospheres, enjoys all possible shades of pleasures.
tHepursues happiness through progression. The negro
pursues simple life and pleasure through the senses.
lrhe Caucasian aspires after happiness, which includes
all pleasure and is the white flower of every kind of
obedience.  Nature contributes freely from  all her
departments, and constantly yields to his persistent
encroachments  and  innumerable  discoveries.   The
Caucasian seems to be representative of the higher race
to come. He expands into the universal Yankee, which
is a newspaper epithet of much significance, because he is
destined to become the climacteric development of the
antecedent races, to expand by means of his energy and
encroachments and infringements, all over the inhabitable globe.
The American does not become Europeanized. The
negro does not cause the white man to be Africanized,
except so far as imitation and temporary association
go, and the upshot of it all is, that the African becomes
Caiecasianized in his habits, tendencies, and aspirations.
The African is a simple child of Nature, filled with the
sentimentalities of Art.  The Caucasian holds up to
him the banners of industry, of science, philosophy,
investigation-opens his eyes to behold the temples of




4 30             MORNING LECTURES.
learning and of universal progress.  When a man sits
down to a table and partakes of beef; he does not
become beef; but beef becomes him.  That is true of
the Caucasian world.  The Negro, the Malayan, the
Indian and the. Mongolian are walking and working
together-as none of them could walk and work singly.
The Caucasian shakes hands with them all.  Bayard
Taylor is cosmopolitan, so also are other travelers who
feel the blood of America fully developed in their veins.
They go anywhere on the face of this planet, shake
hands with the people, and affiliate with them all as
brother associates with brother. The Negro cannot do
this; the Malay cannot do it; no Indian can do it; only
the Caucasian goes all over the world and makes it contribute its riches to his science. He travels by the map
and the compass; he steers by the north star; and he
makes friends with science and philosophy. He subjects
all things around him in order to make of them so many
new instrumentalities of his greater expansion.
What does all this mean? It means that the human
family ascends, through the gradual development of the
races, to the Caucasian world.  It does not, however,
mean that other races are cast down into the earth's
chemistry, and thus lo'se their immortality at death. It
would be as reasonable to teach that the superior faculties of the mind live forever, while the social and perceptive faculties, which ally him to the interests of
creation, do not survive death. Man goes to the Second
Sphere with the ultimates of all his parts, portions, and
functions.  So the Caucasian race goes into the future,.
not as the only regal and royal product of the organic
world, but as a member of the family of races.  The




ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND.         431
ultimates of every race in the Summer-Land establish a
community or a world of their own. So long as the
individuality of a race can be extended through its
organization, so long will that race continue to project
itself into the history and experience of coming ages.
The Caucasian man and woman can visit all the brotherhoods and mingle with all classes and families there.
Principles incorporated in his mind begin to develope themselves, and to link him sympathetically with
all other races and  brotherhoods.  Thus extremes
meet.  The negro and the white man —that is to say,
the African and the Caucasian, as left hand and rightare coming eventually together, and will friendly face
like palm to palm. The star of empire goeth westward;
will it not cross the Pacific, and connect itself with that
eastern world whence civilization sprung? If the circuit is made and the connection perfect, it will be like
a magnetic circle.
When civilization crosses from ouri Western borders
and marches to the steppes of Asia, what then will
happen? Europe will follow in the train, leaving the
very place. whence civilization started, to see where the
Yankee is going to; but the old race never can catch
him!
When this world is unfolded with a state of civilization all around it, it will then represent what is
practically known to be the highest source of joy in the
Summer-Land. Extremes and ultimates meet in the
sphere to which we go at death.  The left hand and
the right-the male and the female elements of nature
-are certain to meet there, if they do not meet before.
Here they meet only on the surface; there they meet




432             MORNING LECTURES.
from the interior.  The Negro will never fully understand the Caucasian in this world; because tile Caucasian will never fully understand the Negro; while the
races that come between these extremes will be neither
understood nor tolerated. Two races will have in this
world a long parallel career-the left and the right,
or the Negro and the Caucasian.
Nature insists upon having both.left and right fully
balanced in one body. No Indian prospers on this continent, neither does the Malayan, nor the Mongolian.
Only the Negro can prosper in copartnership with the
Caucasian.  I do not mean to teach that the races will
become affiliated and amalgamated each with the other.
The moment the opposite races touch perfectly, that
moment thev take separate rooms in the Father's house.
They work for each other and through each other
without affiliation or loss of individuality. The Indian
is nearly related to neither race, and because he does
not affiliate with them as closely as others do, he drops
outward and goes away from among the races.
The two opposite races meet again in the SummerLand.  Does not the Bible say that the, least shall be
greatest in the kingdom  of heaven"?  There  are
Christians who sincerely believe that the person who
is here the most thoroughly "poor in spirit," will be
the richest and greatest there.  You will find that
there is a deep meaning in this sentence.  Does it not
mean that the left-race will be equal to the race of the
right-side? The greatest here will be the least there.
They that superficially exalt themselves, are naturally
abased, because the next step they take from a false
exaltation, is certain to plant them upon a lower position.




ULTIMATES IN THE SUMIMER-LAND.       433
The Negro, starting from  this left side of nature,
and the Caucasian from the right, will in the SummerLand represent two great opposite races.  Men do not
take their complexions with them. They take only the
facts, which are indestructible —the consequences, the
ultiniates, the realities —not the primates, the fictions
and the falsehoods.  Ultimates are fully developed
after death, and they are so developed that what here
corresponds to Indians, Mongolians, and Malays, are
there visible and distinguishable by many radical characteristics.
In the Father's house there are " many mansions,"
because there are essentially different modifications of
the human family. Each wants a comfortable, happy
place in the Second Sphere.  In the Summer-Land
there are localities for all divisions and shades of the
human race. There are always wings to great palaces.
Middle places too, but grand side-positions invariably.
The Caucasian world moves all through one wing, and
the African world is free to move all through the
opposite wing of the infinite palace.  Nature is just as
powerful and beautiful and eternal as God.  God and
nature work  together; so Science and Art work
together.  The male and the female go on through all
eternity. Intermediates also long continue. The principles that are at work artistically making the tiny shells
upon the sea-shore, are eternal principles.  They are
working as faithfully in the higher spheres as within
and upon the earth.  They round out globes and make
roads throughout the universe.
On some future occasion- it may be shown what has
ultimated and blosson'qd-out in the Second Sphere fromn
19




434              MORNING LECTURES.
the various kingdoms organized on the face of the
earth.  How natural and beautiful is what men cali
spirit!"  How rational and philosophical is all that
men term "supernatural!"  How entirely c" at home,"
and not as strangers, will we all be when each -has
ascended to the Suammer-Land!