ITCSB LIBRARY The People's Course at Pi ue Hall. Dr. H._F. Gardner' OXIXIVXNOD 'ISIHHD 5 i sioiA-eg paijioiuo *o ie h 16 uouipg; pijqi ?, s- i- it SSK 'naj8og\jooH jeMoi) }eaj}s 90UIAO.!,! 10 jgtuoo '90icT AViamoSinom 6 'o$ V* 'HOIH V iaiOO Aq njej pu 9i88ioqM. GIBS aoj . jaeo i a8?soa 'SITOO 9 eajJd; l x;pu9dd ue qjiAv - siAa 'H "T *& X''NgIXIIVHAiaNV'8IXIXVHA\ ^AOianHi O'' T -osi 'sawix SHX aoj sxovax aaxvHk issBflj 'uojsog *(-ioog J9.\\o;) a99JJ8 90UIAOJJ io J9UJOO '90BU1 AaaaioSjnow 6 '<>N" ima-i PUB 9[BseioiiAi 9[s joj I 99JJ 98}SOd 1 S}U90 SZ 90IJJ p 'H ^q pgjgpuod pue pcai gq pinoqs L jo sqjnji 'S(B9dd8 'sjngratiSjB '8^oj- >-'JI}UOD JI '9ianq B JO S9IIO) 9qj SB JB9P S{ 9t^J8 8JI; S9J8iid pgjaiad i[9uiospiiBq \,L jo 5iooq 9Ui!I 9JBJ B si sjqx I VMSV A\OJL ' V OIIIC AH HOJ 31XI,Va 3HJ, . eoujAOJj jo J9HJOD 'goBiti ^J9rao)8juon 6 'OK V s 'HOIH V \aiOO '8J9qsHqti Co. INTRODUCTION. ALTHOUGH the part of this book relating to the origin and composition of man has been under consid- eration during more than twenty years, it was not until after the publication of Mr. Darwin's speculations on the " Origin of Species," and the " Descent of Man," that the ideas herein contained were reduced to writ- ing. The part containing the proofs and illustrations of immortality was written as a lecture more than twelve years ago. And although no subject of such deep and abiding interest has reached, or even approximated, the stage of final settlement, and though none has been more ably and earnestly discussed during these years than this, I have as yet seen no reason to change my views on any of the points here presented. It was my original purpose to leave the problem of God, or ' First Cause," as already settled affirmatively. Thru I remembered that the sacred books of Jews, Brahmins, Christians, Mohammedans, are no longer of binding authority with the deepest thinkers. And it is bandied about among half-thinking materialists, that " the argument from design is exploded," merely because Paley overdrew a little in some of his illustra- tions from natural history. As a caterpillar gnaws away upon coarse leaves, and 3 4 Introduction. a butterfly comes fluttering over, and fans him with his wings, and the poor larva knows him not, and does not distinguish him from the leaves upon which he is feecl- ing ; so in man's crude, immature, bodily, or larva state of being, the highest spiritual truths meet him under in- numerable forms, at every step and turn in life ; and he does not distinguish them from the gross materials by which he is surrounded. Hence he needs to have these truths pressed upon him, through every possible illustra- tion. So I have attempted further proofs of God, in an argument from facts. And, if I have added no new reasons, I have at least varied the forms of statement, and strengthened the old ones. The argument from design is good, and always will be good, until it shall be proved that outward forms of art precede the ideas which they represent, and that all of man's plans and designs are not continued and extended forms of the plans and designs of that same wisdom and power which first planned and designed him. The work has been prepared under great difficulties, which none but the writer can possibly understand. While, therefore, I admit that both the style and arrangement may be open to objections, I believe its positions and arguments will stand the " heaviest artil- lery " of criticism. If, however, they can be overthrown, because false and untenable, I shall gladly see them converted into a muck-heap, as nutriment for a fresher, stronger, and higher outcrop of truth. L. M. BOSTON, April, 1872. THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. " So has it been from the beginning : so will it be to the end. Generation after generation takes to itself the form of a body, and, forth issuing from Cimmerian night, on Heaven's mission appears. What force and fire is in each, he expends. One grinding in the mill of industry ; one, hunter-like, climbing the giddy Alpine heights of science ; one madly dashed in pieces on the rocks of strife, in war with his fellows : and then the heaven-sent is recalled ; his earthly vesture falls away, and soon, even to sense, becomes a vanished shadow. Thus, like some wild-flaming, wild-thundering train of heaven's artillery, does this mysterious MANKIXD thunder and flame, in long-drawn, quick-succeeding grandeur, through the unknown deep. " Thus, like a God-created, fh-e-breathing spirit- host, we emerge from the inane, haste stormfully across the astonished earth, then plunge again 6 The Problem of Life into the inane. Earth's mountains are levelled, and her seas filled up in our passage. Can the earth, which is dead and a vision, resist spirits, which have reality and are alive ? On the hardest adamant some footprint of us is stamped in. The last rear of the host shall read traces of the earliest van. But whence ? Heaven ! whither ? Sense knows not : faith knows not ; only that it is through mystery to mystery, from God and to God. ' We are such stuff As dreams are made of; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.' " Sartor Resartus. The ahove remarkable passages are from one of the deepest and most brilliant thinkers of this or any age. Grand, triumphant, hopeful, despairing, yet giving no clew by which to unravel the strange marvel of our own being ; but seem more like the blind struggles of a strong soul with some vast problem, or the efforts, of a mighty giant to turn over bodily some great mountain, and thus reveal its secrets, than the patient, mining philosopher, who searches for results through long-continued and toilsome investigations. And yet these wild and almost bewildering sen- tences relate wholly to the questions of man's ori- gin, relations, and destiny. Whence are we ? what are we ? and whither do we go ? Ques- And Immortality. J tions which have brought out for their solu- tion the mightiest efforts of the wisest and mighti- est thinkers of all ages. And while various con- flicting theories have been proposed, and defended, with all the skill and ingenuity which . the great masters of reason and rhetoric could summon to their aid, in one long-continued warfare, axe -and stake, rack and dungeon, have added the weight of their terrible logic to different sides of the contest in turn. Yet amid the onset and encounter of the fierce debate, beneath the swiftly-descending edge of the flashing steel upon the quivering neck, in the fiery baptism of the crackling flames, while under the crudest tortures of rack or wheel, or wasting away in the death-dumps of slimy and pestilent dungeons, Faith alone, which links the soul to 'the Infinite, has given the only answer yet accorded to our hun- gry and insatiable longings, " Through mystery to mystery, from -God, and to God." But Reason, to whose tribunals the inspirations of Faith are summoned, and at whose bar her tes- timonies and pleadings are heard, has never yet found that evidence of man's inherent immortality, growing out of his relations to the Infinite life, which, based on science, and the philosophy and fitness of things, shall compose it to that perfect rest which springs alone from the full agreement of an enlightened understanding with the inspira- 8 The Problem of Life tions of simple faith. And now Faith itself must yield to demonstrative knowledge. For the re- searches of scientists ,and philosophers are fast undermining the foundations of the religious and theological structures of the past, and leaving nothing but vacancy and waste behind them ; while the Spiritualists are building up a system of enduring, natural religious truth, because founded on reason, philosophy, and the fitness of things. The problem of human life of man's origin, relations to the universe, the uses of the trials and conflicts of this life, and his future destiny has hitherto received no solution which has proved sat- isfactory, and so tranquillizing to the reason and understanding. And yet the human soul has for- ever longed, and still longs, for some clear and simple explanation of the mysteries of its own be- ing, so freed from the high-sounding phrases and obscure methods of the ^metaphysicians as to be easily understood by the commonest minds. And so I shall present the subject through simple, direct, and plain forms of speech, and by the most com- mon and easily-understood illustrations. And we shall not have to seek far for the means of doing this. For, although the commonest things about us are full of mystery, they may help us to explain the grand mystery. All around is one vast sea of life, revealing itself through numberless forms. And Immortality. 9 The humblest grass-blade under our feet, the sweet- scented flower at our side, each shrub and tree, the mighty elephant which shakes the earth with his tread, the earth itself, with man the lord of all, are but revelations of unseen forces, visions of unknown power. These bodies of ours are but dust and shadows, gathered round our conscious selves, wherein we live, and whereby, as with implements and tools, through some moments or years, we work, eat, and sleep, to keep these same bodies in repair, that they may work and eat more ; and so the living, thinking me within may learn and know more. How wonderful, that the life and mind, which\ alone make up the proper selfhood of every one of \ us, and which no outward sense can cognize, should be wrought into such complete working relations j with outward, or the grosser forms of matter, as / to be regarded by many as only the result and pro-/ duct of matter ! So let us, with the eye of reason, look the mystery in the face, and see if, with the help of common sense and common philosophy, it be in any way, or to any extent, solvable. Outward sense cannot cognize mind, except through signs ; and these signs have naturally led to the mistakes above stated. We see the plant unfold from the seed, and grow up to maturity ; the chick burst the shell, and come forth, a living, sensational being ; and the life which animates to The Problem of Life these forms is supposed by many to be the result of their organizing processes : but I shall try to demonstrate, that the - organisms are only the product of vital force, which, from the midst of this vast ocean of life, and under the guidance of Infinite wisdom, is forever clothing definite ideas in outward forms; these forms being only the symbols, or visible manifestations, of spiritual force~, which is the only real power and substance in the case ; as the forms disintegrate and fade away whenever the animating force is withdrawn, while the living ideas which they clothed remain, and are imperishable. So, when the materialist asks if I ever saw mind separate from organized matter, I can truly say, I never did. But when he further asks, if I do not know that when the body is destroyed the mind is destroyed with it, I can as truly say, I do not. But I do know, and shall attempt to prove further on, just the contrary. But I may say, here and now, that I never saw mind sepa- rate from organized matter ; and, what is more, I never saw mind at all. On all sides, and every- where, I see the signs of mind, but can see, feel, or hear nothing more. Let us use for an illustration some building or hall. We all know that this hall, with all its finish and fixtures, is only the outward shape of the architect's ideas. He thought it all out And Immortality. II first, so long, so wide, so high, such a finish, and then fashioned his thought into wood and stone and brick ,and mortar, as the case may he, fol- lowing out its minutes.t details. And there are the people inside of it, - the thought and the outward shape of it : which is the thought em- bodied, or clothed in a material form. Now, the mind or thought of the architect is not the product of the hall, as everybody knows. Nor is the life of the chicken the product of its body. As the mind of the chicken produced its body ; so the mind of the architect produced the hall, and hence is first and greatest. And yet who ever saw the architect's thought ? heard or handled it ? And yet who will say, after due re- flection, that the invisible thought which creates is not more substantive, real, and enduring than the thing created by it ? This building shall crumble into ruins, and its materials exhale in gases; yet not one particle of its components shall be lost, or their essential properties destroyed. Every one of them shall exist to eternity, as they have existed from eternity. Is the living, creative thought more destructible than this dead, inert matter ? _ This hall is only the garment of the builder's thought, as our bodies are but the clothing of our- selves ; and both the hall and body are composed essentially of the same materials. Now, as the 12 The Problem of Life builder's thought is clothed and manifested in this hall, and as the ruin of this hall will not destroy or even mar one form or detail of the huilder's thought, so we are clothed, live, and are mani- fested, in our bodies; and the decay of our bodies will not injure one attribute of ourselves. We must give more attention and greater thoughtfulness to the every-day phenomena of life, in order to gain more knowledge upon this deeply- interesting subject. I once asked a professedly scientific lecturer, who was attempting to disprove the affirmations of Spiritualism, if he believed in the immortality of the soul. " Science knows nothing of the immor- tality of the soul," was his quick and flippant answer. Now, it is not science, but her pretend- ing "professors," who are ignorant on this sub- ject; for science is as boundless as infinity itself. But puffed pretenders, having set foot upon the steps leading to some of her innumerable portals, begin to strut and swagger, and to tell what she knows and what she does not. Let us , all cease our boasting, and reverently learn that more of her wonders and mysteries may be re- vealed and explained to us, as we know but little, comparatively, of what surrounds us ; for the atmosphere contains, and transmits through it, essences too subtle for our analysis. We cannot take them up with forceps, dissolve them in cruci- And Immortality. 13 ble, or discover them with microscope. They are altogether too fine for our clumsy handling. In dealing with material substances, we em- ploy microscopes, telescopes, spectrums, retorts, crucibles, lamps, such means and appliances as shall subject them to the tests of one or more of our outward senses. 'But, in dealing with spir- itual substances, we must liberate ourselves from all bondage to mere mechanical appliances : as we can subject them only to the tests of our spir- itual senses. So when we enter the field of scien- tific spiritual inquiry, crucibles, retorts the paraphernalia of material science, are of but little service, as we must adapt our methods to our subject, always ; and these instruments cannot handle and analyze mind, for mind is not sub- jected to chemistry, but chemistry is a subject of mind, which is the power that puts material things, and even its own processes, under its own analyses. Hence, the great difficulty with our wisest philosophers and scientists in dealing with spirit- ual problems lies in this, that they have not pushed their researches beyond the regions of external sense. Nor have they more than very partially explored these regions. Confining their investi- gations wholly to the material, they have come to the conclusion that the spiritual and unseen are not only unknown, but unknowable. And yet 14 The Problem of Life outward sense instructs us largely in those things which lie beyond its own limits. And a little ex- amination will show us, that all art, science, law, are invisible and insensible ; and are known to us chiefly, if not wholly, through their relations to the visible and sensible : that in all things, the unseen and spiritual governs and controls the seen and material. With the outward eye we see the signs of numbers, 1, 2, 3, &c. Now, these signs represent ideas which stand in fixed and exact relations to each other, and which, like all ideas, are wholly invisible ; and yet they are imperishable, and so eternal. The " science of numbers," as a science, is altogether unseen ; and we make visible signs of its relations to outward things, to aid us in the affairs of outward life. So of measurement. A carpenter's rule is only an outward sign of an idea, of so much length in space. Our minds are full of limitations and definitions. We think, How long shall it be ? how high ? how wide ? and make a material fixed scale of measurement to represent these ideas of length, breadth, &c. And so of the whole cir- cle of sciences ; including the whole body of laws and statutes, both of nature and man. The statute-books only contain in their letters, sections, and chapters, signs of the ideas which legislators have established for the government of And Immortality. 15 States and nations. And yet these ideas are wholly spiritual, and are never, of themselves, present to any outward sense. As these ideas are indestruc- tible and eternal, is the living niind from which they emanate, which studies, analyzes, and com- prehends them, any less so ? OP GOD, OR FIRST CAUSE. Before proceeding farther in our inquiry, it may be well, perhaps almost essential, to look a little into the operations of Nature, and see if we can find some broad, comprehensive principle of Infinite intelligence operating through fixed and determinate laws, upon which we may base our arguments and conclusions; rather than drift about in the broad sea of mere opinion, uncer- tain of our bearings and relations. For, in this inquiry, we wish to find out whether the orderly and methodical processes of Nature are carried on under the guidance of a superintending intelli- gence, with at least one clear and well-defined purpose, the formation of man, or are only the results of blind force. If we shall find such intelligence, with the evi- dences of purpose, in its various manifestations, this intelligence may stand as God, or First Cause, to our finite minds. I know there are some who say there is no " first cause." Then there is no 1 6 The Problem of Life cause, and all the phenomena of the universe are without cause ; which is absurd. In seeking for a fiiist cause, the atheist rejects the idea of God ; and so denies, as I understand him, an overruling intelligence, working in and through the operations of the universe. The idea of God is associated with supreme wisdom and power; which involve supreme life and mind. And it is incomprehensible to the materialist, or atheist, that the universe should be animated and governed by an intelligent soul. So, to avoid a difference about words, let us substitute Nature for God in our inquiry, and see if we do not come at last to the same thing. Does Nature reveal God to the human under- standing? In other words, does she furnish proofs of an overruling intelligence working through, and presiding over, the infinitely varied phenomena of the universe ? All thoughtful atheists, as well as others, agree that from nothing, nothing can come. So far as we understand the operations of Nature, in all the forms of her creative manifestations, like is forever producing and can only produce its like ; such being the law of generation, that the principles of any product must first be contained in the pro- ducing cause. A soil destitute of the elements of vegetable life cannot produce vegetation. Nor, if only destitute of the elements of a particular vegetable, as turnip, can turnip grow there. And Immortality. 17 All the innumerable forms of life, sensation, and mind, which people earth, air, and sea, are the products of Nature. And Nature as a whole, like the soil, or any other of her parts, can only give or furnish what she has : and so must contain in herself the entire mental as well as physical qual- ities of all her products. This is admitted by all in regard to body. Is iron in our blood, lime in. our bones, proteine compounds in our tissues, Na- ture provides them all. And this law applies alike to mind and body. As Nature contains in her storehouses all the elements of our physical, so she holds -in her vast reservoirs all the elements of our spiritual struc- tures. For our material organisms, Nature pro- vides what she has ; and only that. So in regard to our spiritual, including the sensual. Sight comes only from that which sees ; feeling from that which feels ; hearing from that which hears. Can thought come from that which cannot think ? reasoning from that which cannot reason? judg- ment from that which cannot judge? To be- lieve it is to believe that something can come from nothing; which materialist and spiritualist alike hold impossible. All the thoughts, imaginations, passions, of the human soul, and. of all souls; and all art, beauty, deformity, crudity, perfection, are in, and de- rived from, Nature. She reveals to us some of her 1 8 The Problem of Life moods, passions, and humors, in the varying play of the elements. And, moreover, does the sculp- tor give us a fine statue, the painter a heautiful picture, Nature had done infinitely better before them, inasmuch as hers are wonderfully organic, and instinct with life throughout ; while theirs are only dead and senseless imitations. We are apt to deny spiritual attributes to Na- ture, as a vast whole, because, in the infinite grandeur of her being, she does not give us those little signs of speech and motion which we are accustomed among ourselves to regard as the only proofs of intelligence. And yet she is forever giving signs, more truthful and impressive than speech to those who are wise enough to translate their meaning ; " For Nature, which reveals God to the wise, hides him from the foolish." The materialist refers all the phenomena of life joy, sorrow, love, hatred, hope, aspiration, and the rest to organization. Organization is merely arrangement, or combination ; and the bare fact of combination creates no new principle, but only a new structure, or compound of what existed be- fore. Hence life, mind, and consciousness cannot be created by, or be the product of, organizations. If they are, then the union of parts forms some- thing greater than the whole ; which is absurd. These principles existed before, as parts of l^he universal life and consciousness ; and the organi- And Immortality. 19 zation only serves the purpose of giving them individual life and consciousness. As the matter /; of the organism always did exist as matter, so the life and mind which animate and govern it always did exist as life and mind ; and they have only been separated from the Infinite, and clothed in finite organic forms, to give them, as before stated, individualized life., experience, and consciousness. Matter cannot exist without force, or life and ] mind, which are its soul. And force is but the expression of this soul of matter ; which shapes, fashions, governs, and reveals it to our finite con- sciousness, so that the finite may know there is an Infinite. Nature is an organic structure of infinite extent and duration. Even what we call " inorganic matter," as the rude, heterogeneous masses of rock piled into mountain ranges, or pulverized -into desert sands, are parts of the structure of the earth, and are essential to its wholeness. And this earth is but an infinitesimal part of the grand structure of the universe ; which is animated by a life and guided by a mind which act with such unerring precision, that we base our sciences upon the absolute cer- tainty of her methods and processes. And these methods and processes of the Infinite Mind are to us hiw ; and matter does, not govern law, but law governs matter. You take a lump of clay, and fashion it into an image. Does the clay direct the 2O The Problem of Life movements of your hands, and give shape to the ideal in your mind which you desire to work out ? That is the end at which materialism begins. Spiritualism begins at the other, the scientific end. It looks through organization, to what gov- erns and directs the process. We may not yet comprehend that Infinite and eternal Nature should work with a knowledge and understanding which not only include the knowl- edge and understanding of man, but of all other beings of the universe. Nor can the being which Huxley speaks of as " a mere infinitesimal ovoid particle, which finds space and duration enough to multiply into countless millions in a body of a living fly," comprehend man. It is incomprehensible to us that Nature should think, feel, and know all, and more than all, that we do. That she should plan, devise, and execute in any way as we do. And yet we are only her imitators. When we wish to accomplish any giv- en work, we begin with a mental conception of it. The work really begins in the mind; then we pre- pare our material, and with it give our conception an outward form. And herein we are only doing what Nature has taught us by inward instinct and outward example. She prepares her plastic material, or "protoplasm," as a "physical basis," in which she clothes and gives outward form to her innu- merable living ideas, from the molecule up to man. And Immortality. 21 And when we make machines involving the nicest mathematical principles and equivalents, and the highest laws of mechanics, these principles, equivalents, and laws, together with all the knowledge, art, or science ever yet attained, or to be attained hy man, exist as primary elements of Nature, and we learn them from her. For as we derive our life from that which lives, so we derive our knowledge from that which knows. And, furthermore, as the life of Nature is infinitely greater, so is her knowledge infinitely greater than ours. Indeed, as man himself is but an ex- pression or manifestation of Nature, all his inven- tions and devices are but continued and extended forms of her expressions or manifestations through him. So when I refer to our contrivances or inven- tions to illustrate the operations of Nature, I mere- ly take her secondary processes through man's intervention, to illustrate her primary ones with- out his intervention. Nature has her destructive, as well as her con- structive processes ; and the first are as orderly and methodical, or as much under the control of law, as the last. For the first are only preparatory steps to the last; and the convulsions of earth- quakes, tempests, tornadoes, the slow disintegra- tion of rocks, the silent withering and decay of grass-blades, the rotting of logs, the death and 22 The Problem of Life decomposition of our own bodies, are only the op- erations of some pulp-mills in which she grinds and prepares materials for her wonderful formations. Now, the material does not prepare and fashion itself, any more than man conceived and fashioned himself, or the clay fashions itself in his hands. Man, with all his thoughts, passions, and imagi- nations, with all the other creatures below him, are, as before stated, the products of Nature. From the boundless storehouse of her life and mind, she endows them all with their varied passions, in- stincts, and powers. To deny this, to deny that these powers, instincts, passions, pre-exist in and are derived from Nature, is to affirm that they are derived from nothing, are self-created, or are su- pernatural. The theory here proposed is based on the ground of the universality and oneness of Na- ture, that her life includes all lives, and her mind includes all minds, and her body includes all bodies, whether organic or inorganic. Now, all the organic forms of Nature which come within the reach of our analysis are governed and controlled, in all their processes and operations, by life and mind, or animating and guiding souls. And herein Nature but repeats or re-creates her- self. She endows her own offspring with her own essences. "Like parent, like child." For the Uni- verse, as its name implies, is one vast whole, one boundless organism animated, and governed by one And Immortality. 23 Soul. And this soul of Nature is something as un- like its organic structure, in essence, as the es- sences of our minds are unlike the materials of our bodies. And yet this Infinite Soul operates in and through the body of Nature, as our souls oper- ate in and through our bodies. Hence we reach the conclusion, that all the phenomena of the universe are caused by an overruling Intelligence, working in and through its numberless transfor- mations, processes, &c. And this Intelligence is something as different from the body and opera- tions of Nature, as the intelligence of a man is from the machine he constructs, or the house which he builds. Nor is this Infinite Intelligence any more unseen or unknown to our outward senses than the intelligence of man is. So, with what light reason affords me, and also in the light of science, I am forced to the con- clusion that Nature, so far from being soulless, is soulful. And this Soul of Nature is to me God, and supplies all I wish to feel or know of a Divine Spirit. For he is the Father of my spirit, as of all spirits ; and Nature is the mother by and through which we are formed. And so we are akin, by Divine conception and birth, with all liv- ing things ; and as man is the highest of all cre- ated intelligences, I need no higher tokens of the Divine life and presence than what I may find in truly cultured and loving human souls. 24 The Problem of Life If, then, we accept the Soul of Nature as the real being of God, we have something upon which we may rest unfettered and unswayed by the narrow and conflicting systems of faith which human ignorance has set up; for here is indeed the " Rock of ages." And yet here, also, we shall discover the reason of all these crude, conflicting, and bar- barous creeds. For all these faiths, and even the doubts and denials of atheism and materialism, are ba:;ed on phases, or are themselves phases, of the Divine manifestations of Nature. For God, working through Nature, in his innumerable pro- cesses, reveals all conditions, from the rudest to the most refined and celestial. The rude, savage, or uncultured man lives in the crude relations and affections of Nature; and his ideas of God are based on her more savage as- pects. For he, being an untutored child of Nature, is especially impressed by her ruder manifestations ; and on beholding some grand display of his disin- tegrating and preparatory processes, some earth- quake which buries cities full of men, some tor- nado which strews coasts with shipwrecks, some pestilence which depopulates countries, regards these preparatory steps towards fresher and higher spiritual and organic conditions as tokens of his displeasure. Hence ideas of God's anger, jealousy, revenge, and the need of atonements and grace- winning sacrifices. And Immortality. 25 But, as the mind unfolds into broader and more comprehensive views and conceptions, it sees Na- tiire in her formative and diviner aspects, and contemplates God as the Genius of the universe, presiding in serene majesty, alike over its minut- est and its grandest operations. So that, while God is a savage to the savage mind, he is wisdom, beneficence, and love to the mind enlightened by these sentiments. Hence, as above stated, all the various forms of religious faith, however con- ceited, weak, foolish, or wise ; all ideas of God, gods, revelations, miracles, &c., are included in, and are as much the outgrowth of, the Divine life, as are the various individuals or classes who hold them. So, when men come with books, and creeds founded thereon, claiming for them a divine origi- nal, and that God has spoken thus and so to me, through Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Mahomet, Swedenborg, Joseph Smith ; and that these books and creeds contain the whole of divine truth, so much and no more, I can truly say, Yes ; doubt- less, God has spoken all and more than all you claim ; and much that our little ears cannot hear, and which our small understandings cannot trans- late. For He speaks through the unbound and boundless volumes of Nature. Listen and learn, until your books and creeds sink into utter noth- ingness in the grandeur, magnificence, and beauty which she reveals. For as the mountains, oceans, 26 The Problem of Life continents, rivers, seas, are only parts of the struc- ture of the earth, and the earth is only an atom in the system of the universe, so are your books, creeds, theologies, hierarchies, but the minutest and crudest atoms in the grand system of infinite truth which God reveals to us through Nature. And thus we shall find that God includes all, comprehends all, and is the life and soul of all. And though unchangeable in his essence, he is the cause of all change ; and we may be helped to a better understanding of our relations to him, by a simple illustration. A blood-cell "is born, lives, moves, and has its being, in man, and contains in itself the vital es- sences of his own being. And while succeeding generations of these cells are born, and their outer forms perish, their vital elements still live in him, inside of him. They could not live outside of him. So we are born, live, move, and have our being, inside of God ; and contain in ourselves his vital and immortal essences, and are infolded and secure in his Infinite life ; and, of course, can no more get outside of him, to see and contemplate him as a personality, than a blood-cell could get outside of a man, and live and study him. If a blood-cell is a conscious being, and wishes to find us out, it is in the best possible place to do that within us. So the best possible place to study God is within, and not outside of him. Indeed, And Immortality. 27 we can study him nowhere else, as we are in, and cannot get outside of him. For I can con- ceive of no limitations to God, as to time and space. And so our ideas of now and then, and here and there, have no application to him. For God in- cludes all ivhere and when. To us, every thing from, and outside of us is there, and every thing within or present to us is here. Now, as God includes infinite space, there is no place in the universe which is away from him, but all is within, and so here to him. So of now and 1li<->i. As God includes infinite space, so all that to our finite minds has or ever shall come to pass in space is really present now to the Infinite mind. We sit before a panorama, with the whole paint- ing rolled up before us there in the future. The curtain rises, and the revelation begins. The can- vas unrolls, moves before us, and passes out of sight, into history. That which is unrolled in the future, and that which is rolled up in the past, still equally exist. Now, as the picture we have been examining in detail is all present to the eye of the artist, so is the infinite panorama of the universe, with all its past history and future re- vealings, present to the mind of God in one ever- lasting now. And we may study their infinite details in the eternity which is alike behind, around, and before us. 28 The Problem of Life Let us carry our illustration farther. Suppose a man to represent the universe, with his blood-cells for planets, or worlds, and systems of worlds, circu- lating, wheeling, and revolving through his bodily spaces. Now, the blood-cell itself is a microscopic object to us. And yet we know it is full of vital activities, involving changes, processes, operations. Let us take these cells, circulating through man, to represent the stellar and solar systems, circulat- ing through the spaces of the universe, and a single cell to represent our earth ; and let us sup- pose these vital activities and operations of the cell to be carried on by hundreds of millions of living beings, so infinitesimally small that no micro- scope can ever reveal them to us ; and whose period of existence is so short that they are born and die " ere thy watch tick twice." And yet their lives are as long to them as ours are to us. Let us suppose these beings to have govern-, ments, wars, customs, laws, societies, religious, social, scientific, reformatory. Nearly all of them are religious. They have a strong and over-mas- tering instinctive feeling of being related to an overruling power; upon which they are somehow dependent ; and who, or which, they claim to have made revelations of himself to certain classes, tribes, or individuals in ancient times ; and upon which revelations they build faiths, systems, theologies, all conflicting in some things, yet all And Immortality. 29 agreeing in one thing, to wit, the overruling power. Classes of scientific inquirers and investigators are formed to seek out, and if possible solve the problems of their own being and relations. Some dig and bore into the ciust of this blood-cell (world), to find out its age, and how it was formed. Some point their telescopes away to other cells .(worlds), floating and circulating in these vast spaces ; cal- culate their orbits, what they are made of, how much they weigh, &c., &c. Some strain their eyes over microscopes. Some with lamps, cruci- bles, retorts, examine and analyze the materials around them, subjecting them to the most rigid tests. Some carefully examine lower orders of beings, and trace out analogies in these beings with themselves, and think possibly they may have descended from these very beings. - In the course of their researches, they have satis- fied themselves that matter exists under numerous forms, because they can handle, it, and subject it to their analyses. They believe in life and inind, because they live and think. But they cannot prove their existence by any of their accepted scientific methods ; and whether, after all, they are any thing more than forms of matter, and so are caused wholly by certain changes or combinations of matter, they cannot tell; although some of them are quite sure that their little chemistry and 3O The Problem of Life microscopy will explain it all one of these days ; and so they look to their scientific methods for a solution of the whole problem. Meantime, some of the less wise among the re- ligious classes look with more or less perturbation u;>on all this investigation and analysis. They are afraid that somehow their cherished theories of God, worships, faiths, rituals, may be uprooted by these sharp and critical researches. And contro- versies arise between the religionists and the scientists. The religionist trusts to his faith, based in his intuitions, and fortified by his revelations. The scientist trusts to his investigations, based on the facts of Nature. He says to the religionist, " Prove me your God ; for I rest not in beliefs, but in demonstrations." The religionist answers : " I cannot prove God by your mechanical methods, for he is spirit ; and not to be weighed, or measured, or in any way limited, by your formularies ; but I know he is, for I feel him in my consciousness. And I know, further, that, if he were not, I could not be." And so the controversy goes on upon this little blood-cell, which still circulates and revolves. And both the contestants are right, each in his own way. The religionist as to the main ground of his belief, intuition. The scientist in push ing his investigations ; for he must ultimately laud And Immortality. 31 on the same ground with the religionist. And so science shall render a noble service in demonstrat- ing the true basis of intuition ; and religion itself shall be stripped of all supernaturalisms, and in- vested with the highest forms of practical and poetic beauty, goodness, and use. In our illustration, all this is supposed to be going on upon a blood-cell, circulating and revolving in- side of a man. And some few of the beings there really doubt whether the universe (man) in which they live, move, and have their being, and from which they derive all their life and knowledge, is itself (himself) really alive, and knows any thing. To leave supposition, and come to fact, all this time the man himself is pursuing his own objects ; searching out the mysteries of his own .being and relations ; boring, analyzing, telescoping, micro- scoping, on one of the cells (planets) which circu- late and revolve through the infinite structure of the Universe (God), and doubt/ing whether there is any intelligence which orders, moves, and gov- erns all this wonderful mechanism. And let men doubt, until broader and more comprehensive methods of inquiry and investigation shall dem- onstrate the truth, that life and knowledge are not limited to material organic forms, but are bound- less as the Universe. And herein also we discover the real basis of intuitive religion, or the religion of feeliiiy. As 32 The Problem of Life all our powers and capacities are derived from the Infinite, a cognition or consciousness of our origin goes into our structure with our formation, and is revealed to us there by inward sense, or intuition. The finite feels this relationship to the Infinite. And this feeling is proof to the inward sense ; although we cannot prove it to the outward sense, or the intellect, by any of our narrow mechanically scientific methods. And so we must apply spirit- ual testimonies to spiritual subjects, as material tests are not applicable. Hence genuine science can never quarrel with religion, but only with the dogmas and devices with which human ignorance has burdened it. Intuition is the childhood of religion. And we wrap it about with swaddling-clothes and ban- dages, or creeds, forms, and ceremonies, for the reason that we are not yet enough matured to re- ceive the truth naked, and for its own sake. Science, or knowledge, is the manhood of religion. And although manhood does not need, and so casts away, the bandages and small clothes, the forms and ceremonials of infancy, it cannot deny itself; as science is nothing more than matured, or ful- filled and demonstrated intuition. And so intuition may be regarded as the geo- logy of religion; into whose deeps, science is now carrying her explorations, with feeble lamp and blazing torch. And the highest service And Immortality. 33 which science can perform, will be to demonstrate the truth of intuitive religion to the understand- ing. And such must be the final result of all her researches and investigations. So that instead of intuition "giving place to science," as held to be the result of investigations by some, science shall only explain and confirm the impressions of intuition. One of the short-comings in all theologies lies in searching for God not only outside the human soul, where his special kingdom is, but as a person- ality, existing outside, separate from, and inde- pendent of, Nature herself. The human mind is forever seeking rest in its own definitions and lim- itations. Hence it has set up personal gods ; and, having no power to conceive of any thing beyond its own range of thought, has endowed them with its own finite passions, including anger, jealousy, and revenge. And this auger and jealousy have been chiefly towards man himself. As rude, un- cultured man was angry with and jealous of his fellows, so of course must his god be. And thus controversies have always existed between gods and man. Even the one God of the Jews and Christians is no exception to this rule. And so his anger must be pacified, his jealousy removed, and his favor propitiated with peace-offerings, atonements, and sacrifices. Now, when men. as before suggested, contem- plate God as the Soul of the Universe, immanent in 34 The Problem of Life every point of infinite space, as really alive and present there as we are alive and present in every part of our bodies, and infinitely more cognizant of what is done there than we can be of what is done in our bodies, so that really not a " sparrow can fall without his notice," and the " hairs of our .heads" are truly "numbered," there will be an end of all intolerant and prescriptive theological dogmas. For all will see that the ideas of God must be as varied as are the various stand-points from which his children contemplate him; and so no man, or class, can monopolize a knowledge of him, as his deep mysteries are past finding out. And yet simple, honest, truth-seeking inquiry into the phenomena of Nature, with an earnest desire to find out the meanings and purposes of her processes and operations, may help to clear up and explain many things which now seem mysterious. And first and chiefest of all these phenomena, and that which most deeply interests us, is the origin of our own being, with the uses of our bodily conditions and relations, and our ultimate destiny. And first in the order of inquiry comes THE GENESIS OF MAN. I have referred, I think, to sufficient proofs of an overruling Intelligence, operating through the processes, and causing the phenomena of the Universe. And I wish further to show that this And Immortality. 35 Intelligence works with purpose, design, or end ; one of which, the formation of man, may be so well understood, as to an extent to satisfy the inquiring mind, that at least it has got on the right track. The first evidences that God works with a pur- pose in the formation of man, are seen in the fact that we are full of purposes and designs. And as something cannot come from nothing, effects can- not be greater than their causes, nor the parts of a thing greater than the whole, these designs and purposes of ours are derived from and are only continued forms of the operations of that which designed and purposed us. Now, all our designs and ends, from the least to the greatest, whether building a hut, the Suez Ca- nal, or a railroad across the continent, are carried on and reached through step-by-step processes. Take a familiar illustration : "We have here a mass of silicon cocoons, which we wish to weave into a beautiful fabric. We first put these crude balls of silk into warm water, so as to loosen and separate their adhering fibres. Then we stir them about with a stick, by which we catch up the ends of these loosened fibres, and draw them out in parallel lines, and wind them upon the reel, from which they are twisted into threads, wound upon spools, and at length, after many preparatory processes, carried to the loom, and woven into the ultimate texture. In this case the processes and the resulting tcx- 36 The Problem of Life turo are very simple. But suppose we wish to com- pound a fabric of silk, cotton, wool, mohair, and other material. We not only complicate our fabric, by so much as the number of materials entering into it, but we also complicate our mach inery and processes to nearly the same extent. The more complex the structure, the more complex the means and appliances by which it is formed. And all these materials, means, and appliances involve de- sign, purpose, end. And as our lives and beings are but extensions and continuations of the Infi- nite life and being, these designs and purposes of ours are only extensions or continuations of the designs and purposes of the wisdom and power which formed us. The statement, so far, is based on its own proofs. But I am not here anxious to prove design in the being of man, but rather to approximate a knowledge of what he is, and how he came to be such. And, in order to do this, we must treat ourselves by the same methods we employ when we wish to find out what any other compound is made of, aad how it is made. And, in order to do this, we analyze it ; and, by separating its constituents, we can find out what elements enter into its struc- ture. Thus we could separate the silk, cotton, wool, &c., in our fabric, into their simple elements, and, by examining the machinery, find out how they were compounded. So of other compounds. And Immortality. 37 We find copper and zinc in brass ; hydrogen and oxygen in water ; and in some bodies a great variety of substances. And these substances carry their essences into combination, so as to make up the new compound ; and analysis will generally enable us to trace out and discover these elements. What is true in art, and the inorganic, is equally true and as easily discovered in the organic world. Nearly all, if not all, animal bodies are composed of the same elements. The albumen in the body of a fish, reptile, bird, mammal, is the same as in the body of man. So of the lime in their bones, and of other elements which enter into their structures. Yet the body of man is, doubtless, composed of the most refined as well as the greatest number of simple substances. In other words, it is more complex and perfect than any other living struc- ture. Yet if we should thoroughly analyze the body of man, and those of other beings, we should find that no element exists in the human body which may not be found in the bodies of other ani- mals ; only the elements in his body are more re- fined and clarified than in theirs. What is true of material is equally true and as easily shown in spiritual things. All the passions and mental qualities of the human soul may be found to exist in partial combination, or as separate and distinc- tive attributes, in the lower animals. And my present 38 The Problem of Life PROPOSITION is, that before man was created, as a separate, dis- tinctive being, all the materials of which he is composed were elaborated, developed, and carried through long preparatory processes in the lives and organic forms of all the beings below him ; begin- ning with the simple vegetable cell, and thence upward. And here I must take the liberty of applying my own definitions to my own subject ; especially, as I believe them to be generally received among thinkers. By " creation," I mean simply formation ; and by " death," or " destruction," merely separation, or disintegration. By " man," I mean the whole of his spiritual being; and so of all other animals. His and their bodies I regard merely as organic structures, machines, or implements ; which serve tempo- rary and incidental purposes, and which are va- cated and disintegrated for other uses, whenever the ends for which they were formed have been accom- plished ; and sometimes, doubtless, they are cast off in failing of that end. By "nature," I mean all the phenomena of the Universe, which are but the aggregate of God's methods and processes. I cannot believe that the wonderful soul of man is a new creation out of wholly raw material. But And Immortality. 39 I can believe, on the evidence which appears, that this soul was, and continues to be, composed of spiritual elements, which have passed through long and infinitely varied transforming, purifying, and preparatory processes, in the lives and organic forms of all inferior beings. And I can also believe, that whenever, wherever, and in however so many places, on whatever conti- nents or islands, the preparatory steps were taken, and the materials were ready for his formation, he was formed ; with all that inherently and essen- tially, as to his capacities and possibilities, consti- tutes him man; as much and completely a man at the beginning, as he is now. I do not wish to be understood as opposing "the development theory." On the contrary, I most fully believe it ; and so 'am trying to explain and elucidate the theory, by going behind and deeper than mere organic forms and structures, and showing, if possible, that these structures are all subservient to an end. And with that economy of force and method which characterizes all the operations of Nature, she limits her organic forms to the required ends. And when an order of beings is formed, I use the term order in a liberal and not technical sense, she requires that order to do a certain work, and serve a certain end in her economies ; and when she wants other work done, and other ends served, she prepares her instru- 40 The Problem of Life ments to serve them. And whenever any end has been accomplished in her grand laboratory, aud she has no further need of the particular order which served that end, she extinguishes it. And if she needs a new order or species in her methods or operations, she forms it; but does not transform the old, except by absolute disintegration, and re- formation into new. And so old orders and species have become extinct, and new ones formed. But is there anywhere the slightest proof that the old species have become extinct by being transformed into new ones ? If so, this transfor- mation must have been, on Mr. Darwin's showing, very slow ; involving at least " ten thousand gen- erations " to produce " only well-marked varieties." And if in the course of a hundred thousand gen- erations a new genus is formed, not to say order or class, numerous generations of these partly transformed beings in all the various stages of their transformations must have left "their bones somewhere among the organic remains of the past. For the theory of material organic " develop- ment," in order to be complete, and good for any thing, must cover the whole ground, and include transformation of genus, order, and class, as well as " species ; " so that by continued transforma- tions of lower into higher, man shall be at length evolved through these gradual and long-continued changes. And this theory not only involves the And Immortality. 41 transformation of the organic structure of fish into reptile, but of reptile into bird, and of bird into mammal, upward to man. (" Descent of Man," pp. 203-4.) Now, it would require numberless gene- rations of this slow transforming process to con- vert the highest ape into man ; and innumerable generations of these partially transformed beings must have died, and left their traces behind. If such beings ever existed, where are the evidences ? Again : If men were primarily transformed from apes, then were apes transformed from the next lower order in the class, and so on, downward. And if man originated through transformations of or- ganic structures, he is certainly not so continued : for a practical application of the theory of organic transformations would require that apes should now be converted into men, as in the past: and they certainly are not. In the past, on this theory, apes were only partly-formed, or immature men, which at length became complete men through transformation. In the present what are apes ? Are they now converted, or to be converted, into men as in the past ? If man primarily came from apes, why does he not come so now ? or, if apes ever were converted into men, why are they not so converted now ? and if not now, were they ever so converted? if not so converted, what becomes of them ? Of course they live and die apes, and noth- ing else. 42 The Problem of Life In all the present modes of animal transforma- tions with which we are familiar, the being is first egg, then larva, then pupa, and last imago, per- fected being. Now, the animal is essentially the same being, existing under different forms, in all of these states. And yet it is capable of repro- duction in only one, the last of them. And we do not know of the absolute transformation of any animal after it has attained the power of repro- duction ; as this power belongs only to the per- fected state. Now, the theory of transformations, set up and sought to be maintained by Darwin, Huxley, and others, regards man as the imago, or perfected state, of all the classes, orders, genera, &c., of the beings below him ; and all these beings are essentially men ; that is, one and the same being in different states of unfoldinent. So that the transformations instead of being only three, as in other beings, are, in the case of man, on this theory, innumerable. And yet every one of these beings, from the simple cell upwards, through the numberless forms of vegetable, insect, fish, reptile, bird, and mammal life, is capable of generating and reproducing its kind, and its kind only. Hence it follows, according to all natural law, that every one of these classes, orders, genera, are, each and all, so far as their organic forms go. per- fected beings ; and never were, and never will be, And Immortality. 43 transformed from one into the other, in the man- iii T attempted to be proved. For it seems to me that the theory of develop- ment through organic transformations, which cul- minated in the formation of man, must regard him as being in some ages past the imago of the innumerable transformations of the same being ; and, after the whole chain of transformations was completed, it was again broken up into the origi- nal innumerable links, each of which now belongs to a separate and distinct class, order, or genera of beings ; and each of which can reproduce its kind, and no other. As if after the butterfly had been formed, each state in the order of unfolding pgg, larva, pupa, and imago should become sever- ally independent of each other, so that each should become a distinct and separate being, live an in- dividual life, and each generate after its kind, without any relation to or dependence upon the other. Eggs continue to generate eggs, larva generate larva, pupa, pupa, and so on. Again : Mr. Darwin says, " Origin of Species," p. 27, " Great as the differences are between the breeds of pigeons, I am convinced that all have descended from the rock-pigeon." Yes : but with all their differences they are all pigeons still. But will any one here argue that the rock-pigeon de- scended from the crow, or ever has been, or may be, transformed into the crow or raven ? 44 The Problem of Life There are as great differences in the breeds of hens ; but will anybody contend that they ever descended from any thing but the hen ? and that they may possibly have been transformed from ducks or geese ? So of mammals. The common pig " is supposed to be descended from the wild boar" but he exists in almost endless variety. Yet not one of them' all ever descended from the sheep, or will be trans- formed into a sheep. The dogs, in all their numberless varieties, may have descended from the wolf, or jackal, or both. But who will venture the affirmation that they ever descended from the lynx or the leopard, or will ever be converted into one or the other ? If such transformations were possible under the laws of natural descent, we can readily see what might follow. There might be, and would be, utter confusion throughout the whole of animated nature ; for if it were possible to transform pigeon into raven, he might also be transformed into an eagle or a swan, and even break over the barrier into the higher class of mammals; and here, also, " chaos might come again." For these transforma- tions would not be sudden, but continued through innumerable generations. And what a conglom- erate of life would be here ! No : it seems to me, so it seems, according to natural law, and the facts agreeing therewith, that pigeons were always And Immortality. 45 pigeons, and never were, and never will be, any thing else : and so of all classes, orders, species. Produce as many varieties as you will, they are still the same species. If the transformations contended for have ever taken place, when, where, and why have they ceased ? or have they not ceased ? and if not, why may not man himself be transformed into a new and higher class, or a higher order in the class ? I raise these questions and difficulties for the purpose of suggesting the most thorough and rigid examination of this subject. And while I accept the theory of development in its vital and spiritual forms and relations, its material and organic form of statement presents to my mind insuperable diffi- culties and objections. In other words, I believe the theory true in spirit, and untrue only in form or method. And so I do not believe that in and through the innumerable ages of the past, man has slowly wrig- gled his way upwards from fish to reptile, and glided thence into bird, and flown about on wings, and then down upon all fours in the mammal, and then partly up again through troglodyte apes, and thence by some mysterious transformation of structure each ape is changed into a man ; either through " natural," " sexual," or other " selec- tion," and leaving behind him no traces or " links " by which we can follow out these marvellous transi- 46 The Problem of Life tions. And yet there is no living animal whose organic form and mental endowments do not somehow furnish hints, nay more, proofs, of its relations to man. And yet there stands, and has stood, from age to age, that unrepealed and unrepeatable physiologi- cal law, established by the Creator in every living being, which forbids one order from meeting and combining half-way with another order; and so, at length, confusing the whole of organic life into one conglomerate mass, and thus defeating the end which the formation of all these creatures is intended to reach. And so all the various classes, orders, genera, with their numerous divisions and sub-divisions, are kept at their distinct and separate occupations and uses, after the most approved and economical methods of division of labor; while man is the same being all over the earth, as the squat-figured Esquimaux of the poles, the flat-nosed, black-skinned negro of the tropics, are in all essentials as really men, have been from the beginning, and will be to the end, if there be an end, as the enlightened and cultured Cau- casian of the temperate regions. And there bus yet been discovered no physiological bar to their successful crossing and re-crossing, from the same beginning to the same end. As helping to illustrate this subject, we may re- gard the earth, with its surrounding atmosphere, And Immortality. 47 as one vast laboratory, with its foundries, forges, alembics, crucibles, and all the endless parapher- nalia of vital mechanisms ; with all living beings as the operatives ; where God carries on the work of forming the human soul, and fitting it 'for im- mortal, individualized consciousness. And this im- mortal, conscious man is the end to which all the lower forms of life tend, and which they are des- tined to reach, by merging and fusing the lesser into one compound, to form the greater ; and thus having their own lives, characteristics, and con- sciousness lost as separate beings in forming his. The theory here proposed does not deny, but on the contrary affirms, that the ape helps to form man ; but it holds that no one ape, nor all apes combined, contain in themselves the elements of character in sufficient number and variety to form the basis of one man. Take, as an illustration, the gorilla. No doubt his ferocity, or aggressive and defensive qualities, are equal, perhaps greater in quantity, than in man ; and his physical strength is certainly greater. And^yet he lacks judgment, discretion, the power of combination or invention ; and so the development of whatever qualities the whole species has will never amount to more than the fragments of a man. The bodily structures of all other animals will not enable them to perform what the bodily struc- ture of man enables him to perform. Nor do the 48 The Problem of Life minds of all animated creatures below man enable them to ascend to the mental heights of one man. Yet should all the mental qualities and powers of all the lower animals be combined, united, and brought into harmonious consciousness in one race, we should doubtless find in that one race all the elements, capacities, and possibilities of man. In- deed, we should have man, as the result of such a combination. In tracing the origin of man, or his " descent " from the lower animals, Mr. Darwin finds a " vast chasm " between the highest ape and the lowest savage man. This " chasm" would be made still more apparent, by placing the young of the high- est ape, and a child of the savage, immediately after birth, under the best possible conditions of education and culture. For, while the natural capacity of one would limit his development to a well-trained ape, the natural capacity of the other would in no way hinder his development into a philosopher, fully equal, if not superior, to Darwin himself. And for this reason : that while the ape combines only the mental qualities of his race, man combines in himself, not only the mental qualities of the ape, but of all other living beings below him, which combination gives him almost unlimited capacity for development. Were it possible to put the soul of a dog, or of the highest ape, into the body of a man, or to clothe And Immortality. 49 them in human form, the one would " down upon all fours/' and the other would still be an ape, except in outward form. It will be seen, that, in my methods of treating this subject, I am dealing, according to my poor ability, with its essential or spiritual facts. For science is really spiritual. A rock is not science ; but knowledge of the rock, according to our defini- tion, is, whether it be Granite, Gneiss, Sienite, or Sandstone. So of chemistry, botany, and the rest. Knowledge of these things is alone the science of them. And this is wholly spiritual. And so real science goes deeper than mere appearances, or phenomena : it seeks for the unseen thoughts and forces which cause all outward appearances. In all her formative operations, Nature reaches her results through orderly and methodical steps, or processes. And this would clearly indicate, that, humanly speaking, she has an end in view. All her organic structures, not excepting the human body, are outlined and developed by the arrange- ment and combination of simple cells. Now, the cell is only the material clothing or vehicle of the primitive form of life and mind. And, if it were possible to analyze the infinitely complex texture of the human soul, we should doubtless find that its minutest living fibre was first to use a fig- ure spun through a vegetable cell. And as the silken fibre is something quite different from the 50 The Problem of Life mechanism by which it is separated from the co- coon, wound upon the reel, and at length, through many mechanical appliances, woven into the ulti- mate texture, so is the -life of the cell even more different from the various material organic forms through which it passes, in numberless transforma- tions and combinations, in the ascending scale of progress, until it ultimates, as a minute factor, in the life and mind of man. Passing over the preparatory steps necessary to the formation of animals, it is sufficient for our present inquiry to assume, that man could not have existed until both the material and spiritual pab- ula were ready for his formation. I have presented, I think, sufficient proofs of God, as the overruling intelligence of the universe. Now, man evidently existed, primarily, as an ideal in the Divine mind, to be wrought out ; as an ideal which we desire to work out exists prima- rily in our mind : and we all know the natural way in which the Divine mind reaches results. Man is a result ; the highest we can comprehend if indeed he be comprehensible in the uni- verse. I believe there was a time when, as an individualized, conscious being, he did not exist. And yet the materials of which he is composed did, do, always exist. The Divine mind sees man as a result to be attained, and sets the pro- cesses in operation. And all the processes are And Immortality. 5 1 governed by ideals, planted as germs in the mate- rial through which any spiritual attribute or qual- ity is to be prepared as a factor, in the production of this result. The bark, woody fibre, leaves, or even the sap of trees, do not determine that one shall be oak, one maple, another pine : but the sap itself is se- lected and eliminated by pre-determining spiritual ideas or forces in their germs, which clothe the oak, maple, or pine elements, in the outward forms and materials corresponding to the requirements of their vital essences, and the ends they are to serve in the economy of progress. And this law will be found on the most rigid examination to apply to all the forms of animal life, including man. The pl)3"sical structures of a bee, eel, frog, pi- geon, dog, chimpanzee, or any other creature, are governed in their formation by the qualities or characteristics of the mind and passion which they are required to develop. And all these creatures, it is reasonable to believe, elaborate and prepare the spiritual elements which enter into our own structures. And through what countless ages has this earth, as a seething-pot and laboratory, been preparing materials for vegetable life ! And these preparatory processes are only steps towards the higher development of animal life ; which, at length, after other countless ages of preparation, 52 The Problem of Life unfolds in immortal consciousness in the human soul. Man being the result which God reaches through the operations of nature, a slight examination of the characteristics of different animals will go to strengthen the theory, that the qualities of the human mind are first prepared and developed in them. I know there are some thinkers who hold the opposite view, that the mental characteris- tics of animals are first developed in man. Crea- tion, they say, descends. But I cannot accept this view. For on examining the formative processes in vegetable life, we discover that all complex forms are made up by the union of simple cells. And the science of histology shows us further, that this is true of animal formations. The higher do not separate into fragments to form the lower, in any form of organic life. For disintegration is weakness and death ; while union is strength and life. All the lower forms of organic life are in- complete ; and incompleteness is not the end, but only means to the end. The end is the constitu- tion of man. And the union of the elements, developed in and through these lower beings, in the spiritual organism of man, make up his con- stitution. Yet all the lower animals are perfect and com- plete as to themselves ; while relatively they are only parts of something greater than themselves. And Immortality. 53 A brace in a building is a complete brace, but it is only a small part of a building. Spring, screw, wheel, e., may be all complete as such; but they must be ;ill combined to make a complete watch. So of any other mechanical structure : all the parts must be brought into harmonious relations in one mechanism, in order to accomplish any given work. So a beetle, dog, ape, may be all perfect and complete as such ; but it is only when the qualities of them all are combined in one structure, man, that something is produced which can really begin and carry on the work of subduing and cul- tivating the earth, and also of subduing and culti- vating himself. A few illustrations will help make this apparent. In the pursuits and occupations of life, different men have aptitudes for different pursuits and oc- cupations : and we shall find, on examination, that the same distinguishing traits are largely charac- teristics of different lower animals. Some insects and mammals, such as crickets, moles, and many others, are miners ; so are men. Some are daubers, masons, or plasterers ; as wasps, swallows. Some are builders ; such as ants, bea- vers, and many birds. Some are mathematicians ; as bees, wasps, spiders. Some are spinners and spoolers; as silkworms, and other caterpillars. Some are weavers ; as other caterpillars, and spi- 54 The Problem of Life ders. Some are sailors and navigators ; as the nautilus, and aquatic birds : while a very lar.^c share are hunters on the land, and in the sea and air, and therein, approximating nearer to the habits of man while in his ruder and less culti- vated state. But the absolute indentity of mental and moral, or passional endowments in the lower animals and man, make the evidences in favor of our theory almost, if not quite, absolute proofs. How does the skilled naturalist know that a certain kind of scale came from a certain kind of fish, although he may never 'have seen the fish from which it was taken ? Because he has seen just that kind of scale on just such a fish ; and knows, further, that it has never been found on any other. By the same reasoning we know that the silk in our texture is the same as that found upon the cocoon; although we may never have seen it unreeled and woven into the fabric. Now let us apply this mode of reasoning to our subject. Who by the most rigid analysis can dis- cover any essential difference in the love, friend- ship, devotion, in a dog, and these sentiments in man ; or that they are not one and the same thing in both ? Can any one show that there is the slightest difference in the essence of ferocity in an enraged tiger, gorilla, and man ? The cunning and shrewdness in a fox are precisely the same in And Immortality. 55 essence as in man. So of pride, ambition, in the horse ; of memory in all animals ; of distrust, sus- picion, in the cat. The combativeness in any number of fighting cocks is precisely the same as in any number of human pugilists ; all of whom seem to fight from a mere love of getting some- body else down, and being themselves uppermost. And the love of display in the peacock crops out in full-feathered glory in human dandies of both sexes. And misers and hoarders may surely find their originals in jays and crows ; and thieves, bur- glars, robbers, and plunderers in general, will find their nearest relatives in nocturnal beasts and birds of prey. The love, tenderness, devotion, and care for their young in nearly all animals, and the grief at their loss, which is excessive in some, diffor in no essential particular from the same emo- tions in man. So of the sympathy which animals have for each other in danger, as shown by the warnings and outcries which they utter as signals. And many, as monkeys and baboons, will fight in troops and armies against a common enemy. And wherein does the spirit of playfulness, sportiveness, amusement, differ in essence in animals and man ? But I find in Darwin's " Descent of Man," vol. i. p. 180, a condensed account of the mental quali- ties of one little creature, which are so intensely human that I give the passage entire. " Ants communicate information to each other, 56 The Problem of Life and several unite for the same work, or games of play. They recognize their fellow-ants aftel months of absence. They build great edifices, keep them clean, close the doors in the evening, and post sentries. They make roads, and even tunnels under rivers. They collect food for the community; and when an object too large for entrance is brought to .the nest, they enlarge the door, and afterwards build it up again. They go out to battle in regular bands ; and frequently sacrifice their lives for the common weal. They emigrate in accordance with a preconcerted plan. They capture slaves. They keep aphides as milk- cows. They move the eggs of their aphides, as well as their own, and cocoons into warm parts of the nest, in order that they may be quickly hatched. And endless similar facts could be given." But I need not multiply testimony on this point: the list of witnesses is avery long one, and who- ever wishes to examine further can do so. I have enough for my present purpose. Here, then, we find the same elements of char- acter, all combined in man, that we find chiefly distributed as characteristic attributes throughout the whole lower range of animal life. And before pro- ceeding to explain how this combination might take place, I wish to present a few thoughts, which may possibly suggest further inquiry as to the possible conditions of original, or And Immortality. 57 PRIMEVAL FORMATION. I have stated the opinion, that when all the materials for the formation of man were prepared and ready, he was formed ; a complete, perfect- ed man, as to his material structure, and men- tal and moral capacities and possibilities. And the question arises, How was he so perfectly formed at the outset ? I can only say, certainly and absolutely, that here he is, with both ends in the chain of his be- ing linked to the Infinite. But by what processes the separate links were formed, " In what a forge, at what a heat/ I can only venture an hypothesis. All the pre- paratory steps were taken so long before his own formation ; and as man was the last formed of all beings, and so the great chain of bing was com- pleted in him ; and he himself was formed so long before his own powers and capacities were un- folded to full self-cognition and the comprehension of surrounding objects, that it was, and is, impos- sible to watch or study the process of each suc- cessive formation, or to trace out their steps except by dim analogies. Geologists tell us, and other scientists agree, that great and wonderful changes have taken place on and in this earth during the long ages past. And her rent and tilted rocks, rugged 58 The Problem of Life mountains, ragged coasts and islands, testify to seethings, surgings, boilings, upheavals, convul- sions, in her. early formative periods. And earth- quake and volcano bear witness that the throes and agonies of her travails have not yet fully ended. During all these periods of labor and travail, it is not unreasonable to believe that the forma- tive Spirit brooded over, and wrought order and living organic forms out of all this wild chaos; the development of successive and higher forms keeping pace with the successive periods of the earth's development and progress towards matu- rity. The doctrine of " spontaneous generation " is by no means a settled " canon " among naturalists ; merely for the reason that they have not found out whether it is true. And then, are we settled as to the meaning of "spontaneous," in this con- nection ? If it means generation without cause, it cannot be true ; but if it means generation from causes operating within certain materials, without the intervention of exterior material organic agen- cy, then I believe it is and was true, from the beginning. For if the doctrine of the geologists that this earth was once a heated, molten mass of surging, flaming, boiling mineral substances, and, of course, too hot and otherwise unfitted for the habitation of any living being ; and that it was not until its And Immortality. 59 surface had cooled, and hardened into a crust, that any living being could exist on it be true, then spontaneous generation must furnish the only so- lution to the problem of the origin of organic life on this planet. For it certainly will not be contended that the germs of any organic beings whatever were im- ported from beyond the planet ; and so they must have originated upon it, whenever the necessary conditions were attained. And so we may as well decide the old puzzle here, by affirming that the first hen came from an egg, against the proposition that the first egg came from a hen. A thing is done. It could have been done in this way : it could not have been done in any other. It was, or is, done in this. I have shown that we begin our works with ideals, or mental conceptions ; and that, in this, we but work after the Divine methods from mere in- tuitive imitation. We clothe our conceptions in materiaj forms. So does the First Cause. When the surface of the earth had cooled and hardened, and the active forces of the Infinite Life in and around it, in the forms of light, heat, water, air, had eroded, pulverized, triturated, and mellowed it so as to form a protoplasm, then God clothed his liv- ing conceptions in this plastic material, the sim- plest first ; and as these were matured, and the basis prepared for higher, then the higher and 60 The Problem of Life more complex. And so the work of forming higher and higher organic beings went on, until at length all was ready, and man was formed, in all but his culture and refinement, as he is now. The conception of each class and order of beings includes, as a result of their vital activities, the conception and transmission of other beings like themselves, to continue and carry on the work of all succeeding formations. Geology reveals to us the fossil remains of gn at fish-like saurians, or lizards, which probably crawled out of the slime and mud of their primeval forma- tion, filled with the germs of other beings like themselves. So of other beings, as high in the scale of life as the mammal, whose huge bones are preserved in museums as marvels of prehis- toric ages. But as primeval man did not originate as early as the fossiliferous periods, no remains of him can be found there. I know there are some who claim that fossil remains of men have been found, with those of extinct races of animals, in the cave of Engis in Belgium, and the Neanderthal cave in Germany. But Mr. Huxley, after a very careful " anatomical examination of the bones," arrives at the conclu- sion "that it was beyond a doubt that these human relics were traceable to a period at which the latest animals of the diluvium existed ; but that no proof of this assumption, nor consequently And Immortality. 61 of their so termed ybss// condition, was afforded by the circumstance under which the hones were discovered." Man's Place in Nature, p. 150. But suppose we grant that these bones are fos- .<;// : they are none the less human on that ac- count, and so it dooe not follow that they are the bones of an animal occupying an intermediate place between ape and man. And this is fully admitted by the same intelligent and careful in- vestigator farther on. For he closes his examina- tion with this statement in regard to the Engis skull : " It is, in fact, a fair average human skull, which might have belonged to a philosopher, or might have contained the thoughtless brains of a savage" (p. 181). And of the other he says, " The Neanderthal skull is by no means so iso- lated as it appears to be at first, but forms, in reality, the extreme term of a series leading gradually from it to the highest and best-developed human crania" (p. 183). And so the original germs of man may as well, ami indeed tin/xf, have been conceived and unfolded in the soft matrix of plastic material, by his Cre- ator, in sheltered anea.uiy around him, and contained in himself the promise and the fulfilment of all fu- ture generations. 62 The Problem of Life Would the saurians and other creatures have eaten him up ? Nature knows how to care for her children, until they can care for themselves. Indeed, as all the qualities of all heiugs are derived from her, the care of all parents for their young is bat the extension and continuation of the care of Nature. She transmits this care and devo- tion, through her first offspring, onward from gen- eration to generation. So that the love and ten- derness of parents for offspring are only the forms in which Nature manifests her own care and ten- derness, through these parental relations. And so the Divine love finds its most immediate and practical expression through human love. Do I mean here to assume the possibility, that a conception of the Divine mind, planted in, and surrounded by, the fitting plastic materials, with- out the intervention of other parent forms, may be able, or ever has been able, under natural stimuli, to outline, fill up, and mature, a living, breathing, organic being, capable of sustaining an independent life, and of planting germs or conceptions of other beings like itself in other protoplasms, which shall again unfold, mature, and so keep up the race ? I do assume such possibility. For, in the first place, I see, at present, no other way in which to account for or explain primary organic formations ; and, in the second place, the analogies of present natural genesis support this assumption. And Immortality. 63 The conceptions of all living beings, from low- est to highest, are now planted in such protoplasm, and so unfold. It is true, with the interven- tion of parent forms. But the only possible mode of primitive formations shows that such interven- tion is not absolutely necessary, but only conve- nient ; and also a means of developing, cultivating, and maintaining the highest and holiest social relations and enjoyments, which relations could not havo existed prior to the existence of living be- ings. The eggs of birds and reptiles furnish us with the best illustrations. The contents of the shells are the plastic materials, in which the ideals, or germs, are planted ; the shells merely serve the purposes of protection and holding the materials together ; while in many fishes and reptiles, which deposit their ova in water, no shell is needed, and none is present, but only a delicate transparent membrane. I have just slated that the fact of the present intervention of parent forms in the process of gen- eration does not necessarily involve their original intervention. We manufacture watches, sewing-machines, &c., by machinery. We first employed tools to make this machinery. But, when we have got our machinery in running order, we throw our original tools aside. So when all the vital mechanisms in the economies of organic life are in complete, sue- 64 The Problem of Life cessful, and perfect operation, there is no need of recurring to primeval methods. It is true that our dead machines cannot reproduce their kind ; but Nature's living organisms can. How could it he possible for a saurian to be formed in this matrix of water, slime, and mud, with no other parent than brooding, nursing Nature, in her earlier formative stages, so as to live, and continue the functions of a living being ? I assume thab the process in his primitive is, was, the same, in all essentials, as the process in all formations since ; and is well illustrated in the for- mation of all other beings now, among which the common fowl gives us a good and familiar example. I have spoken of the contents of the shell as plastic material, or protoplasm. What we can see, here, is albumen, yelk, and germinal vesicle, with its germinal spot ; and this " spot " contains, though invisible, the conception of the whole be- ing ; and this " conception " is the living idea, or thought, which directs and governs the whole form- ative process. Under the stimulus of heat, its dormant powers are awakened into activity, and the vital forces in the protoplasm are set at work, the conception presiding as formative genius, or master-builder. And first an elongated, " pellucid area " is drawn about the germinal vesicle, and then a delicate And Immortality. 65 whitish line, or " primitive trace," or " streak," is drawn lengthwise, partly through this " area." And this streak tells where the central axis, or back-bone, of the being is to be formed. Then, outside of this pellucid area, little cells arrange themselves in curling and interlacing lines, all around it ; and then stretch out and lengthen un- til they touch each other ; and then form into mi- nute tubes, which are the rudimental blood-vessels. And soon the blood begins to form in them. About the same time the heart begins to form, and soon unites with the blood-vessels ;- and the pulsa- tions and circulation commence in earnest. The blood-vessels soon ramify and interlace all over the yelk, and the formative process is in full operation. The head is formed ; and then the liinbs push, or bud out from the body, after the manner of limbs from the trunk of a young and growing tree. And so the work goes on, until the whole being is out- lined, filled up, and completed : and the contents of the shell wrought into a living, breathing bird, which can pick up and digest its own food. And all these processes of development can go on as well without the intervention of the parent as with it. The albumen, fatty matters, all the materials of which this bird is formed, exist, and have existed, in the storehouses of Nature, from the first vege- table formation, outside of egg-shells ; and shells, 66 The Problem of Life or even membranous coverings, are not necessary to their existence. Now, I hold it to have been, and to be, possible, during the preparatory stages of development, while the vital machinery of this earthy laboratory was, or is, being made, and put in running order, during the process of mixing, compounding, and preparing its numerous materials, for the forma- tive Spirit to accumulate enough of this albumen, and other substances, in fitting place, so as to form protoplasm, surrounded by fitting conditions, and plant the conceptions therein. And then, under natural stimuli, to set processes in operation, pre- cisely as in the case of the bird ; form the " pellu- cid area," draw the " primitive trace," weave the "vascular area" about the whole by the conjunction of cells, make and set the heart in operation, and so outline, fill up, and complete the whole struc- ture. And if a lizard could be so formed, so could an elephant, and so could man. But we have never seen any beings so formed. True, we have not. We enter a factory, and see its machinery in running order and at work. We examine it hi all its parts and details ; but, al- though we see how the machinery operates, we do not see how the machinery itself was made, as it was already made and in operation when we en- tered the building. So we entered this grand factory of Nature, And Immortality. 67 consciously, as students and learners, long after its vital machinery was made and in operation, and of course could take no note of the methods by which it was originally formed. Yet the forces of Nature, although unseen hy us, now, as at the first, keep all this machinery in constant operation. When we examine the machinery in a factory, and see its complicated and harmonious action, we know that all this mechanism, through all its ex- tent, is helted, geared, or somehow connected with a motive-power, although this power may he out of sight ; and that if you cut off, or withdraw this power, all comes to a stand-still. So are all the vast, intricate, and infinitely va- ried living mechanisms of Nature connected hy continuous vital relations with the great motive- power of the universe. Suspend or sever their connection with that, and all comes to an end. And as heat or gravitation is, practically, first and continued cause of all the movements of the fac- tory, so is the Infinite Life, God, first and contin- ued cause of all the phenomena of Nature. Having ventured these suggestions as to the most probable conditions and modes of man's prim- itive formation, let us now return to a further con- sideration of the conditions and modes of his suc- ceeding and continued formation. And I wish to be understood as claiming that the processes here- in described are in operation now, and will con- 68 The Problem of Life tinue. And man will continue to be man; and apes will continue to be apes ; and so of all the lower classes and orders of beings ; as these are all essen- tial elements in the ultimate compound. As all the fibres of the silk, cotton, wool, can never be cloth until woven into a fabric through some loom, so all the lives, passions, powers, capa- cities, of all beasts, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, can never form man, until they are woven into one fabric through the loom of his body. But as the constituent elements of the human soul are elabo- rated, prepared, and exist as characteristic qualities in all the lower animals, as ready prepared factors for the composition of man, their being woven into one structure through one organism must inevita- bly form the human soul ; as such a composition could be, or form, nothing else. And should these animals cease to exist, and so cease to elaborate and prepare these materials, then man himself must cease to be formed. Indeed, let but the vegetable cell, which draws out the primi- tive fibre from the infinite life, cease its operations, and all the vast and numberless complications which follow in the progressive development of man must come to an end. We see the truth of this illustrated in deserts like that of Sahara. The essential qualities in all organic forms are life and mind; the organism being merely the vehicle or means of development and expression. And Immortality. 69 The earth and its surroundings space contain all the elements of both mind and body. The disin- tegration of any organic body does not annihilate its elements. Nor does the disintegration of mind, or its separation from organic forms, annihilate its elements. And so the elements of both continue to exist in the reservoirs of space after death. But as matter, on passing through organizing and organic processes, becomes refined, and fitted for higher structures; so life and mind, in passing through organic relations, disintegrations and for- mations, become fitted for still higher organic rela- tions and expressions. In our manufacturing processes, we work, as far as we can, after the example of Nature. We build our great factory for dealing wholly with material things ; while she deals chiefly with spir- itual ; the material being merely subservient. We bring the raw material, it may be silk or cotton, to our factory. An observer watching only the first steps sees only the preparation of the cocoons for unreeling, or the cotton for spinning. These pro- cesses performed, the silk or cotton dies out of its first organic relations, is disintegrated, or separated from the machinery, and passes out of sight, as it were, into other departments of the building, and enters upon other processes and into new relations. And unless the observer follows it through the various departments of the factory, and closely 70 The Problem of Life watches its various progressive stages, he may won- der what this first operation which he has seen may signify. And he will not be able, without close scrutiny, to discover the materials of the raw silk or cotton, in the beautifully woven texture in the salesroom. In following the materials through all their stages, however, he would find that sometimes they were suffered to rest awhile in a passive state until wanted for the next step. As the materials of our life and mind, after passing through the stages of preparation in the organic forms of lower animals, may rest for a time in a latent or passive state in some departments of the laboratory of Na- ture, until wanted for higher, and even the highest relations. In these vital operations of Nature, we may regard organic forms as the machinery, and life and mind as the raw materials to be converted and unfolded into the human soul ; and so all the ma- terial, before combination into the ultimate fabric, must pass through these preparatory organic processes. So let us take life and mind for our raw material, the earth and its surroundings for our factory, and man as the ultimate fabric into which they are to be woven. . Life and mind involve innumerable phenomena, or manifestations. And these principles, with And Immortality. 71 their numberless forms of expression, are wrought into a complex fabric, through a multitude of or- ganic forms and processes ; from the simple cell by which their minutest atoms are separated from the infinite mass, drawn into parallel" and cohering fibres, twisted into threads in the next higher forms, and at length the end is reached in the or- . ganic form of man ; who is able to cognize his own processes, to study himself and other beings, to deal with abstract ideas, &c. In the progress of this work, we do not see the material transferred from one machine, or organic form, to another. But we are certain that the pas- sage is made ; for we find the materials are the same, in whatever organic structure, or part of the great factory, they may be found. For we all know that fidelity is still fidelity, and jealousy is still jealousy, ambition is still ambition, cun- ning is still cunning, and so on ; whether these spiritual elements exist primarily, as peculiar, dis- tinctive, and characteristic traits in the lower ani- mals, or finally, as combined and making up one complex being in man. The law which governs all organic develop- ments is planted as a living idea in the seed-germ. And this idea is not the starch, sugar, albumen, fat, or whatever make up the pulp of the seed ; but, as before stated, a living thought, which is the conception, or whole plan of the being to be 72 The Problem of Life formed ; and which determines whether the new being shall be snail, crocodile, chimpanzee, or man. And since primeval formations, parent structures have deposited these conceptions in such relations as to connect them with both the material and spiritual elements, elaborated through lower organic forms, and necessary to the formation of new be- ings like themselves. So that this conception, or germ, connects every order of beings with the material prepared by every order of beings below it. And thus the germs of man are connected by vital relations with every element necessary to the complete structure of his mind and body. To carry the poor illustration of a factory for want of a better a little further, we may say the earth and atmosphere form the whole range of buildings, including storehouses ; life and mind the materials to be converted ; and all organic forms the machinery by which the transformations are made and the end is reached ; while the forces employed are the Divine mind and will. The pro- cesses are purely natural. The cell is the first and simplest form of mechanism. Its office is to sepa- rate the primitive atom of life from the infinite mass, elaborate and prepare it for the next higher step. In the performance of this office, it swells and expands by simple imbibation, or drinking in the surrounding materials through its enclosing mem- And Immortality. 73 brane. What causes this coll to drink and ex- paud ? " Motion," says the materialist. What causes this motion ? "I don't know," he an- swers. Well, is it not force ? And is not this force planted, as a living conception, in the cell- germ, as the simplest expression of the same force which causes all the phenomena of the universe ? Then this cell is but the primitive thought of God, relating to organic forms ; and contains in its nu- cleus another thought, the germ of another cell like itself, which, as the outer form of this one perishes, shall supply its place, and continue the process of taking up and preparing raw material. As fast as these cells prepare this material, their outer forms perish ; and so the elaborated life is taken up into higher organic relations, formed by a complex union of cells, while the disintegrated body of the primitive cell is ready for some other outer form. And so on through the ascending scale of life. The vital elements of the lower vegetation unite to form the higher, and then emerge anew in the lower forms of animal life ; and so the work goes on ; as fast as the essential materials are prepared in one form of life, they pass from the machinery or organisms which prepared them, and are transferred to reservoirs in this vast laboratory, and then carried upward and onward through other and higher organic mechanisms, by these natural processes, until, aa 74 The Problem of Life before stated, they reach their completed and final relations in the human soul. I have based, and shall continue to base, all my reasonings and arguments upon the ground that life and mind constitute the essential elements, or the soul of matter. And that all essences life, mind, and matter are indestructible. Now a dog, as we see him, is composed of all three. Kill the dog, and you do not annihilate, but only disintegrate his body. And life and mind are absolutely as indestructible as life and mind, as matter is indestructible as matter. Hence the life and mind of the dog, with all that constitutes him a dog, as to his passions and mental endow- ments, or he spirit that barked and bit and was faithful to his master while in the body, continue to exist after his death as really and essentially as before. So of the spiritual elements of horse, toad, ox, beetle, sheep, owl, cat, fox, gorilla, and all other creatures. The characteristics of mind and passion, or the spiritual elements which dis- tinguish all these classes and orders of beings from each other, still exist after their death in the storehouses of nature around us. And their disin- tegrated lives and minds are ready and waiting to enter into combination to form the lives and minds of men. In the present state of knowledge, it is not wise dogmatically to affirm any thing on this subject. And Immortality. 75 And so I am only proposing a theory, after the fashion of th(3 day, with such facts and reason- ings to support it as to make its truth to me even more than probable. And so I will further sug- gest the process of this combination in the unfolding soul of man, as also including and illustrating the processes in alf lower beings. In following the progressive development of organic life, we have regarded the organisms simply as machinery in this laboratory of the earth ; with life and mind to be wrought into conscious, individualized, self-cognizing souls; and that all organic forms, so far as we know, originate in germs ; and that these germs contain the idea, or mind, which selects, arranges, and in all things governs, the whole process of development, from the lowest to the highest. Now, take a case of the conception of a human being, and see what, according to this theory, are the necessary steps for his composition and development; and we shall find them as simple in the formation of the mental, as they are in the formation of the physical structure. The processes are precisely the same in the development of man, in all their essentials, as those in the bird ; with this difference only, as to relations or conditions, that while the egg of the oviparous, or egg-laying animal, co.ntains plastic material enough to build up the whole new being 76 77/urience and culture beginning necessarily with his bodily structure, but not ending with it, as I shall soon attempt to show. And so this planet is man's Garden of Eden, whirli he must till and dress, until it blooms in more than fabled beauty, fragrance, and splendor. Then let " Earth's mountains be levelled, and her seas till up in our passage ; " and let us " stamp our footprints into her hardest adamant," so that the ' last rear of the long' hosts" of humanity may " read traces of its earliest van ; " and may also know of a truth " that we are from God, and to God." A friendly critic says, " I do not feel quite sure, when you come to discharging all the animals after death into circumambient space, whence their characteristics are absorbed into the human organi- zation, and there vitally reproduced under new combinations and conditions. I prefer the theory of gradual descent, which slowly accumulated the characters of nature, and brought them to a microcosm in man." Now, this theory which my friend prefers is precisely the theory which I am here attempting 84 The Problem of Life to prove. For these " characteristics of nature," which are " brought to a microcosm in man," are primarily and chiefly, if not wholly, spiritual. Man is not bones, muscles, and viscera: he is life and mind, or feeling and intellect, a conscious, self-cognizing soul. And I am only trying to show how "the characteristics of nature," which consti- tute this soul, have been "slowly accumulated and brought to a microcosm," or an all-containing and self-cognizing condition in him, as the end of all her innumerable processes and operations. In connection with this theory of man's compo- sition, there are considerations of great practical value. The qualities of any compound are deter- mined by the qualities of the elements whfch enter into its structure. If we wish to make cloth of the finest texture, we select the finest materials, whether silk, wool, cotton, cleanse them from all extraneous matters, and then work them up through the best machinery, and so get the linrst fabric. To apply this method to the composition of our- selves, we must begin with improving, not merely the physical bodies, but the mental and moral qualities, of all beings below us. We must cleanse and refine the materials of which we are made. If the mental and moral qualities of all the animal* below us should be improved as materials, and their bodily structures improved as machinery for And Immortality. 85 our own formation, then it must follow, if this theory is good for any thing, that our own men- tal and moral qualities and physical structures would be improved also, as a necessary result. From a very slight glance at the relations of men and animals, in different countries and cli- mates, thp facts to a considerable extent support this theory. And I throw out these suggestions with a hope that they may lead to further inquiry. In countries, or parts of countries, no matter how old, whore savage beasts, reptiles, &c., still continue to live and flourish, civilization has made but little progress. Men are still savages, barba- rians, or at best half-civilized. And I think it will be generally observed that the men of any country partake largely of the characters of the animals .which live there. In the most highly civilized and enlightened countries, beasts of prey are driven out, or become extinct ; and even the dog, cat, horse, ox, all domestic animals, become more gentle, docile, and affectionate. Pastoral people are generally peaceable and orderly people. Savage men live, by hunting wild and savage beasts. When they have killed off all the wild beasts, the materials for forming savage men, to an extent, fail ; and the savage man himself be- comes extinct, or turns to higher, more refining and elevating pursuits. And while with savages war is the rule, either among different tribes, or 86 The Problem of Life upon the lower animals, with civilized men it is the exception. And among highly cultured and refined men, peace will he the everlasting law, and war will be unknown. And in this connection we discover the true hasis of all reform. To refer again to our illustra- tion. After a fabric is woven, there is little use in trying to reform or improve it. If its materials are crude, and full of coarse and unrefined matters, any attempt to cleanse and purify it would only rend and tear it to pieces. So in regard to the evils in human society. They are radical, inhe- rent in the elements of its structure. And the efforts of reformers to remove them sometimes re- sult in upheavals, convulsions, and wars ; which bring the barbarous elements uppermost, and, to an extent, uproot and destroy some specific form of evil, and so some progress is made. The Eefor- mation in Europe, and the destruction of slavery in this country, illustrate this point. But the progress is slow ; and the hearts of reformers and philanthropists are saddened and dis- couraged. But, taking this view of the matter, they need not be so, for here we find the key to final and complete success ; and have already the Divine wisdom, unconsciously to ourselves, leading us in the matter commenced the work of reform, in improving the animals, grains, fruits, and even flowers, by which we live and surround And Immortality. 87 ourselves. And hereby we are "building wiser than we know." For, if we would improve the race of men, we must begin by refining and improving the stock of which they are made. And the way to do this is by kindness and gentleness in all our dealings and intercourse with the lower animals. And we can- not begin too low down in the scale of beings. Indeed, the lower the better, even if we begin with vegetables ; for to feed upon, and surround ourselves with, the best forms of vegetable life, makes us better. And I hope much from the re- searches, inquiries, and investigations of naturalists in and among the lower classes and orders of or- ganic life ; and also from the labors of humane socie- ties, or societies for the promotion of kindness to animals. And I see no reason why these researches and inquiries may not result in much good to us, in the way of cherishing, encouraging, and protecting these vegetables, insects, and other creatures, which elaborate and prepare the best materials for the composition of man, while we discourage, check, and root out those which only develop and prepare the ruder, coarser, and baser materials. So that the fabric of man may be at length woven of only the most cleansed and refined elements. And thus cultured man would become the instru- ment of his own highest culture and improvement. Having stated what seems to me the most pos- 88 The Problem of Life sible and probable theory of man's origin anle Mountains piercing the eternal heavens. All the bright visions of rapt seer and inspired prophet are more than realized in the spiritual world ; for these visions are not " baseless fabrics," but are founded on the realities of that world ; and so on the nature of things. And Immortality. 123 " There's a spring in the wood by my sunny home, Afar from the dark sea's tossing foani:* Oil I the gush of that fountain is sweet to hear, As a song from the shore to the sailor's ear ; And the sparkle which up to the sun it throws, Through the feathery fern, and the wild olive boughs; And the gleam on its path as it steals away Into deeper shades from the sultry day; And the large water lilies that o'er its bed Their pearly leaves to the soft light spread, They haunt me I I dream of that bright spring's flow : I thirst for its rills like a wounded roe. Be still, sad heart, suppress thy wailing cry; For in full Tiew before thee sweet opening visions lie. " Oh 1 the glad sounds of the joyous earth : The notes of the singing cicala's mirth ; The murmurs that live in the mountain pines; The sighing of winds as the day declines ; Tlie wings flitting home through the crimson glow That steeps the woods when the sun is low; The voice of the night-bird which sends a thrill Through the forest leaves when the winds are still, I hear them : around me they rise, they swell ; They claim back my spirit with hope to dwell; They come with the glow of the fresh spring-time, And awaken my youth in its hour of prime. All forms of earthly beauty are only symbols given Of forms more beauteous still to be revealed in heaven. " 'Tis there I Down the mountains I see the sweep Of its wondrous forests, the rich and deep, With the burden and glory of flowers they wear, Floating upborne on the blue summer air; And the light pouring through them in tender gleams, And the flashing forth of a thousand streams. In the depths of its woods, there the shadows rest Massy and still on the greensward's breast; * " And there was no more sea." Rev. xxl. 1. "^he sea is a symbol of upheaval and unrest. " There the weary are at rest." 124 The Problem of Life There the rocks resound with the water's play. I hear the sweet laugh of my fount give way. Give way I Earth's booming surge its tempests roar, Its toils and cares shall vex my soul no more 1 " And all these boundless, grand, and beautiful realities may be ours whenever we have attained to that condition of cultured and unselfish love which will enable us to use them wisely and well. And we may repose in the delightful tranquillity of their sylvan shades, or journey from planet to planet, from sun to sun ; or from star to star, on through the most enjoyable travel, without ex- haustion or weariness. Not as here, by smoky car or toilsome coach, exposed to a thousand perils ; but, as just now stated, by mere effort of the will, for that is all the motive power required. And our travelling companions shall be only such as are held in the bond of a common sympathy. No unwelcome intruders there. For all societies are based on mutual fellowship, and unity of sentiment and feeling. Hitherto, the hard, mechanical, and cold anato- mizing methods of scientific and metaphysical in- quiries and investigations have furnished little or no consolation to such as are burdened with a sense of the evils, wrongs, imperfections, and suffer- ings which are incidental to our material condi- tions and relations ; and none at all to those whose own lives have been full of loss, sadness, and sorrow. And Immortality. 125 But the methods here presented must show, that, of all the things we have ever known or loved, " the time-shadows alone have perished, or are perishable ; " that conscious, individual immor- tality is inherent in the human soul in virtue of its existence as a living, organized thought of God. S> when the bereaved heart cries out in agony on seeing the earthly vesture of its friend fall away, " O Heaven ! is the white tomb of our loved one, who died from our arms, and must be left behind us there, which rises in the distance like a pale, mournfully-receding milestone, to tell us how many toilsome, uncheered miles we have journeyed on alone, but a pale spectral illusion? Is the lost friend still mysteriously here, even as we are here mysteriously with God ? " its griefs may be turned to gladness and its agonies to joy, in the knowledge that " the real being of whatever was, and whatever is, and whatever shall be, is now, and shall be forevermore." For, as before stated, the most real, substantive, and enduring facts in nature are mind, soul, im- agination, poetry, art. And because our crude infantile science, which has spent its childish days in the examination of their mere outward clothing, but cannot weigh, cut up, analyze, or otherwise subject, these essences to its established material formularies, as it might a piece of rock, the present tendency of " scientific thought " is to doubt their 126 The Problem of Life self-existence, and to regard them somewhat as the mere odors, or exhalations, of their garments ; and, when the garments are frayed away and gone, the exhalations themselves cease ; and when a new garment is formed, then new odors and exha- lations result. So they think or lead some peo- ple to believe they do that all- the wonderful mental and emotional phenomena of the human soul are wholly dependent for their existence upon material organic bodies, a fallacy I think already sufficiently disposed of. But let us be thankful that scientific inquiries and investigations have been commenced; and patiently await the next advancing, even though they be tottering steps, as I am quite sure they will be in the right direction. It has been shown that the personal conflicts of this life have their origin in the selfish affections and discordant elements which are wrought into the structure of man ; and the unrestrained action of this selfishness would result in the utter absorp- tion, expenditure, and destruction of all the goods and blessings of existence, both material and spiritual. For it prompts every one, "by hook or by crook," to get all he can without labor or effort : all would consume, none would produce ; and so th'e entire stock of goods and enjoyments would soon be exhausted, and the race would starve together. The illustrations on this head furnished 'And Immortality. 127 by the loafers, drones, schemers, thieves, grabbers, robbers, scoundrels, in the present condition of society, prove this statement beyond cavil. The roaring, devouring lions, the ferocious, hungry wolves, bears, tigers, in human nature, are striving to eat up the sheep, cows, elements of milder type. But God does not leave his work unfinished. Nor does he finish it in the foundry, among the furnaces, clay, sand, dirt, and dust where it is moulded. He carries it to higher de- partments in his vast laboratories, higher schools of discipline in his university, where these wolves, lions, bears, are made to dwell in peace and love with those they once devoured ; and so chastened and refined into social love, or love of fraternity, which works an entirely opposite effect. For that softens the heart, makes the affections tender and sympathetic, and diffuses aU goods and enjoyments throughout the entire social body. And wherever each member of such body shall be animated by this spirit, the strife of all will be, who will love most, and contribute most to the happiness of all. Each will desire to share his highest, holiest joy with all, and all with each. Every member will produce more than he con- sumes ; so there will be a constant surplus of good things in store, and therein shall they solve the grand mystery of heaven. For here, in this state of unselfish love, and on these exalted heights of 128 The Problem of Life divine renunciation of exclusive selfishness, will be found the only conditions of highest life in the spiritual world. I have thus far confined myself .to science and philosophy, or the facts and the reasons of things, not having trespassed, I believe, to any great ex- tent on the domains of speculative theology. And yet my philosophy quarrels with no man's the- ology, but embraces every system as educational, and hence necessary to our rude infantile condi- tion. As I have begun and continued, so shall I end ; for it is my purpose to apply the tests of reason and science to those problems in human life which have forever stumbled our wisest theo- logians, and with which problems other than theo- logians have rarely ventured to grapple. From the view of the origin and relations of man herein presented, it is shown that we are the offspring and children of God ; and hence par- takers of the Divine character, and so stand in the nearest possible relationship to Him. And herein we discover the true Emmanuel, " God with us." God in us, and we in Him. For God is nowhere else so near the soul as in the soul. And when we come to a full recognition of this Divine presence within us, we shall here discover the true Shechinah, wherein dwells the Holiest ; and so be reverent to man, as bodying forth the Divine Presence, the symbol of God. And Immortality. 129 In this whole inquiry I have kept aloof from all authorities and revelations except those of Nature. And her teachings have led me into full concur- rence with the basic doctrine of Jesus. For what- ever may be thought of atonements, sacrifices, new births, pardons, these were only crude ideals, clinging like misty draperies around the theologies of his race and times. But higher, deeper, grander than all, and un- derlying and including all, he felt his Sonship. He said, " I am the Son of God ; " and he told others to address God as "our Father," thereby recognizing the sonship of mankind. And while he claimed that others were Sons of God, as well as himself, he also claimed to be " the Son of man," as well as they ; and so regarded, called, and treated them as "brethren." And when Peter said, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the liv- ing God," Jesus answered and said, " And I also say unto thee, That thou art, Peter." As if he had said, " So are- you, Peter." And on this basic and fundamental truth the Fatherhood of God and the sonship of humanity will I build. And Paul at Athens indorses the statement of the Greek poet, that we are the " offspring of God." And John exclaims, " Now are we the sons of God." If it should be thought that the above reading of the passage " Thou art, Peter," &c. is un- 9 130 The Problem of Life warranted, let us see if this reading does not fur- nish a very common-sense view of what Jesus meant to convey, and at the same time furnish a satisfactory solution of what has been the occasion of a long-standing controversy between Catholic and Protestant Christians. I am not anxious to save the credit of Jesus on any point. Yet I think he has never been more than very partially understood by his friends or foes. And his greatest enemies are, and have been, his professed friends. For the priesthoods in all ages have labored to keep their gods at a vast and unapproachable distance from the people. And the prevailing idea among the Jews, and perhaps among most other nations, at that time, and indeed of all nations in all timeSj concern- ing the relations of man to God, was, and is, mere- ly that of creature and CREATOR. That man is simply a creature of God, as a newly-invented de- vice or machine is the creature of the inventor ; and so no more kinship of sympathy and affection exists naturally between God and man, than ex- ists between a machine and its builder. God was to them the Almighty. And the power of God over man was as absolute as that of " the potter over the clay ; " and the relations between them as cold, heartless, and unfeeling, and his favor only to be won by offerings and sacrifices. While the deep-seated and overmastering idea And Immortality. 131 of Jesus, which he wished to impress upon the minds of the people, and which he uttered on every fitting occasion, was the intimate and endear- ing relationship existing between the Infinite and the finite soul, between God and man; and, feeling this relationship so fully in his own being, he strove at times to impress it upon others. Yet knowing their long-cherished ideas, that God was the displeased, angry, almighty Ruler of mankind, who cherished towards them the most jealous and watchful regard for " the honor of his great name," and who dispensed his blessings and curses in the ratio of their servility to him, he found a difficulty in overcoming these prejudices, and impressing upon his hearers the idea of an inherent and essential kinship existing between God and man, so near and endearing as that of parent and chil- dren ; that God is really in man, the Father in the son. And yet, to those who closely study his life and teachings, this appears as the underlying and animating spirit of both ; and while he set up for himself no claim to extraordinary goodness, saying, " There is none good but one, that is God ; " he. also said, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." You need not search for God outside your own souls, for " the kingdom of God is within you." " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And many other illustrations, of which the colloquy with Peter fur- nishes one of the most pointed. 132 The Problem of Life I think that upon a subject of this nature, if indeed upon any other, Jesus cannot be justly charged with trifling. > And on this occasion, when Peter said, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," for Jesus to answer, "And I also say unto thee, That thou art Peter," &c., was to adopt a very grave and formal method of trifling with a very grave subject; for he told Peter nothing which he did not know as well before. Nor did he tell any one, by the received reading, upon what rock he would build. For Peter although his name might imply one was no rock, or basic truth, but only a person, and a weak and passion- ate one too. And Jesus was too wise to build up a grand system of living ethics upon any person whatever : he would not build upon himself, but only upon some broad, deep, comprehensive princi- ple of eternal truth,- such as is furnished in the above rendering of this passage, which accords so well with the general drift of his teachings. But I have inserted a comma where none stood before. Well, does Inspiration care more for the location of commas than for the communication of divine truths and fundamental principles ? more for mint, anise, and rue, than for justice, mercy, and truth ? These last are what Jesus always insisted upon ; and when by inserting a single comma we shift the foundations of a vast religious system from And Immortality. 133 \ persons to principles, lift the hopes and aspira- tions of the human soul from finite son to the Infinite Father, help to reveal the dear and inti- mate kinship between God and man, and so make clearer the underlying principles of his life and teachings, I am for supplying the comma, which other and abler men should have done before. But let us suppose some more modest and retir- ing disciple, who believed in him as fully as Peter did, had spoken ; and Jesus had " answered, and said, Blessed art thou, John, Bar-Zebedee ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is iu heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art, John ; and upon this rock will I build," &c. No name would then have limited our interpretation; but we should have found the rock, or fundamental principle of all peace and harmony, salvation, in the very exegesis herein presented. Although the Christian priesthood, true to the universal instinct of the order, have labored through the whole era to maintain the absolute divinity of Jesus ; that he was God, yea, the " very God of God," temporarily and miraculously clothed in hu- man form for the purpose of saving mankind from his own wrath, vengeance and curse, through the intervention of sacrifices, atonements, pardons, by their special ministrations, he in his whole spirit and life was so intensely human, so filled wtih 134 The Problem of Life sympathy, tenderness, and love, that human nature itself finds its highest, best, and noblest expressions in him, and the Divine love its truest and most reverent manifestations in and through the love of man. And the special mission of Jesus " the work which the Father gave him to do " was to reveal the truth concerning the real paternity of man- kind ; to explain, as they were " able to bear it," the truth that God is not merely the Creator, but he is the Generator, the Father, of mankind ; and to save men from the bondage of fear, and to bring them into " the liberty of the sons of God." His disciples, on hearing "the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth," and witnessing those displays of his marvellous healing-power, re- garded him as something more than human, and were ready to concede to him Divine attributes. But he told them plainly, that if they would be- lieve on him, that is, would enter into his spirit and life, they should do even " greater works " than he did; and by the same power. I am the " second Adam," come to symbolize and represent the human race, and to reveal and illustrate to you the Divine presence in that race. " I and my Father are one." " The truth of the Sonship of man, and his unity and oneness with God, is revealed to you in me, and all that I am, you may become." Such is the deep signifi- And Immortality. 13$ cance of his language ; which I think will become clearer the more thoughtfully it is studied. And this reverent love of God in humanity is the great conservative power in the universe of so- cial life. And those only can enjoy its freedoms and immunities who live to its demands. For such, having the law of highest life written in their affections, need no outward restraints ; and for this reason they become the heirs and inheritors of all things, and they will only use them for the good and blessing of all : while bonds, fetters, limitations, must be upon all selfish souls ; and all such will themselves make and apply them, from the inevitable necessities of their condition. And they will never suffer the removal of these bonds any faster than they emerge from the lower and ruder conditions of life, whether in the material body or out of it, into the higher and more re- fined. And not until celestial love takes the place of selfish lust will all restraints upon the will be entirely removed. And when the portals of the infinite world are opened to such as have made these attainments, and they are welcomed to its loving tasks, they will enter with grateful rev- erence, and neither strive nor desire to make any selfish appropriation of its goods or enjoyments ; so there shall be enough and to spare. As it is not rny purpose, in this essay, to follow 136 The Problem of Life out in extended detail the resultants from any grounds herein assumed, I may as well bring it to a close by a few brief reflections. If the position that all consciousness, sensation, emotion, are of the spirit, and belong not essen- tially to the body, is true, then the bare fact of death works no change in the affections, for the affec- tions are wholly spiritual ; and the death of the body is but the passage of the man out of his visible, mate- rial, into his spiritual relations. Hence persons dy- ing in the state of self-love above described, or those in the fraternal, are in the same state of affection im- mediately after such death as before ; and their rest or unrest, enjoyment or suffering, will be wholly determined by the state of their affections. But all tyrants, oppressors, plunderers, thieves, robbers, burglars, murderers, will find their vocations gone upon entering the spiritual world. But as Nature's spiritual, like her material laws, are inexorable, the judgment and condemnation against such, and all other sinners, is sure and unerring ; and all must reap and eat the bitter harvest of their own sow- ing. But as education and discipline do not" end with life in the body, nor the spirit thereby pass beyond, but is still under the fullest influence of Divine love, the door of progress and highest at- tainment is open to all in the spiritual world ; though multitudes, by reason of the overmaster- And Immortality. 137 ing strength of their selfish affections, may strug- gle for ages in their dark and bewildering entan- glements, before attaining to full and* complete de- liverance. And through what purgatorial agonies and hells of suffering they must pass before attain- ing to this deliverance will depend on the strength of the selfish affections in each individual case. If the theory of the formation and composition of man here presented is true, we should expect to find that the combination of so many incongruous and discordant elements in one conscious, living structure would result not only in producing a dis- cordant race of beings, but that individuals of the race would also be filled with discordant and con- flicting passions, desires, and emotions. And the facts prove the theory true ; for the discontents, wars, strifes, conflicts, among the families of men, and in the individual soul with itself, have exceeded the warfares and conflicts of all other beings. On this theory we should expect that the means would exist in- man's very being, as a part of his spiritual structure, for bringing all these warring and discordant elements into harmony and peace. And such is the fact also. And the first and chief of these means is moral sense, or the sense of right and wrong, which is planted as an essence in the human soul ; which, however latent at first or for a time, will at length be quickened into life and power, and will tell the individual soul that 138 The Problem of Life * pain and suffering must inevitably follow certain acts, and joy and peace must as inevitably follow certain others. And it is this sense which under- lies the notion that "God is angry with the wicked ; " and hence the " fearful looking-for of judgment," which Paul speaks of. And to escape this "judgment and fiery indignation " of angry gods, men have invented " schemes of atonement and pardon," and "plans of salvation," whereby they may " flee from the wrath to come." Another means of prompting and enabling man to conquer his ruder passions, and to bring the best within him uppermost, and in the line of his high- est needs, is aspiration, or the desire for something better and nobler; which keeps him forever dis- contented with present attainments. And thus God has planted the seeds of man's enlightennient and regeneration as a germinating essence of life, in the very core and centre of his being; which will give him no rest until he " works out his own salvation." And Paul's " For it is God that worketh in you," which for so many centuries has been a "sacred mystery," is, after all, only the orderly and methodical operation of natural forces. And the necessities of man's moral nature have prompted him to seek out and invent methods of overcoming, subduing, and refining his ruder pas- sions, as the necessities of his material relations have impelled him to invent the means of supply- ing his material wants. And Immortality. 139 In man's ruder states, lie naturally falls upon the ruder methods in both his relations. His notions of God are crude. Man is then ft fighting, vengeful savage. So is his God. His tools and implements are also rude. Yet you must believe in both, his God and his tools. And any in- novation upon either God or tools is a " heresy " too " damnable " for endurance. As all men receive so much and no more truth than they can at any time bear, each in his own way thinks he has got it all ; or, if any more exists, it will only supplement and confirm what he now has, and so, of course, can never supplant and supersede it. Hence, every improvement or re- form, in both spiritual and material methods, has run the gauntlet of persecution and hostility from the beginning. The history of Christianity fur- nishes a notable illustration on this head ; and for the reason that its truths were the highest revealed at the time. And narrow-minded, crude men bound them down with creeds, dogmas, for- mularies, and said, " This is the end : we have it all here in these books ; and cursed be he who takes one word from, or adds one word to them." And this bondage to books and creeds is 'absolute over the minds of a vast majority of people in the most enlightened portions of the world to-day. And only a few of the most fearless thinkers have dared to break away from this most oppressive tyranny. I /jo The Problem of Life The older types of Christian theology, and the modern "evangelical," with their vast hierarchies, systems, salvations, are based upon the hypoth- esis, that when God created the universe, and came to that very small part of his work, the conception and formation of man, his genius utterly failed; the spiritual mechanism went contrary to his will and expectation ; and instead of going patiently at work to remedy its defects, as a human inventor does, and making it perfect in all its parts, powers, and motives, got angry, and cursed his own invention, and sentenced it to eternal damnation ; or, according to the "Westminster divines," "doomed him to the pains of hell forevermore." Nothing but human ignorance, crudity, and folly could have framed such a theory. For these same theorizers must admit that man, in all his powers and possibilities, in all his passions, im- pulses, and motives, in his entirety, is the concep- tion and offspring of God. Indeed, I think I have sufficiently shown, that not a quality, characteris- tic, or force enters into the structure of the human soul, but enters there, and is there, in the order of God, by and through the generative processes of nature. And so man had no more control over his antecedents, or the causes which produced him, and made him man, than an ox had over the causes which made and determined him to be au And Immortality. 141 ox. And man is no more to blame for being that which constitutes him man, than an ox is for being an ox. The attractions, repulsions, desires, motives, passions, in man, constitute his spiritual mechan- ism ; and their balance and adjustment in the human soul are purely, so to speak, God's contriv- ance. Man is precisely what God intended he should be. And his temporary sins and sufferings, however grievous, are only the methods by which the highest wisdom and love compel him to work out his own highest good. And so in theology, as in all other things, he must learn wisdom and goodness by first running into folly and evil. And so, as before stated, all the creeds, and the cursing growing out of them, are as normal to a state of moral and religious crudity, unripeness, as sour sap is to unripe fruit. But truth is Infinite ; and its higher forms will be discovered or revealed as man advances to higher states of growth. Hence, as the mind un- folds into broader perceptions of truth, it will as naturally reject the old books, creeds, theologies, of ruder ages and states, as it will the old ploughs, tools, machines, modes of building, travel, &c., of those states. And the world is full of men who are now saying, " Bind your.^clf, if you must, to Mn.si-s, Buddha, Jesus, Swedenborg, or the Pope, but hinder us not ; for we are not barnacled hulks, 142 The Problem of Life, fast anchored to past dogmas, however venerable. Our lives are onward and upward ; and we rest not until we find the highest and best." For " The world advances, and in time outgrows the laws That in our fathers' days were best ; " and, doubtless, after us some purer scheme will be shaped out by wiser heads than ours, made wiser by the steady growth of truth." And so we can all afford patiently to await the accumulating good, which the future is constantly adding to the past. APPENDIX. SINCE this work was put in type, I have read an essay, delivered in South-place Chapel, London, England, " to a large and interested audience," by A. Jayram, an educated Hindoo prince, on " The State of Scientific Thought in England ; " hy which the lecturer endeavors to prove that the human soul, separated from a material body, is " an in- comprehensible nonsense ; a mental negation ; a mere nothing:" that the "phenomena of mind are the mere accidents of matter." As M. D. Conway introduces it to the American public, with the remark that " he cannot believe that any one who reads this lecture will imagine that there is a single missionary in India compe- tent to deal with the points it so powerfully makes against the animism that underlies the Christian religion ; " and as this may be considered as able an argument as can be made on that side, I here present the most " powerful " of these " points," with such hurried criticisms as occurred 143 144 Appendix. to me on reading them ; for I really have no time to examine them with greater care. And if they are personal, the personality is merely illustrative. And when I speak of A. Jayram, I only take him as a representative of materialism. I pass over the author's ungenerous flings, and contemptuous epithets, bestowed upon reli- gionists, or Spiritualists, as wholly irrelevant, and utterly unsuited to any thoughtful and considerate inquiry. I quote from this lecture : " The first thing, then, that I should call your -attention to, is the amazement, bordering almost on incredulity, with which the Hindoo contem- plates the superstitions and prejudices that reign still rampant in this country, not among the ig- norant simply, nor among the so-called educated Englishmen alone, whose scraps of Greek and Latin lore, with scattered recollections of dead forms of scholasticism, serve only to render them mere pedants or walking intellectual mummies ; but even among those who are not unacquainted with the results of modern science. Nay, scientists themselves are not unfrequently found subject to their pernicious influence. "Now, of these, there is none which has wound itself more intimately with the very fibres of our emotional nature, than the one which attaches a Appendix. 145 peculiar importance and mystery to human des- tiny ; the idea, namely, that man, in his mental organization, is peculiarly distinct from all other creation ; that he possesses something in him which has no analogue elsewhere in nature ; that, in short, he bears in him an immortal soul, which, in its es- sential purity, is completely unconditioned and unin- fluenced hy matter." This overstates the case. Few, if any, believe the soul is " completely unconditioned and uninflu- enced by matter." I think the general belief among all classes of Spiritualists is, that, the soul is developed and unfolded in and through matter, and so is, to a great extent, conditioned and influ- enced by it. So here the writer is only knocking down one of his own ghosts. But whence are these emotions ? and how came this winding process ? Are they and it altogether material ? " Whatever may be the right explanation of the genesis of this strange fallacy, nobody can deny that it has exercised a most unhappy influence upon the course of human thought and prog- ress." "This strange fallacy" had its genesis in the deepest consciousness of the highest and most 146 Appendix. thoroughly cultured human souls. And it will be generated in A. Jayram's, whenever he swings back to an equilibrium. He is flushed and carried awuy with a smattering of materialistic " science." And because he cannot take God between his thumb and fingers, pick up human souls with a pair of forceps, melt down thoughts, ideas, affections in a crucible, he denies the existence of them all, ex- cept as mere forms, or " accidents of matter." So far from having " exercised a most unhappy influence upon the course of human thought and progress," I, for one, affirm that what he calls "this strange fallacy" has furnished the highest possible motive to the course of human culture, progress, and attainment. The lecturer continues : " To the same source is to be attributed the extreme ignorance that you find, even in educated men, in respect to the modes of production or combination of the simplest facts connected with our psychological existence. As to any correct apprehension of the true principles regulating the essential dependence and causal interactions be- tween mental and material phenomena, the thing must continue to be impossible, as it has been hitherto, so long as scientific men themselves are under the delusion that the methods of inductive investigation they employ in other departments are Appendix. 147 inapplicable in this, since, ex hypothesi, mind is spiritual, and transcends all conditions of matter. If the same rigorous modes of reasoning, and the same precision of language, by means of which we discover and describe the laws of phenomena in every other department of nature, were carried con- sistently and unflinchingly into the domain of mind, there would be little doubt left in any one, however prejudiced, either as to its real nature, or the terms to be employed in the expression of its relations to other physical phenomena." Then our educated men are extremely ignorant " in respect of the modes of production or combi- nation of the simplest facts connected with our psychological existence," merely because they be- lieve, or are at least haunted with the belief, that man " bears in him an immortal soul ; " but our author, having no such soul, at any rate, no be- lief in it, is able to deal with mind and matter by the same rules. And so we will attend upon him, and see how he applies " the same rigorous modes of reasoning, and the same precision of language," to mind that he does to other departments of na- ture, and learn to what extent he will illuminate his subject. For, judging from his language, one would suppose that all the secrets of nature were open and naked to him ; that his rigorous modes of reasoning, and precision of language, had enabled 148 Appendix. him to solve all mysteries, so that he knows just what life, mind, emotion, sensation, all the powers of mind synthesis, analysis, comparison, inven- tion, are. For all these phenomena, we shall soon learn, are " the mere accidents of matter." And that matter itself is "neither more or less than the permanent possibilities of sensation." He continues : " Reason is perfect unity. Its principles are as constant as the laws of the universe around us. Rather, they are translations of the highest uni- formities of collocation and sequence in external phenomena, into the language of nervous energy, in its responsive vibrations to the general harmo- nies of the universe." No lack of high-sounding words here. But ap- ply these laws and principles to the phenomena of mind, under the same limitations you do to mat- ter, and you are utterly powerless to explain the simplest mental or vital manifestation. Tell us, if you can, by what chemical formulary you think and reason. You say thinking wastes the brain. Yes ; but it is not waste of brain which causes thought, but the mental action which causes the waste. Now, as chemistry is the nearest allied of any branch of material knowledge to life, including also Appendix. 149 mind, apply its principles to an explanation of their phenomena, including your controversy with theologians and Spiritualists generally. Prof. Barker might help by telling you that "thought force is only converted carbon." The conversion of carbon is constant. Thought is infi- nitely variable. You cannot bind or limit it by any chemical conditions or combinations. Your ether, or laughing-gas, only opens the door to its wider and more expansive range. And if an over- dose of carbon causes an opposite effect, it is be- cause it weighs down, and so burdens the brain as to render it unfit for vital or mental use, like a tool too heavy to handle. Remember, it is mind using matter, in all cases, and not matter using mind. Certain atoms of matter will always act pre- cisely the same, under the same conditions. If life and mind are the mere products, " accidents," of matter, then they must always present the same relative phenomena, under the same relations to matter. That is to say ; that whenever you wished to produce any given mental phenomenon, a philosopher, a scientist, inventor, reformer, statesman, a blockhead, or other, you have only to arrange your carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, bones, muscles, brain, nerves, according to a given formulary in any case, and the required mental phenomenon will invariably result. Will it ? 150 Appendix. 11 First, then, as respects the spirituality or inde- pendent existence of the soul. On what founda- tion is this supposition based ? " " So far as our knowledge of its positive mani- festations goes, all appearances are dead against such an hypothesis. The series of phenomena, which in their concrete entirety we denominate, the soul, or mind, is never seen independently of the body. Further, they are seen to be connected more intimately with one particular part of its structure, the nervous system ; more especially with that part of it which we call the brain." This supposition is based upon this strong foun- dation : that essence is indestructible; and mind soul being the highest of all essences, whether in or out of a material body, is absolutely indestruc- tible, as to all its characteristics and attributes. And as to its never being " seen independently of the body," it is never seen at all. Can you cognize mind by a single sense ? You only know Sof its operations. If soul is the product of a body, why does the body begin to decay from the mo- ment the soul leaves it? Matter is always and everywhere the product of mind. Mind is no- where the product of matter. Mind alone shapes, fashions, composes, decomposes matter. And a fool, looking on, supposes that the mind is only produced, evolved by the action of matter. Appendix. 1 5 1 And so lie supposes the soul ceases to exist when it leaves the body ; while, in truth, it is the body which ceases to exist and falls apart, on being left by the soul, as that alone formed and kept it together. The mind is connected with the brain and nerves for the reason that these are the most highly refined parts of the bodily structure. If soul, or mind, is the mere product of matter, then the more solid and firm the matter, the greater and more powerful should be its products. The greater the bulk and heft of a man's body, the greater his mind. But such is not the case. The farther you go from the grosser forms of matter, the more refined and sublimated it is, the nearer you ap- proach the conditions necessary for the activity of mind. And so mental action begins in the brain, and is transmitted through the nerves to the muscles, and causes their movements, "con- tractility." That is "science." " Each act of volition, each development of thought or sensation, is attended with, and is impossible without, a certain amount of nervous action, and a certain rate of waste of the nervous tis- sue." Yes : but it is the action of mind which causes the waste of the nervous tissue. The brain and 152 Appendix. nerves being the tools, or organs of mind, must, of f" course, wear out with use. /But it is the use which causes the wear, and not the wear which causes V the use. J The niiud is brought into working rela- tions with matter, through a material -machine or body. This body is man's primary tool ; then he further invents secondary tools of wood or iron, to increase his power over matter. Now, the mind itself no more wears out with the wear of its primary tools, brain, nerves, &c., than it docs with its secondary ones, its axes, saws, &c. The waste follows action. The action is not the result of waste. The mind grows with use, the body alone wastes by use. A man's ae wears out because he uses it. Our author would have us believe that the use is in consequence, or because, of the wear. Now, if mental action comes before waste, and everybody who thinks knows that it does, just as surely as weariness follows action, then mind is before matter; and is above and superior to it. And in all formative processes, as in all the activities of Nature, mind is antecedent, and all the forms and relations of matter are consequent. Mind be- fore matter, now and forever. " But there is yet another class of considerations, which contribute to a further corroboration of the above argument. In the first place, the phenomena Appendix. 1 5 3 of mind do not emerge into view suddenly, or per saltum, when we approach man. They exhibit a progressive intensity of complication, beginning from the lowest forms of at least vertebrate life, where they exist in their most rudimentary condi- tion, till they reach their highest development and fulness in man. Secondly, these slow transi- tions in psychological evolution, are not indepen- dent or arbitrary, but go hand in hand with equally slow advances in nervous complexity, beginning with its scarce differentiated existence as brain in the amphioxus, and ending in the grand swell and overlapping proportions of the human cere- brum. These, and a host of other considerations, which might be brought together if space and time permitted, negative conclusively every other hypothesis than the one which alone science can indorse." We are too often befooled by this word " sci- ence." It seems almost marvellous to many minds, as if it had solved all mysteries. But what is it, other they* knowledge ? And this phrase, " Science can indorse," means neither more nor less than what is known. And what is knoivn on this subject ? Really, but very little, with any degree of certainty. Although we feel quite sure of this, that, to those beings which Nature gives the largest minds, she gives the largest mental 154 Appendix. organs, in her gradually unfolding and ascending scale of creations. The great mind of Nature adapts these organs, tools, to the minds of her offspring, in the same way and for the same reasons that she does their whole physical struc- tures. The brain is adapted to the mind, and not the mind adapted to the brain. The tools adapted to their use, and not the use resulting from the tools. I must insist on putting things right end foremost. " In the first place, the phenomena of mind do not emerge into view suddenly, when we approach man. They exhibit a progressive intensity of com- plication." What causes the mind to " emerge into view " at all, and to "exhibit a progressive intensity of complication " ? Why, matter, tumbled about, shelter-skelter, harem-scarem, topsy-turvey ; and these "slow transitions in psychological evolution, beginning with the amphioxus, and ending in the human cerebrum," were the accidental result, which might not happen again. But what caused the matter to tumble ? Oh, nothing. It tumbled itself, without any cause, purpose, or design. How could it have any ? for, if you admit design, you must admit a designing mind ; and that would knock materialism right on the head. Appendix. 155 " In other words, if we believe other forms of energy as strictly dependent upon matter, or func- tions of it, and do not therefore believe in the possibility of their separate existence, or erect them into spiritual entities, transcending all laws of matter, we have no other alternative than to follow the same course in regard to mind. We should consider it, in short, as one particular form of energy or force, a peculiar function of matter, resulting from a peculiar differentiation of it." Energy acts upon matter, and through it, but is no more a function of it than water is the function of a mill, or steam is the function of an engine. And so you may " follow the same course in regard to mind ; " for mind being a form, indeed, the highest form, of energy, acts in the same way. We are told that mind results from a peculiar " differentia- tion " of matter. Let us see what is meant by differentiation, and what force it has in this con- nection. According to Webster, it means, in foffic, " the act of describing a tiling, by giving its specific difference." In mathematics, " the act or process of differentiating." In physiology, "the production of a diversity of parts by a process of evolution." So this word means a groat deal. And all its meaning tells directly against materialism, and 156 Appendix. does not help it one whit. For, in every one of these relations, mind is an' absolute prerequisite to any action ; for nothing but mind can describe a thing, perform the act of differentiating or the process of evolution. And, according to A. Jay- ram's theory, one, two, or all three of these pro- cesses must be performed upon matter before mind can result from it. And mind alone can perform the process, or differentiation. Which is to say, mind cannot exist until after a certain act is per- formed ; and nothing but mind can perform the act to begin with. And so, of course, mind can never exist at all. That is what comes of your " rigorous modes of reasoning " from false prem- ises. And this is what our philosopher calls a "com- plete overthrow of the theological doctrine of soul " ! It is really hard to be content with a single ex- clamation point, in view of such a wonderful exhi- bition of logic. " Complete as is this overthrow of the theologi- cal doctrine of the soul, the contest, simply as contest, is far from being at an end here." True enough. I have not done with you yet. And you must not be so sure that you have overthrown the doctrine of soul ; for, in this very " contest," you are a soul trying to disprove your own exist- Appendix, 157 ence : and that all the "grand swell and overlap- ping proportions " of your brain have no other use than to generate some exhalations which cease to exist on the disruption of your body ; and, on your theory, Nature reaches no results at all commen- surate with the amount of labor which she per- forms. For as fast as she accidentally forms men, instead of passing them on and up to higher states of existence, where she may round out and fulfil their beings, with the opportunities of realizing their best and highest ideals, like the great blun- derer that she is, she accidentally puts her foot on them and crushes every one of them back again into the nonentity from whence they came, like a huge mill, eternally grinding to no pur- pose. And as that is to be the final upshot of all your labors, toils, struggles, with this and all other problems, you. might as well have staid in India, crept into the nearest jungle, been made a break- fast of by the first hungry tiger that came along, and so saved yourself all this bootless trouble. " Scientific language itself, it is said, in redu- cing the phenomena of mind to mere accidents of matter, is obliged to distinguish them as manifes- tations of a certain force or energy." Is it possible that the phenomena of our author's mind, while he is in a struggle with this meta- 158 Appendix. physico-scientific subject, are only "the mere accidents of matter " ? And is it not a little strange that these "accidents" should methodize them- selves in such orderly form, and argue so ably to prove that the mill causes the water to run, and the carriage draws the horse along ? And, more- over, is it not a little strange these " accidents " should have such wonderful inventive powers, spending in some cases years of hard study upon a single problem, and bringing forth at length the steam-engine, the electric telegraph, such engi- neering projects as the Suez canal, the Atlantic cable, railroads across continents, analyzing sun- light, starlight, weighing the planets, and doing so many other very odd things. Really, the accidents of matter are truly wonderful, viewed from a " sci- entific " stand-point. Great is science ! And it be- ing so great, will he please tell us, with " rigorous methods of reasoning and precision of language," just what kind of ma'ter love is the accident of; what kind hope, what pride, ambition, jealousy, honesty, knavery, invention, " patient continuance in well doing ; " and also the kind which accident- ally set our lecturer's mind off on this over-confi- dent but vain attempt to prove his own purpose, in writing his essay, was no purpose .after all ; that it only resulted in the unintelligible and purposeless hurly-burly of some muck. Appendix. 159 "But granting, for the sake of argument, what is not true, as will be seen presently, granting that force is -something quite distinct from matter, and that the particular force called mind is quite distinct, again, from all other forces, I yet fail to see how this admission can serve the purposes of theology. So long as force however distinct from matter, and that particular form of it known as mind however distinct from all other forms of it, are possible only in connection with, through, and by means of, matter, so long they -must continue useless to the theologian. If they are never known to exist independently of matter, and if there is not a particle of evidence for a contrary supposi- tion, what becomes of the spirituality of the mind or soul ? What becomes of its supposed future exist- ence, independent of and unconditioned by m atter ? " Spiritualists and theologians do not hold that mind soul is necessarily " independent of and unconditioned by matter." Many believe the spirit- \ ual body to be a highly refined and sublimated form ) of matter. And so they believe in the eternity of matter, as the outward clothing and expression of mind, and that, in some form, it is always connect- ed with and attendant upon mind.- And so the question "of the spirituality of soul," or "the purposes of theology," are not in the least affected by the presumed difficulties above suggested. And 160 Appendix. as to " what becomes of its supposed future exist- ence," does the lecturer jump to the conclusion again, that a thing does not exist because he can- not subject it to the test of one or more of his out- ward senses? "There is yet' another aspect of the question, still more ridiculous. We can afford to make one more admission to our theologian, which, though giving up every thing we have been contending for, will not lessen one jot of his difficulties, but will only render his position the more ludicrous, because of his helplessness, even when his opponents are prepared to help him to the full length of his own inordinate wishes. To crown our chivalrous cour- tesy, then, let us even grant that the soul is capa- ble of a spiritual existence, completely indepen- dent of and unconditioned by matter. But can we have even the faintest conception of such an existence ? Can any of our supposed longings and aspirations, 'which the theologian is ready to aban- don reason itself to satisfy, be satisfied by such an incomprehensible supposition ? The thoughts of our disembodied spirits cannot be any thing like our thoughts, since they are not produced under material conditions like ours. How they may be produced, or what they may be like, we do not know, we cannot know, since all our- knowledge is circumscribed by material conditions, whether of Appendix. 161 production or definition ; so that its thoughts are nothing like our thoughts. In other words, if lan- guage is to have any meaning, its thoughts are no thoughts, its sufferings are no sufferings, its enjoyments are no enjoyments. In short, it is an enigma, a riddle, or rather an incomprehensible nonsense, a mental negation, a mere nothing. And yet it is for this mental nonentity this inconceiv- able something, which may be any thing or nothing, for aught we may care that our theologian is ready to sacrifice consistency, fairness, common- sense, reason, every thing and all." There's a good long extract, with some "chival- rous courtesy" in it, to help along the theologian " to the full length of his own inordinate wishes." But we are told that " the thoughts of our disem- bodied spirits cannot be any thing like our thoughts, since they are not produced under material condi- tions like ours." The lecturer was born in Hindostan. He grew up under the peculiar " material conditions " and sur- roundings of that country. He came from there to England, where he finds the material conditions greatly changed. But he is the same man in Eng- land that he was in India ; and the same powers and capacities of mind which he brought from Hindostan study and contemplate these different conditions. His individual thoughts may differ ; for whereas 1 62 Appendix. in Hindostan he may have seen the car of Jug- gernaut, an idol's temple, a banian-tree, and thought of them, in England he sees a railroad-car, a tem- ple of science, an oak-tree, a huge manufactory, and thinks about these. But the same mind does the thinking under all conditions. If the theory is true, that mind is the product of matter, when Mr. Jayram left India, and vacated its material relations, his memory of them would be entirely obliterated ; being absent from the mat- ter, the " accidents " must cease also. Nor could he ever think of them again until he was brought into the same conditions again ; and the conditions being the same, his thoughts must be the same that they were before. And we should never re- member or know any thing about any material fact, any longer than we were in material relations with it ; and the whole of our thoughts concerning matter would begin and end with these relations : and all our knowledge of things would also begin and end with our material connection with them. Memory we could not have, and so the accumulation of knowl- edge would be impossible. We should be like spouts, through which water runs, but in which none remains. And man would indeed be " an in- comprehensible nonsense, a mental negation, a mere nothing." That is about all materialism can give us. But we are told that our disembodied spirits are all these now, with a " mental nonentity " Appendix. 163 thrown in. Embodied or disembodied, the spirit remains the same in every change of its relations to matter. Mr. Jayrain came to England with his mind stored with all the experience and knowledge he had gained in India. He remembers it all, and can think it all over. What would he think, to hear it said of him by his friends whom he left in India, " His thoughts cannot be any thing like our thoughts, since they are not produced under ma- terial conditions like ours " ? Would he not say, " I think precisely as I did before, only I have some different things to think about" ? He was, in a certain sense, disembodied from India, translated to and embodied in England. Vacating his relations to India, and taking on those to England, does not change in the slightest degree the qualities or capacities of his mind. And his coming to^England only gives him in- creased opportunities for mental growth and cul- ture. So, vacating his material body will make no change in his mind ; but he will carry all the experience, knowledge, culture, of his material rela- tions into his spiritual, as the basis of still further growth and expansion. Indeed, according to "science," the man who has lived to the age of seventy years has already vacated his physical body at least ten times. Some physiologists say at least an hundred times ; but ten ' is enough. It is true, gradually, though 164 Appendix. not imperceptibly, as any one may observe. But every item of experience and knowledge gained during tliis whole period is still retained in the storehouse of his memory, although he may not be able at any moment to summon up each one of them : they are all there, nevertheless, ready for use. While not a particle of the original matter of his body remains. Waste and repair is the law of action in living bodies or animated matter. So that, from the age of twenty-five to eighty-five years, the waste and repair in the brain, nerves, and all the working organs of a man's body, just about keep pace with each other. The working organs of Humboldt's body, probably did not weigh more at eighty-five than they did at twenty-five years of age, and occupied no more space. But what an accumula- tion of knowledge, growth, strength, expansion, spiritual weight, his mind attained during these sixty years ! And my own body weighs at least fifteen pounds less now, at fifty-eight, than it did at twenty-five years of age, and is at times so .frail that I cannot hold it up. And yet, in seasons of physical prostration, my mind is often clearest and strongest. Now, according to the theory that mind is the product or " accident " of matter, all the forms and qualities of thought generated in the mind must be chemically related to the kind of food ingested, Appendix. 165 and must cease to exist from the instant the parti- cles of matter which produced them, or of which they are the accidents, are wasted and cast out of the system. New thoughts would be formed by the introduction of new matter for repair, and perish with its waste. And repair and waste of body and mind would keep exact pace with each other from birth till death ; and as no particle of the matter of a man's body remains in it more than seven years, so no thought of his mind could remain for a longer period. More : the brain must continue to produce these accidents in de- creasing proportions, until it is entirely decom- posed, the thoughts diminishing in the exact ratio of the decomposition of the brain ; the process being kept up an indefinite period after death. And this is> what comes, logically, of Mr. Jayram's " rigorous methods " of materialistic reasoning. All the facts of mental growth and development tell directly against this theory. Science and fact never quarrel ; and moreover, a man's bones, brain, nerves, muscles, remain in the same state, by the process of repair, from maturity to old age. But what changes his mind undergoes ! In that, there is constant increase. Always growth, learning more and more, never stopping in its onward progress ; so that facts, which are the basis of all science, are all against materialism, and in favoi 1 66 Appendix. of spiritualism, including " theology," if you please. " The first duty of every one who pretends to precision of thought or language is to analyze his conceptions, and understand the correct connotation of words." That, certainly, has a large sound to it, a pre- tentious sound, as of something great to come ; and here it comes : " Now, matter and force, or energy, turn these conceptions over as you will, observe them under what applications you choose, they can mean, in their ultimate resolution, only one and the same thing seen under different aspects. By matter we understand neither more nor less than 'permanent possibilities of sensation.' At any moment mat- ter is to us nothing more than groups of sensations, possible and actual ; while energy means their re- arrangements, whether viewed as successive or synchronous." ..." Hence the frivolity of all arguments drawn from force to establish a distinc- tion between matter and mind more fundamental than is implied in viewing the same thing from different stand-points." That is to say, a granite bowlder is neither Appendix. 167 more nor less than a "permanent possibility of sensation," always provided there is somebody to " sense " it. But if there is no one to see, feel, hear, taste or smell it, then what ? " Matter and force mean only one and the same thing, seen under different aspects," "viewed from different stand-points." "Seeing" and "viewing" are also about " one and the same thing." Now what, according to Mr. Jayram's science, is to do up the viewing? say, in such a sharp discussion as this, between one pile of matter on a London platform, and another here at Bos- ton, as well as in all other cases ? " Science," this philosopher informs us, has reduced " all the phenomena of mind to the mere accidents of mat- ter ; and matter itself " is neither more nor less > than the permanent possibilities of sensation ; " and " to us," to who, what? why, to the accidents of matter " nothing more than groups of sensations." And " there is no other distinction between matter and mind than is implied in viewing the same thing from different stand-points." Well, really, " science " does reduce man to " an incomprehensible nonsense " indeed. But again, I ask what is to " view " the same thing from different stand-points ; to study, analyze, compare, sit in judgment on the whole matter ? The only answer furnished by our lecturer is, that one " permanent possibility of sensation " is to view another. 1 68 Appendix. It seems strange that any man with mental capacity enough to write a decent sentence, and to understand that two and two make four, can stand and think of the vast dominion which the mind of man has attained, and wields over matter, subduing it in so many ways to his absolute con- trol, through his mental powers only, a bullock having more physical strength, and then at- tempt to explain it all by the bewildering array of such meaningless words as 'these ; which, " turn them over as you will, observe them under what applications you choose," give us not the slightest clew to a solution of the phenomena which he is attempting to explain, but only lead us deeper and deeper into the mire of his own confusion. And yet, unwittingly, he does help a certain class of " theologians." Of course, he never meant it so, for they believe, with him, that mind can- not exist separate from a material body, that matter and mind, being one thing, are one eter- nally. And the matter of their bodies, through however so many changes and transformations it may pass, will be recomposed into human bodies again. And each body will again contain its own living, conscious soul, also recomposed at the same time with the resurrection of the body, therein to live in an eternal state of happiness and glory. And so, in his attempts to demolish all forms of religious belief, Mr. Jayram has furnished in his Appendix. 169 own science a good solid material buttress for one which we thought would soon tumble down of itself. And I think that both it and our Hindoo's science will fall together. Here comes Mr. Jayram's explanation of the whole subject : " I believe it is now an asserted doctrine of sci- ence, at least, that each manifestation of mind is possible only as a manifestation of energy. Each sensation each act of thought or volition is simply a resultant of other forms of energy, kinet- ic and potential. Some antecedent energy of move- ment, external or internal, gives rise^ to a change of potential nervous energy, existing in the shape of unstable arrangements of nerve-matter, to actual energy of nerve currents, signifying processes of stable arrangement, while the change itself con- stitutes a state of mind." I have already stated that aptness of illustra- tion is my full apology for the intrusion of per- sons into this discussion, and will add some easily- supposed conditions to the case of our. author for this purpose. He is a young Hindoo, educated in England ; and, abandoning his hereditary belief in innumerable gods, he has gone, very naturally at first, to the other extreme of believing in none. He left his father and mother, we will suppose, 1 70 Appendix. still living in India, firm adherents to the ancient faith, and clinging fast to its ancient rites. Let us suppose, that, while he is delivering this lecture in South-place Chapel, a person, with nothing peculiar in his looks or manners to attract atten- tion, quietly enters, and, in a tone of voice marked by no emotion, requests the speaker's attention for a moment. He pauses, and the visitor proceeds, in the same tone of voice, to state that his father died but yesterday ; that the funeral ceremonies had all been arranged according to time-honored customs ; and that to-night at this very moment his mother, true and loyal to ancient Hindoo usages and traditions, had given up her body a living sacrifice to her religious faith, and it was now being consumed by the devouring flames on the same funereal pile with that of his father. In such a case, the lecturer would be overwhelmed with grief, and would sink back in his chair, utterly un- able to proceed. Now, what, upon his theory, would be the cause of this sudden and painful revulsion of feeling? The only, or, at best, the chief explanation in his whole lecture, is given in the above extract : let us see what it amounts to : " Some antecedent energy of movement, exter- nal or internal, gives rise to a change of potential Appendix. 171 nervous energy existing in the shape of unstable arrangements of nerve-matter, to actual energy of nerve currents, signifying processes of stable arrangement; while the change itself constitutes a state of mind." There we have it ! Who shall say that all the mysteries of the human soul are not solved, after this ? But let us not hurry the conclusion ; let us examine a little. " Some antecedent energy : " this is altogether too loose and indefinite for one who insists on such "rigorous modes of reasoning, and precision of language." As scientific inves- tigators, we have a right to know, upon your theory, precisely what this " antecedent energy " i*, which, in a case like this, would cause the most sudden and painful revulsion of feeling. You, Mr. Jayram, have not given us the slightest clew, as to what this in your loose language " some " antecedent energy is ; so we will try and find it without your help. In this case, it is not the body of the messenger, it is not his deportment, it is not his voice ; for there is nothing unusual in any of these : but this energy is wholly in the idea which he communi- cates. It is altogether mental, and altogether mentally received. And if, instead of communi- cating the supposed painful intelligence, the mes- senger had stated that the lecturer's parents had 1 72 Appendix. just arrived in London, full converts to the theo- ries of their son, and awaiting to embrace him, instead of grief, he would be filled with joy and satisfaction. The antecedent energy in one case causing pain, and in the other pleasure. Now, it may be hard for a materialist to believe that ideas are, really the forces energies which cause and govern all the phenomena of nature. Let him find these forces elsewhere if he can. And, in the case here supposed, all the changes ef- fected begin in the mind, mind moving and act- ing upon matter. But, according to our Hindoo scientist and philosopher, the agonies of feeling and the physical prostration, in a case like this, have their origin in some change of matter. But I have stated, and the lecturer himself must agree with me, that neither the sight of the messenger, the sound of his voice, nor his manner, could pos- sibly produce the described effect in such a case. And he, and every honest, thoughtful man must agree, that the only energy or force in the case is mind force ; and that all the changes and acts of the body are caused wholly by the mind, including the waste of the brain, nerves, and all the tissues. Farther on he tells us, " The first business of the militant Hindoo, then, is to insist upon the broad and impassable distinction between the knowable and unknowable. The sphere of the former is rightly defined by matter and its proper- Appendix. 1 73 ties. Matter and its properties are the only things possible to human cognition." And I have already quoted our author as say- ing, " At any moment, matter is to us nothing more than groups of sensations, possible and actual." Let him make the application to a case like the one supposed, and to the thousands of actual cases of deepest sensations of sorrow and grief, and of joy and satisfaction, which are occur- ring in London, and wheresoever mankind dwell, every day and hour of their lives, and in every case of which the shades of sensation differ widely, and show precis'ely how matter varies its action to cause these differences. And, further, what causes the matter groups of sensation to act. Do it now; or admit that the attempt to apply the tests of material science to the phenomena of mind are, to say the least, childish and puerile. But let us not leave this " antecedent energy " just yet. I have quoted Mr. Jayram as saying, " The series of phenomena which, in their concrete entirety, we denominate soul or mind, is never seen independently of the body." He forgets what he has said about " precision of language " here, when he talks of seeiny mind or soul ; but I pass that over, as his meaning is clear, and adopt his word. l>ut what if mind is never seen indepen- dently of a body, does it follow that it is always seen in connection with a body? lie has, doubt- 1 74 Appendix. less, seen many bodies, without the slightest traces of mind in connection with them. And some hu- man bodies have been preserved hundreds, yes, thousands of years, without giving a single trace of mind during all these years. And these bodies were preserved by a process invented by by what? Why, "the mere accidents" of some other bodies. And we have also been told, in short, that there is no other difference between matter and mind than "is implied in viewing the same thing from different stand-points." If mind is never seen independently of a bo ly matter, and if matter and mind are one thing, then how is it that mind is not always " seen " in connection with matter, all forms and varieties of it ? A granite rock giving forth one manifesta- tion, a block of marble another, trap-rock another, gneiss another, copper, tin, lead, iron, and so on, to the end of the chapter, giving forth signs of mind ? And who shall say that they do not ? and that these solid minerals are not the forms in which the forces- of the human mind itself are preserved in a latent or potential state, ready to be developed and unfolded into active power through a most wonderfully complex material or- ganism? And before the matter of which this organism is composed these rocks, this iron, and whatsoever is to enter into the structure of this body can go there, and form a part thereof, it Appendix. 175 must be pulverized, triturated, and reduced to gases and fluids ; and, after passing through changes which are still a mystery, must re-appear in new forms ; and, if not endowed with new life, that which was before latent must now become active and potential. And the matter must be reduced to gases and fluids again, before they can form the complex mechanism of a human body. So it re- quires crude matter to undergo a great deal of preparation, involving many changes, before it can be at all fitted as an organ or instrument of the human mind. J>ut what is to pulverize these mineral sub- stances, carry them through all these changes, from rock to gas and fluid, then to vegetable, and then into all the tissues of a human body through which mind can manifest itself in such infinitely varied forms? What is to do it all? Why, we have been told already. It is " some antecedent energy of movement." And what is that, pray ? Well, Mr. Jayram knows all about it; for he tells us that, "The very idea that there is something un- knowable, over and above the knowable, some- thing incomprehensible, over and above the com- prehensible, is a mere freak, or unguarded slip of thought, engendered by a peculiarity of lan- guage used in connection with such discussions. 1 76 Appendix. Because the word 'knowable,' by a law of rela- tive association, gives rise to or suggests its oppo- site, the unknowable, we are deluded into the belief that, as something real and actual in the objective world corresponds to its subjective no- tation, knowable, so there must also be something real and actual in objective existence correspond- ing to the opposite subjective notation, unknowa- ble ; though in the latter case the notation is simply a notation of negation." It must be admitted that Mr. Jay ram has a large stock of words at his command; and he does, somehow, manage to " darken counsel " by them. Does light imply darkness, cold suppose heat, positive involve negative, limitable the illimitable, finite the infinite, comprehensible suggest or pre- sume the other extreme term, incomprehensible ? or because there are things known and knowable, does it follow that there are things unknown and unknowable ? Mr. Jayram tells us not. That to believe one extreme term supposes the other, and is dependent upon it, is " preposterous " " a mere freak, or unguarded slip of thought." And so all these antithetic ideas are " neither more nor less than one thing, seen under different aspects, and viewed from different stand-points." And he says, further, Appendix. 177 " Surely, there is there can be neither value nor instruction in simply saying that cer- tain phenomena are yet unexplained, choose what words you please to say it. There is not, cer- tainly, more wisdom conveyed in this change of ex- pression, than in the oracular deliverance of the quack, who, being asked why opium produced sleep, gravely propounded, because it was sopo- rific." And so, when we ask this philosopher what this "antecedent energy "is, which performs all these processes and operations in the universe of mind and matter, he " gravely propounds," It is " force." And that is his " oracular deliverance." Having thus proved to his satisfaction that his soul is " a mere accident " of his body, and that both will perish together, Mr. Jayram next as- sails the strongholds of theism, and attempts to demolish God, by the same " rigorous reasoning and precision of language " that have given him tsui-h a victory over the "theologians." Before giving ear to him on this point, I wish to intro- duce some remarks and illustrations. Some people are piqued at the idea that there is any thing in the universe which is greater and knows more than man does. And the idea of an Infinite Intelligence, which orders, arranges, and presides- over all the processes and operations of 1 78 Appendix. Nature, excites their hostility ; and they greedily lay hold of any supposed fact or theory which they can turn against it. And theologians themselves are largely responsible for this hostility ; for they have tried to clothe this Intelligence God with many inhuman and most hateful attributes, and have resorted to the most infamous crimes to enforce their peculiar dogmas upon the acceptance of others ; and as, " The name of God has fenced about all crime with holiness," this name and idea has also become an offence to many humane and thoughtful people. And so the question of mere character came at length to be a question of existence or fact ; and the contro- versy, from certain causes, acquired great interest about the close of the last, and the beginning of the present, century. What cause underlies the orderly, methodical, and constantly-recurring processes and operations of Nature, with their fixed and certain produc- tions ? Are they the results of an inventive, creative, and formative Mind ? Up to that period, there had been no full, clear, and methodical state- ment of reasons, based upon the facts and phe- nomena of Nature, to prove the affirmative of this question. Everybody saw the products, but had not thought of the how or why they were pro- duced. And here let me use an illustration : Appendix. 1 79 Cotton is grown of several grades, and is wrought into different fabrics, species ; and the species, again, into varieties. The species of can- vas, or duck, from heavy to light, in several varieties ; species of flannels, drillings, sheetings, and so on, with their several varieties of fine, coarse, &c. There are millions of people who are utterly ignorant as to how these cloths are made ; yet nobody ever imagined that a single one of them ever happened. And the great mass of unscientific minds have fallen into the notion, that these cotton fibres could not have accident- ally arranged themselves in groups, the coarse in one, the middling in another, the fine in another, and so on ; and then to have acci- dentally twisted themselves into threads, in size corresponding to the size of the fibre ; and then, again, to have accidentally woven themselves into these different species and varie- ties of fabrics, which are so nicely adapted to their various uses. They will persist in believing that all these processes and operations, with all tbe buildings and machinery, must be the results of design, which involves a designing mind. While some shake their heads in doubt, they are not going to swallow both Jonah and the whale. They are too scientific for that. And an investigator gqes into an examination of the subject, and shows, in an elaborate and un- I8o Appendix. answerable argument, that the production of such a variety of fabrics, with the fibres and threads so nicely adapted to the texture, and all to the use, the invention and construction of the machinery by which they are produced, the building in which the machinery is located, and the wise adaptation of force to the whole, proves conclusively the " an- tecedent energy " of an inventive, designing mind. That was Mr. Paley ; and, on the publication of his book, every form of atheistic and materialistic ar- gument was arrayed against it. But the argu- ment still stands, and will stand. Later, another investigator enters a certain part of the field : he is, in this relation, what Mr. Jay- ram calls " a mere specialist." He wishes only to ascertain what the cloth is, and how it is made. As to who invented the machinery, built the fac- tory, put the machinery in it, and set it all in opera- tion, he does not inquire. He is neither inventor nor builder ; and these matters lie outside of his province. So he goes into the great manufactory, thoroughly .examines the goods, the machinery by which they are made, the relation of room to room (country to country), the temperature of the va- rious rooms (climatic influences), the nice and fa- vorable adaptation of all the arrangements to the production of all the various species and varieties of fabrics (the laws of selection, &c.) of the whole establishment. But he does not inquire who de- Appendix. 1 8 1 signed and built the factory, invented the machin- ery, and set it in operation : he leaves these topics to others. He found the factory built, and all the machinery at work. And if others choose to search out these matters, they can do so: he has taken them for granted. He writes his book on his branch of the subject. That is Mr. Darwin. And if anybody says Mr. Darwin is trying to rule the idea of an intelligent Cause of the phenomena of nature out of the universe, they say it on their responsibility, not his. But the subject is yet under discussion, and so is, to some minds, still debatable. And now comes Mr. Jayram, full of confidence and assurance, stalking into the arena, and deal- ing out his blows anywhere, everywhere, hit or miss. Let us hear him ; but we pass over his first fire as inconsequential, as it is entirely lost in its own echoes, and attend to the next. " The second source of contribution to the theis- tic argument used to be supplied in the now ex- ploded doctrine of design. The venerable Pale} r , with his ' Natural Theology,' has taken his final rest, let us hope, among those that have been. At any rate, we shall not disturb him or his theology in his grave. All reconsideration of the argument put forth therein is now rendered supererogatory, particularly after the publication of Darwin's great work on the ' Origin of Species.' Irrespect- 1 82 Appendix. ive of the grand service it has rendered to biolo- gy, .its merit in having given the death-blow to a rotten speculation cannot be too highly estimated. But, though one phase of the contest is over, an- other has succeeded it ; and, strange to say, the very book which put the final seal of silence on tlie first, has occasioned the advent of the second. The fault, however, is not in the book, but in those who could not, or would not, understand it. It is a well-known fact, that its opponents continue to this day to find fault with it for not explaining things which do not properly fall within its scope." The burden of Mr. Jayram's lecture is, to dis- prove the existence of any intelligent directing force in nature : and, indeed, of all force, except what grows out of matter, stones, &c. But his special point is made against theism. And one would suppose that Darwin's great work on the " Origin of Species " (explaining how the cloth is made) had furnished him with an ample supply of unanswerable arguments on that side of the ques- tion, that the factory had no designer. But, on sifting down these arguments, we find nothing left but an array of "words of learned length and thundering sound ; " for, in the very next sentence, he tells us that Mr. Darwin does not say one word upon the subject of theology. Speaking of his book, he says, Appendix. 183 "It professes only to explain how favorable tendencies in variation are fixed upon and consol- idated into specific distinctions, by the operation of certain intelligible causes, which, taken to- gether, are denominated here, figuratively, the ' law of natural selection.' It has nothing to do with, and does not pretend to propound, how these favorable tendencies themselves come into exist- ence. It takes them for granted, and shows only how they are utilized by the law, which it is its special merit to have discovered, in directions never before dreamed of. " That is true. Mr. Darwin does not raise the question of primeval causation at all. And you, Mr. Jayram. are deluding yourself, when you think you have made the slightest effective use of them as against the argument from design. Now, please tell us " how these favorable tendencies themselves came into existence " ? Who built the factory, in- vented the machinery, set it up, applied the force, and put it all in operation ? You reply, " Noth- ing : it was built before ; it never was built. " That is a " a rotten speculation," which " Darwin's great work " has " exploded," and " given the death-blow to, and put the final seal of silence on it." Nay, nay ; but how came " these favorable tendencies " ? You say, " It takes them for granted." The ostrich buries its head in the 1 84 Appendix. sand, when hard pushed ; and you attempt to hide yours under the following heap : " And yet, strangely enough, as human perver- sity would have it, this has led, on the one side, to a world of misrepresentation and had criticism ; while, on the other, it has given rise to a new school of theistic philosophy, not better entitled to consideration than the one it has so effectually abolished. " To view this protean error in its new metamor- phosis : Since the principle of natural selection, however successfully it unriddles what were once supposed to be mysterious cases of design, affords no explanation for the origin of favorable tenden- cies in variation, it has been imagined that the ground of design might safely be shifted from the old position of Paley, no longer tenable, to this new one, of unexplained .variations. One might almost be tempted to believe that people actually deplore the advances of knowledge, when he sees how they hug and hail every remnant of mystery as a sacred relic of salvation, safe yet from the sacrilegious hand of science. In self-congratula- tions on their present escape from that which a while since threatened total ruin, they seem to forget that the contest is not yet over, that the dreaded enemy is still advancing steadily, that a momentary respite is not permanent immunity Appendix. 185 from danger. It never seems to occur to them that their present position may prove quite as fal- lacious quite as untenable as any of those they have been compelled so often to abandon. Even stern experience teaches them no prudence. Though the burned dog dreads the fire, the burned theologian never does. Happy insensibility, but pregnant with ruin ! " We have listened to your grandiloquent words ; now let us return to the point again. We left off here, " It takes them for granted." Does science take things for granted? Now, when we come to the very pith and marrow of the whole subject, you go off into a long string of words, almost enough to stun people with their din, but which give us no light or clew to unravel the mystery in which we are involved. And with these words, you think to rout the whole host of theologians.' Science takes nothing for granted. It reasons from effects to their causes; and when it has certainly as- certained the causes of any phenomena, it concludes that the same causes, acting under the same condi- tions, will invariably produce the same eifects. It never finds effects before causes, nor elevated above or greater than causes. So, when it contemplates this world full of men, with their joys, sorrows, loves, hopes, aspirations, ambitions, vast powers of 1 86 Appendix. conception, invention, execution, all that make up the sum of human life, with the innumerable forms of life below man, and the vast, complicated systems in the universe above him, swayed, moved, and controlled by powers utterly above and beyond him, Science, reasoning from cause to eifect, says, Force is only born of force ; life comes only of that which is alive ; the power to reason comes only from the power to reason ; intelligence comes only of that which is intelligent ; the power to in- vent, construct, build, comes only from the power to invent, construct, build; and so on, through the whole circle of human capacity and affection. And it looks upon this vast system of the universe, in all its grandest outlines and minutest details, includ- ing Mr. Darwin's facts and speculations on them, together with your misuse of them, as effects of a , constantly operating cause, which is fully equal to their production. In addition to taking these "favorable tenden- cies " for granted, we are told that Mr. Darwin's book " shows how they were utilized by the law, &c." And so it was the "law" that did the work, after all. What law ? and how came it into existence ? Did blind, unthinking chance or accident ever establish any fixed and orderly rules of procedure, in any relation whatever? We have always sup- posed that the existence of a law was sufficient proof of an intelligence and power, somewhere, fully Appendix. 187 competent to establish it. Is that idea " exploded " also ? We are told, further, that Mr. Darwin discovered the law. Possibly another voyage may lead to the discovery that' this law is no other than the established order or method by which the Infinite Intelligence of the universe carries on its formative operations. The main point in the controversy between Mr. Jay ram and the spiritualists, or religionists, and theologians, is involved in the question which he declines to answer, or even to consider. He thinks Mr. Darwin's book has forever silenced all argu- ments to be drawn from nature, in favor of an in- telligent, designing Mind, as being antecedent to and working through its processes and operations. And then, as if to anticipate any questions which might arise on this very point, which Darwin did not touch, he says, " It professes only to explain how favorable tendencies, in variation, are fixed upon and consolidated into specific distinctions by the operation of certain intelligible causes." An intelligible cause is a cause which we can comprehend. What are the causes which Mr. Darwin refers to ? All the material conditions un- der which organic life is formed and subsists, such as earth, water, light, air, temperature, peculiarities of climate, soil, moist, dry, &c., &c. Birds that live upon the creatures that swarm in marshes and shallow waters have long legs and bills. Mr, 1 88 Appendix. Darwin thinks that the birds may originally have had short legs and bills ; and the necessity of wad- ing after their food may have caused them to grow long. (Although it may be urged, with equal force, that birds with short legs and bills have descended from ancestors with long ones ; but, falling under conditions where long ones were not necessary to the modes of life, they have become short.) So in regard to mammals. Such as climb trees for their food have long, sharp claws, and long, verti- cal pupils. Their pupils may have been originally round, and their nails short, and that " natural se- lection" caused both to grow long (the converse of this is equally good) ; and all other creatures he finds adapted to their conditions. And Mr. Jayram thinks these speculations have completely demolished all ideas of intelligent caus- ation. But when we ask, How came all these "fa- vorable tendencies," and these " intelligible caus- es," to be so nicely arranged and adjusted as to produce all this orderly succession of fixed and es- tablished forms of organic life, each so nicely adapt- ed to all the necessities of its own existence, he complains of " human perversity," and that we have "shifted the grounds of design from the old one of Paley, to this new one of " unexplained variations ; " and seems to think it unfair, after he has tried so hard to overthrow the " theologians," that they should compel him to fight his battles all over Appendix. 189 again. Well, he invited the conflict : let him be content with the issue. But let us not leave this matter of " xmexplained variations " quite yet. The notion is quite prev- alent that the argument from design goes to this extent : that God created man, and all other be- ings, directly, as a human mechanic makes any piece of handiwork; and that he made all the class- es, orders, species of animals perfect, at the out- set ; and that no change or transformation has occurred in any of them since. Now, the argu- ment really involves no such limited idea. For it includes the " evolution " theory, and all other theories as well. Mr. Darwin thinks that all the forms of organic life have been evolved through slowly-advancing, step-by-step processes, by the operation of natural causes. But he does not consider how these causes themselves came into existence ; nor whence came, or how the force is supplied, which set and keeps them all in operation. And yet he knows, and everybody else knows as well, that a cotton- gin which clears cotton of the seeds with great speed and perfection, is as clear a proof of design in the preparation of cotton for use, as the slow and laborious mode of picking out the seeds by hand is. Let us use another simple illustration. Stock- ings are made by hand, by the aid of a few littla 190 Appendix. pieces of wire, and have been so made from time immemorial. My friend Carey has invented, " designed," and set a machine in operation, which, if it can get hold of one end of a spool of yarn, will draw it in, and, stitch by stitch, " work and weave," narrow down the leg, turn and finish the heel, shape out the instep and foot, narrow off the toe, and pass a whole completed stocking out at the other end ; and immediately re-adjust itself, commence, and complete another ; and so on in- definitely, turning out these articles with a rapid- ity truly surprising. And what is more, all the required changes in the action of the parts neces- sary to make the stocking of the desired size and shape are effected automatically. Somebody Darwip, it may be - writes an elaborate and interesting description of this ma- chine, and its mode of producing stockings ; and that its power of production is immensely greater than the three or four pieces of straight wire and ten fingers. But he does not inquire about the inventor, designer, does not even ask his name. And yet he knows that the making and adjustment of that machine were all the work of human hands ; and that these hands were gov- erned in all their movements by an intelligent, designing mind ; and without this mind, the hands could not move, the machine could not exist ; and the mind is really manifested in all the move' Appendix. 191 men-is and operations of the machine also. And Mr. Darwin is wise enough to apply the same laws, though under different forms of operation, to the grand mechanisms of Nature, with all their varied and innumerable products ; but this last part of the subject, being deeper than human plummet can yet sound, he wastes no time in the attempt. Well, Mr. Jayram, being a born prince, doubt- less wore stockings in India ; while it is equally doubtful if he had ever seen them made. And yet he may very naturally have supposed them to be the result of some designing mind. But, on coming to England, he falls into the drift of " sci- entific thought " in that country, and begins to doubt. He reads Mr. Darwin's book on the knit- ting-machine, and its transformation of yarn into stitches, and of stitches into leg, ankle, heel, foot, and toe, a complete species of stocking, with all its varieties ; and his faith in thirty million gods vanishes into thin air; and before he has had time to more than fill their places with the grand, yet truthful and beautiful idea that " All arc but parts of one stupendous whole Who^c body nature is, :md God the soul," he comes out with the profoundly " scientific " " de- liverance," that this book "successfully unriddles what were once supposed to l,e mysterious cases 192 Appendix. of design ; " and has reached the sage conclusion that the human soul is " an incomprehensible nonsense," and that " God may be any thing or nothing," " for what he cares." He has read Darwin's book, and knows all about making stockings (the processes and operations of Nature) ; and there is no design or plan about it, as it is all done by " the mere favorable tendencies " of wood and iron, with their " intelligible causes," and " unexplained variations." And the mind which invented the machine, applied the force, set it in operation, and governs and regulates its move- ments, is only "the mere accident of matter;" and matter itself "is neither more nor less than the permanent possibilities of sensation." And after all this wonderful display of " rigorous reason- ing," Mr. Jayram groans out, " One might almost be tempted to believe that people actually deplore the advance of knowledge, when he sees how they hug and hail every remnant of mystery, as a sacred relic of salvation, safe yet from the sacrilegious hand of Science." And I cannot but think the "advance" of such "knowledge" as that to which we are treated in this lecture may be, on the whole, deplorable. But he tells us "that the dreaded enemy is still advancing steadily." The lord mayor of London, when out hunting, was told to "look out, as a hare was coming." Rising in his stirrups, and brandish- Appendix. 193 ing his sword, he exclaimed : " In God's name, let it come ? I'm not afeared ! " So, while I hope that this " dreaded enemy " will advance slowly, and don't care if he advances backwards, I can truly say, " I'm not afeared." But seriously : If Mr. Darwin's theories are really supported by the facts, and are true, then all these mechanisms of nature, which are here spoken of as mere " favorable tendencies " and " unexplained variations," by which all the forms of organic life are produced and endowed with their various attributes, powers, capacities, fur- nish as clear and strong proofs of design as the most ardent believers in the doctrines of Paley could ask for ; and even more, as it requires a higher order of inventive genius and skill to de- vise and construct a machine which shall success- fully do any given work, than it does to do the same work by hand. So it requires a higher order of designing mind to arrange and adjust the material conditions, rela- tions, and forces of nature, to the orderly production and succession of all the innumerable forms of organic life, than it does to sit down like a crafts- man, if such a thing be conceivable, and make them all by hand at the outset. And if all these forms of life have been slowly evolved, through numerous transformations of outward structure, from the cell, a process requiring, perhaps, mil- is 194 Appendix. lions of years for its accomplishment, the proofs of design only multiply with the complication of the mechanisms, and their increased facility and power of production; as all devices, inventions, relations of forces and conditions, must come short of the inventive wisdom and power which "de- signed," arranged, and set them all in operation. And hence, the combined designing intelligence, inventive wisdom, science, learning, power of ap- plication, of all living men, and all other beings, all that have lived and shall live, can never transcend, or even equal, in any one of these attri- butes, the Source from whence they are derived. And any inquiry as to how God came to exist, only enhances the grandeur of the subject, and the difficulties with which it is environed, as it merely sets primal causation a step farther back- ward, and still farther beyond the power of human comprehension ; and if any one feels aggrieved by the existing state of things, and don't like the name or idea of God, as the cause of them all, let him shift the whole responsibility upon Nature, and get all the consolation he can from a mere change of names : both the facts and the causes will remain unchanged by any such childish by-play. END. UCSB y. swa \