truth will lead man to a spiritual knowledge of God,
and in the quickening of the Spirit the form most
suitable to the case in hand will be applied in order
to bring men severally to conviction. There is,
doubtless, in the numerous phases of the fallen heart,
a need of the varied modes of revelation ; and the
employment of these varied forms of inspiration dis-
plays in richer manner the Divine condescension, and
teaches men to look to the Spirit of God for aid
in the study of Divine truth, and to come to the con-
viction that as the mind of the ins2:)ired penman
TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION OF TRUTH. 75
yielded up to, and for the time being was lost to
himself in, the spirit of inspiration, so the carnal life
of the believer is destroyed in the measure of the
• indwellinof of the Divine in his soul. The end of
inspiration was to prepare for the coming of, and
to express the sayings and doings of the Son of God ;
and as the end of revelation required that the mode
adopted should most effectually exclude the iDfluencing
tendencies of the mediums through which it passed,
so must the Divine life in the believer rise su^^erior
to all the retarding of " the carnal," and absorb the
soul. Inspiration in its final is the inbreathing of
the Divine into the human, the incarnation of the
Son of God in the Son of man.
( 76 )
CHAPTER IV.
THE PRIMARY LAWS OF PERCEPTION, OR THE CONDITIONED
OF HUMAN BELIEF.
From the very constitution of our minds we are
forced to the conclusion that there is an eternal,
indestructible distinction in the nature of things.
We cannot rest satisfied in the notion that there
is a sameness in all life and conduct. We cannot
rest even in a state of doubt concerning the matter.
Nothing short of absolute conviction can possibly
satisfy us here. The law which conditions man's
thinking shuts us up to this belief.
The human mind does, however, rest satisfied in
the belief of an essential distinction in the nature of
things. And man needs no argument to convince
him that such and such a result takes place in accord-
ance with the nature of tliinos. The human mind
does not fret at the conviction that it cannot push an
inquiry beyond the perception that such a result
happens in accordance with the immutable Jaws of
all operation.
It is not in the power of sophistry to expel this
conviction from the human mind, nor can man per-
suade himself that even Omnipotence can alter or
THE PRIMARY LA WS OF PERCEPTION. 77
destroy the necessary properties of being and anni-
liilate the essential distinction of things. Man cannot
Ly any process of sophistication persuade himself or
convince others that being and not being are one and
the same thino-. Do what he will, man cannot believe
any such thing ; he cannot, for example, believe that
a straight line is a curve, and that a circle is a square.
Man cannot persuade himself that cause differs in
nothing from effect. Do what he will, man cannot
convince himself that wisdom is the same thing as
folly, that love is the same thing as hatred, that right
is identical with wrong, that virtue and vice are
synonymous.
No ; do what he will, man cannot persuade himself
that there is not an indestructible distinction between
these things. Neither can he convince himself that
this distinction does not lie in the very nature of
things. Man universally has an indestructible con-
viction that contrary qualities belong to . contrary
states of being. He is persuaded that the terms
which are employed to point out these distinctions
are terms which have always been emj^loyed to desig-
nate real qualities or essential distinctions in things,
and that these qualities and distinctions have their
foundations in the very essence of existence.
And just as man cannot believe that one and the
same substance can be in two contrary states or con-
ditions of being at one and the same time, so neither
can he believe that a substance can pass from one
state of existence into an opposite without losing the
qualities of the former and acquiring those of the
yS THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
latter state. It is, in fact, tlie j^ossessing tlie qualities
of a state that determines a substance or individual
to be in that state. And it is in tlie acquiring tlie
qualities of one and in the losing the qualities of the
other that a substance passes from the one state to
another. It is only through our perception of a sub-
stance possessing the qualities of a state that we can
rationally declare it to be in that state.
If we contemplate a straight line, and think of it
as assuming the form of a curve, we cannot any
longer think of it as a straight line ; it no lono-er
indicates the shortest distance between the points in
which its ends may be laid. If we inscribe a circle
within a square, and in thought try to make the
periphery assume the form of a square, then to the
extent to which we do so it is clear the circle loses its
properties ; all straight lines drawn from the centre
to its periphery would no longer be equal to one
another, and vice versa if we inscribe a square within
a circle. Our apprehension of all such truths is con-
ditioned by an absolute necessity or immutable law
of thinking, a necessary principle or fixed condition
in the nature of intellectual being. And this law of
thinkiug is involved in the very nature of mind.
And as there is no sufficient reason for believino- that
our intellectual being is other tlian a reflex of the
Divine, this law of thinking, or condition of belief,
must have its origin or seat in the immutable prin-
ciple of the uncreated essence of the Infinite and
Eternal Mind. And this law, which necessitates the
method of our thinking, appertains not merely to the
THE PRIMAR Y LA WS OF PER CEPTION. 7 9
domain of matter or of mathematical forms, ^^'e are
also convinced that it has a place in the sphere of
morals, and that it as really belongs to the region of
spirit as to the domain of intellect. On what ground,
for example, can it be affirmed that spiritual life is
less exact or immutable in its essential conditions
than are mathematical properties or material forms ?
Is the being of God, the nature of Spirit, or the
principles which determine that nature in its deposi-
tions, volitions, and consciousness, less exact and
definite than the properties of the circle or of
the square ? We think not. The constitution of
humanity is surely not less real and immutable in
itself in all that appertains to it than the forms and
principles of mathematical science. Existence, life,
justice, harmony, beauty, and bliss are not less real,
though men may differ about them, than the forms
of the circle and the properties of the square. Men,
for the most part, admit that there are necessary
truths, eternal relations, and distinctions which
nothing can destroy ; but wdiile many admit this
in regard to mathematical and logical forms, they
are not so clear about it in regard to other forms of
truth. It is impossible, however, that we can rest
here. The very perception of necessity in one de-
partment of truth naturally leads us to look for the
like necessity in other departments.
There are in the regions of idealism constitutional
forms and model conceptions separate and distinct
from any one actual existence, and thus it is with
humanity. We do not say that this ideal type or
So THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL LI IE.
model concept of liumanity exists in the linmau mind
in as clear a form as does its conception of the arch
or the square, but surely we may affirm that this
concept of man existed in the Divine Mind as defi-
nitely as does exist the concept of any mathematical
figure in the human mind. If so, then surely the
concept was perfect, and man as he came forth from
God's hand was in harmony with it. And man, in
tlie measure in which he comes up to this model con-
cej^t or recedes from it, must from the nature of the
case be perfect or imperfect. And if man was created
l)y God in complete accordance with this model
concept, he must have sprung from the hand of his
Creator perfect and entire. And every human being
is perfect or imperfect, just in the measure in which
he comes up to or recedes from this typal form of
humanity in the conceptions of God.
And who will venture to say that it is impossible
that the race of mankind can have passed from a
condition of conformity into a state of discordance
with this model type ? Now, in the event of such a
transition taking place, it is clear that man would no
lono-er be what he was when he came forth from the
hand of his Creator. And as we are unable to believe
that the human body can pass from a state of perfect
health into one of sickness and still retain the vigour,
beauty, and buoyancy of health, and as we cannot
conceive the possibility of the human mind passing
from clear views of truth into perplexity of error and
still retaining the satisfaction of lucid perceptions,
so we cannot imagine that the human heart can pass
THE PRIMA R Y LA WS OF PERCEPTION. 8i
from love of tlie Divine into aversion to the Godlike,
and still enjoy the love of the Divine, In fine, we
cannot realise the possibility of man passing from a
conscious oneness of life with God into the realisation
of the evils of a fallen state, and still retaining com-
munion with God.
Moreover, just as we are unable to believe that the
human body can be in a state of sickness without
experiencing more or less of the prostration which
disease invariably entails, as the human mind cannot
be in a condition of ignorance and error without more
or less partaking the perplexity that inevitably flows
from ignorance and error — so we are unable to believe
that the human spirit can be conscious of wickedness
without realising more or less of the upbraidings of
conscience. In other words, we are unable to believe
that a human being can be in contrary states at one
and the same moment — a human body at once in a
state of sickness and of perfect health — a human
mind at once in a condition of ignorance and of clear
perception of law and duty — a human heart at once
ardently loving and bitterly hating the same being,
principles, and ends of life — in short, that a human
soul can at one and the same time be spiritually dead
and alive. And why is this ? surely it is because the
law of human thinking, the principles of the Divine
administration, and the nature of things, compel us
to it — we feel the impossibility of its being otherwise.
We know that man can pass from one condition to
another — the body from a condition of health to a
state of sickness, the mind from a condition of dis-
82 THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
ccrnment to a state of prejudice, and the spirit from
the consciousness of tlie rectitude of its doinirs to the
conviction of the wronirfuhiess of its deeds, or the
converse. But we cannot believe that a man can be
in both these contrary states at one and the same
time, or that he can be in either state without pos-
sessing tiie qualities of the state he is in, or tliat he
can realise the conditions of any state without being
in that state.
If, then, we find that humanity is destitute of the
qualities of a pure and holy life, and that man desires
and struggles after the benefits of a perfect condition
while manifesting the properties of a fallen and sinful
life, must we not in these circumstances come to tlie
conclusion that he has passed from the one state to
the other ? And the C[uestion, What is man's natural
or orioinal state? is a momentous one. With a view
to its solution w^e may point out the fact that his
judgments are not as correct as his instincts, his
dispositions and desire's are not what his reason
approves of ; nor are his deeds worthy of his powers,
means, and opportunities. His views of being, life,
and destiny, are not clear and cloudless ; nor are his
supreme affections Godward. He does not rest in
the love of God, nor is he supremely desirous of being
conformed in life to the Father of his spirit. His
conscience often condemns him. He has miso-ivino-s
about the future, and dread of retriljution. We may
well ask, what are the ideas of God which idolatry in
man has evolved, the ideas which infidelity, ration-
alism, and speculation, have sketched ? Why are men
THE PRIMAR Y LA WS OF PERCEPTION. ^2>
ever striving to bring the teacliings of revelation into
conformity with their likings, instead of their con-
ceptions into agreement with the teachings of a jDnre
and holy faith ? These facts, w^e think, indicate that
man is in a fallen condition. How, or by what ^^ar-
ticular influence, instrument, or agency, a spirit passes
from one state into its opposite, belongs to a region of
inquiry which is little known to us, and in its higher
domain is far out of sii^ht. In the belief of the
possibility of such a transition, there is involved no
absurdity or contradiction. The acquaintance with,
or realisation of, the results of such a transition is
near to us, at our very door — it lies in our deepest
consciousness.
There is, then, in man a necessary law of belief, a
conditioned form of thinking. He must, when the
matter is brought under his notice, believe in an
immutable and eternal distinction of thinixs. He
is shut up to such a belief by the constitution of
his mind ; and do what he will, he cannot escape
from this law of thinking. He must believe that
the state and the qualities of the state are inseparable,
and that, if a man passes from one state to another,
he must lose the qualities of the one and acquire those
of the other.
(84 )
CHAPTER Y.
PRINCIPLES OF THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION.
God reigns over a threefold kingdom by a duality of
law. His Sceptre is twofold in its sway. His reign,
is perfect and universal. The principle of duality
pervades the entire administration of the Most High.
By a twofold force God governs His universe. By
force, negative and positive, attractive and repulsive,
centripetal and centrifugal, God governs the ma-
terial universe. By truth and error, by knowledge
and ignorance, by conviction and doubt, God rules
over the universe of mind. By love and hatred, by
desire and aversion, by consciousness of right and
conviction of wrong, God reigns over the universe of
spirit.
No existence can escape the control of God. No
heavenly body, however erratic, can wander beyond
the limits of space, or escape from the influence of the
law of attraction or repulsion ; fly where it may, it
must always move in space, and under the influence
of its primary laws. And as the planet is ensphered
in space, so is the finite embosomed in tlie Infinite.
The harmonious operation of this twofold law
THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. 85
preserves tlie beauty, order, and progress of the
material universe. The increment of one power over
another causes disturbance and ofttimes dissolution of
the several parts, but not the annihilation of any one
of the elemental poAvers. The storm may rage, the
elements may battle, mountain chains may be dislo-
cated or upheaved, individuals may die and families
perish, yet in earth's greatest natural strife, and in
times of most sweeping devastations, not one atom of
matter perishes, nor alters in the least in its essential
nature. Mind, however capricious, cannot surmount
the sphere of intellect and escape the region of
tliouo;ht. It cannot divest itself of the influence of
truth and error, of knowledge and ignorance. It
must move in lioht or in darkness. If mind moves or
O
thinks at all, it can only do so under the influence
of the true or the false. The movements of mind
under the influence of truth are harmonious and satis-
fying, its movements under the influence of error are
disunitino- and distressing^ ; and its movements
under the contending influence of truth and error are
conflictive in the direction and degree of the prevailing
power of the movement.
In the struggles of mind with truth and error, in
the descent of mind under the bondage of falsehood,
there is no distinction of its intellectual constitution
nor annihilation of its individuality. Mind, even in
its degraded condition, still remains the sphere of
thought, the only difference being, that it has become
the arena of struggle and conflict, the subject of con-
tending ideas.
86 THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
Spirit, again, liowever rebellious, cannot escape the
domain of consciousness ; it cannot divest itself of
tlie influeiiC3 of love and Late, of the consciousness
of the rio-htfulness or the wroni^fulness of its deeds, of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction with its condition of
existence. The movements of Spirit under the power
of the love of the Divine are elevating and joyous,
its movements under the hatred of the true are de-
grading and tormenting. The consciousness of the
rectitude of our doings is the realisation of strength
and delight to the Spirit. The consciousness of the
wrongfulness of our deeds is the realisation of weak-
ness and v/oe to the Spirit. Do what it may, Spirit
must exist in a state of love or hate, or under their
contending influence. Exert itself as it may, it
cannot escape the conditions and obligations of its
endless existence.
Every atom, then, that moves must move under the
law of attraction or repulsion. Every mind that
thinks must think under the sway of truth or error.
Every spirit that acts must act under the influence of
love or hatred, must realise the consciousness of the
rightfulness of its doings, or the wrongfulness of its
deeds, or be tossed between their contending sway.
These we hold to be the eternal laws of finite exist-
ence. In one or other of these states, the spirit
of man must ever exist, and liy no possibility can it
escape this necessity of its being. In the harmonious
operations of their principles, peace continues, vigour
rules, and bliss is realised. In the opposition or
contention of these principles conflict prevails, weak-
THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. 87
ness arises, suffeumo- is felt, and deo-radation is
secured.
We sometimes speak of states of indifference, and
matter, mind, and spirit, may for the moment be so
poised as to appear to be under the control of neither
of their opposing influences, but for the time being
they are equally under the sway of both. The
equilibrium, however, can only be of brief duration.
The one or the other must ultimately triumph. As a
matter of course, we do not here speak of states, the
normal condition of which is that of equilibrium.
The principles by which God governs His loyal
subjects, the manifestations by which He dwells in
and holds fellowship with His obedient children, are
love, truth, and the consciousness of the rectitude of
being and life. The powers by which He reigns over
His rebellious subjects and governs His disobedient
offspring are enmity, error, and the consciousness
of the wronofuluess of their beino; and doine: ; He
thus dwells in the consciousness, and rules over the
life of His faithful children, while He dwells outside
of the consciousness and rules over the life of His
rebellious offspring.
Man must exist and realise within the sphere of
truth or error, love or hatred, consciousness of the
rio^htfuluess of His cloino;s or the wrono^fulness of His
deeds. He may abandon the light of the true, and
fall from the love of the Divine ; he may deprive him-
self of the consciousness of the rectitude of his doing's
and betake himself to a life of ungodliness, but escape
from any pair of these correlated conditions at one and
88 THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
the same time he cannot. He must, if he exist at
all, exist either in the consciousness of the one or the
other, or partly in the one and partly in the other.
In the one condition his heavenly Father smiles upon
him and blesses him, and imparts to him a sense of
His favour and presence. In the other God frowns
upon the sinner, and inflicts the penalty of His law
upon the transgressor, removing him to a distance
from Himself.
Love is an attracting principle of life ; it unites the
soul in which it reigns to whatever is beautiful, or is
conceived to be beautiful, in being and blissful in
life. Love of truth draws ns truth ward, and leads
us to the investio-ation of the true. Love of what is
purely imaginary, delusive, and false, leads to a belief
in what is fictitious, and produces a strong tendency
towards it. In like manner love of the Divine draws
us Godward and assimilates us to the Holy, and love
of the false and evil draws us towards the evil one,
and ends in the de2;radation of ruin and life and beine:.
Enmity is a repelling j^rincij^le. We are averse to
what we dislike. Dislike of the true and aversion to
the Holy removes to a distance from the elevating
influence of the Divine. So also the dislike of the
illusive, a hatred of the false, keeps us at a distance
from the imaginary, false, and misleading. Enmity
is a tormenting power. In the presence of what we
hate we are disturbed and pained in the degree of the
intensity of our hatred.
We do not love the evil and the false because they
arc evil and false, i.e., under the belief that they
THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. 89
are evil and false. Neither do we hate the true and
shun the good because they are true and good, i.e.,
under the belief that they arc true and good, but
because at the moment we are under the impression
that the true is not true, and the good is not good,
and that the evil and false are not evil and false.
Man seeks not evil for its own sake. The avaricious
and selfish seek benefit, distinction, &c., for their
own sake ; and these things are good in themselves.
It is not the exercise of power in the pursuit of these,
but the wrong use or perversion of power in the
obtaining of such, that is evil. It is when the
motives, j^i'iiiciples, and ends, are not what they
ought to be, that wrong is done in the pursuit of
these things. AVhcn the motive is not obedience
to the will of God but preference of personal will,
when the end is not general good but self-gratifica-
tion, evil and not good is the result.
But gratification, benefit, &c., are not in them-
selves evil, but good. Again, the true and good are
not disliked for their own sakes, but because the true
often pains us by revealing to us what we dislike, and
the good by rec[uiring of us at times an amount
of self-denial we are disinclined to, are imagined to
be evil. Thus light and medicine are not disliked in
themselves, but because of the pain which they at
times subject us to. Light is not looked upon as evil
in itself, but is felt to be so, and shunned by the
diseased eye. Medicine is not thought to be an evil
in itself, but because of its bitterness it is disliked
by the sick.
90 THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
In afFording us tlie love of the godlike, God comes
into us and dwells in us in the measure in which we
cherish this love ; and we, in cherishing this love,
rise into the fellowship of the Divine, and draw near
to God in the vision of His glory. " He that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him," In G^ivinc:
us up to the dislike of the true, God abandons us to
the power of evil ; and we, in cherishing dislike to the
ixodlike, descend into the conflict of darkness and woe.
'' We have loved strangers, and after them will we go."
" The w^ay of the transgressor is hard."
Truth is that which reveals God, and manifests the
Divine. It is that in which the Divine comes down
to the human, and in which the Infinite reveals Him-
self to the finite. Truth is that by which the finite
ascends into the presence of the Infinite, and holds
fellowship with the Divine. The Infinite, by means
of truth, condescends to the finite, and, through the
apprehension of truth, the finite ascends to the Infin-
ite. In the revelation of the true, the Infinite comes
within the apprehension of the finite. In the belief
of the true, the finite rises to the embrace of the
Infinite, to the delight and enjoyment of the Divine.
They wdio live in the love and belief of the true,
dwell in the light of God's countenance.
Error is that which presents the false to the mind
in the semblance of the true, the form in the place of
the substance, the shadow instead of the reality of
being. Error is that which the fancy and imagina-
tion, instead of the senses and perception, present to
the mind. In the belief of error, the subjective of
THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. 91
tlie individual believing separates itself from and
becomes unlike to the objective real. The subjective