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the Inspired account. Nor are the moving heav enly bodies opposed. If we study the Dynamic principles of nature, beyond which the "Seer" seems never to have conceived a thought, they only reveal their dependence upon a superior power, and themselves the means God has ordained to prosecute his designs. Finally, nature affords nothing to weaken, but much to strengthen the sayings of Moses, the inspired Cosmogonist. But as this review is not so much designed to illustrate and confirm the Scriptures, (that belonging to their Exposition,) as to reveal the inconsistency and untruthfulness of old Pantheism, resurrected by modern mesmerism, we shall not enlarge upon the subject. We, therefore, in conclusion, remark, that all effort to cramp the manifestations of nature into a position which shall conflict with the Sacred Text, or to extort from her, testimony against the word of God, upon investigation proves in vain. And until Ethnographic science shall reveal facts which will not admit of a reasonable doubt, to attest a diversity and therefore disprove the unity of man's origin, it cannot be successfully maintained that all true light man possesses of the beginning and of the First Cause did not originate in the statements claimed by Biblicists as the Word of God. Peculiar traits are, from Patriarchs, transmitted through untold generations; and tradition,

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although it assumes varied forms, may be the living Oracle of ages, to utter the leading thoughts of ancestry. Can it be shown that the heathen Philosophers and all oriental Sages were not descendants from one Patriarchal family? Or that the Indian's idea of Manitou, or the Great Spirit, did not originate in the Bible theory of God. And who can prove that Divine Inspiration, as recorded in the Scriptures of Truth, has not been the source of man's knowledge of first principles? The Bible surely leads the enquirer to the threshold of that tabernacle of immensities forever incomprehensible to man. Inspiration, however, . seeking more especially man's moral good, does not dwell upon the incomprehensible, but proceeds to reveal; 1. The character of God, as affecting man. 2. His relation to his Creator and Benefactor. 3. His moral state and means of redemption from his degradation; and 4. His accountability to God, the righteous Judge. The requirements of the Inspired Word are just, the inducements to obedience laudable, and the prospects of future beatitudes in the path of righteousness, harmonize with man's highest sense and purest desires. In this system, therefore, the unbiased mind can but behold an incomparable superiority to that wandering and dreamy theory set forth in "Nature's Divine Revelations."

This closes our review of the first principles of the Pantheistic Creed, as reflected through A. J. Davis, and hence we proceed to consider its Ethics; a subject which more immediately affects man, being directly connected with his mode of action.

CHAPTER VI.

PANTHEISTIC THEORY OF MAN, MORALLY.

Three fundamental principles influence the lives and moral conditions of men:

I. The views entertained of the Being and Attributes of God; which embrace, His eternity; the mode of his existence, and the relation he sustains to the Universe of mind and matter. II. The views he entertains of his obligations to that God; and III. Of his duty to himself and his neighbor. The First governs the Second and Third. The deeds of men, which are the exemplification of the Third, are also an exposition of the First and Second.

The ideas entertained of God, temper man's internal and most vital consciousness: and this inward soul or sense, gives character and cast to outward manifestations. For man socially is moved by the propension of his mental nature, and this by his moral; and his moral nature is the image of whoever or whatever he accepts as God, and is made manifest in proportion to his faith. His moral nature affects his passions or affections, and these control his conduct. (These principles are too familiar with men of thought to need illustration.) Consequently, he

who conceives God to be a supreme embodiment of infinite mechanism, is stoic, mechanical, and arbitrary in his moral sense which reflects, through his deeds, his true character. Whoso beholds God as a combination of moving laws, subdued by a passional or love-nature, seeks personal gratification, obeys the impulses of his own frail being, and of his inclinations forms a selfpleasing criterion. Such virtually reject all law save that which harmonizes with their proclivity, and they therefore discard the idea of a Supreme Law-giver. Any system, thus based, removes from the human soul its reverence, and encloses the mind within the stubborn casement of arrogance; pervades the being with the spirit of self-righteousness; engenders ambition, and begets unlawful zeal, strife, and a desire for absolute supremacy. Such a system is directly opposed to the fundamental principles of the Christian religion. It meets the approbation of the carnally minded, and with perverted man readily multiplies its votaries. But the Gospel, in spirit and law the opposite, is unwelcome, because it teaches that he who exalteth himself shall be abased, and he who humbleth himself shall be exalted. To this end Jesus addressed his disciples, saying, "Whoever will be chief among you let him be your servant." And setting the example at the Passover, "He arose from

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