THE

LAWS OF PHENOMENAL BEING.

In our statement of God as a Tri-Personality, we have shown, that Infinite and Finite eternally subsist as opposite Universal Spheres of Indefinite Being, related as Male and Female, which together constitute the possibility of Existence, or of Definite Being, both Absolute and Phenomenal ; — that the union of these resulted in a birth from the Finite of an Individual combining in a dualistic form definite incarnations and representations of Absolute Principles or Laws, and realizing a definite condition of Absolute Substance, which, after the sacrifice in this Individual of his finite life, became by its regeneration a Divine Substance, through which He became manifested as the Divine Principle of Life, which we call The Father, or the Soul of God;—that this incarnation necessitated the production from this Divine Principle of a more external Individual, for the reason that every thing must exist in a tri-personal form as spirit, soul, and body; in consequence of which the Son of God was realized as "the onlybegotten of the Father," and a still more external condition of Absolute Substance was also realized, which, after the sacrifice of finite life in the Son, became by its regeneration a Spiritual Substance, through which He became manifested as the Spiritual Principle of Life, or as the Body of God; — and that by these processes an individualization of Absolute Life and Absolute Substance was realized as spirit, soul, and body, constituting Absolute Creating Cause. In doing this, we not only obtain a conception of God as a Tri-Personality of Holy Ghost, Father, and Son, as the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body of God, but also obtain a conception of the relationship between the Material Universe and God as its Creator, Preserver, and Governor; because, in the conception of this birth through the union of Infinite and Finite

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as the Universal Ground of things, we not only obtain an individualization of the Absolute as Creating Cause, but bring the material for creation within the limits of His Consciousness; this material being constituted by opposite indefinite phenomenal substances, or material laws, which by being combined in definite forms furnish mediums through which the Absolute may be represented in a natural, and manifested in a spiritual sphere; a conception of the capacity of this material being realized by each of these Absolute Persons, in correspondence with his sphere of life; so that a conception of Creation was realized by the Father as a Divine Idea, and by the Son as a threefold universal sphere of Definite Phenomenal Being; and, as Conception and Creation are with God the same, the realization of God as a tri-personal Creating Cause was necessarily attended by the realization of Creation as a Phenomenal Effect.

Two separate self-subsisting spheres of substance, which we designate Absolute and Phenomenal, the first being adapted to the incarnation or definite realization of Absolute Causes, and the second being adapted to the representation and manifestation of these in the most external and diversified manner through a sphere of Definite Phenomenal Being, - were included in our posit of Infinite and Finite as the Universal Ground of Things; not only because without this recognition of phenomenal substance, and of its subsistence in this relation to Absolute Cause, the Existence of God would be incomplete, and the external manifestation and representation of His Infinite Perfections would be impossible, but because it is the only condition upon which the creation of a Material Universe, with Man as its head, can rationally be conceived: and, as a proof of this, we find that the failure to obtain this conception has compelled the rational mind to regard Creation as absolutely existing in God, or to regard the phenomena of the Universe as modes of manifestation in God as the Infinite Principle of Life; a pantheistic conception that is as inconsistent with true rationality as it is destructive to Christianity. These indefinite phenomenal substances, or these material laws, are not conceived as dead matter, but as self-subsisting substances and spiritual causes, susceptible of combination by the Creative Power in a definite natural substance in forms unconsciously representing Absolute Causes, and also susceptible of union in a spiritual substance in forms consciously manifesting in a phenomenal manner these Absolute Causes in the most external and diversified forms of Spiritual Life and of Spiritual Death: and,

as a perfect correspondence exists between absolute and phenomenal substances in each sphere, we are able to use the same terms to designate the laws of absolute and the laws of phenomenal indefinite substance, although it will be necessary that we guard against confounding phenomenal with absolute conditions when these terms are used. It will, therefore, be understood that life is not communicated to these substances by an absolute power, because in this case all their manifestations would be absolute; but that a material life is inherent in them, and manifestations are therefore spontaneously produced upon their being combined in definite forms by an absolute power, the nature of these manifestations being dependent upon the particular form which they are made to take.

When God conceived or created the Universe, therefore, he created it from these indefinite material substances; and he creates it in his own image, that it may constitute a medium through which he can be represented and manifested in the most ultimate forms and in the most diversified manner. He therefore creates this Universe to become first Natural, and afterwards Spiritual: first, because nothing can become spiritual without first being developed as a natural dualistic representative form that is opposite to God in its life; next, because this is the order in which Definite Absolute Existence, or Tri-Personality in God, became realized; and, finally, because it would not otherwise be an image of Him, or constitute a medium through which He could manifest Himself in the most external and diversified manner, which must evidently have been the object contemplated by God in its creation. Man, as the head of this Material Universe, must therefore have been created with a capacity for obtaining reality for his life by the realization of a consciousness absolute in its form, which should represent and constitute a medium for the manifestation of One Absolute Principle, instead of being a representative of two which are opposite, which is the fact with regard to all natural existence; that is, he must have been created capable of realizing the most external forms and functions of spiritual existence, and thus of becoming a medium for the representation and manifestation either of Absolute Life or of Absolute Death. We may therefore state the fact of Creation in the following manner: By the combination of indefinite infinite and finite phenomenal substances by the Divine Activity, a definite condition of Matter was realized outside of the Personality of God, and therefore existing in a Phenomenal instead of an Absolute region, as an external medium

through which God could become represented and manifested in the most ultimate or in the most external and diversified manner, in three spheres, which we call Spiritual, Ethereal, and Material, related as spirit, soul, and body; Human Substance constituting the spiritual region of definite phenomenal substance, and thus containing a threefold essence which is spiritual, ethereal, and material.

The soul, being created, cannot itself be an Absolute Cause; but it is made to include a capacity, through its relation with Infinite Substance and with God as its creator, for recognizing and becoming at-one with spiritual or divine-human forms of Absolute Law and of Absolute Phenomena, and for applying its knowledge of these in the realization of Absolute Science in that form which is termed in the Scriptures "the Wisdom of God." This is not realized from an absolute and creative, but from a phenomenal and receptive, point of view; neither can it be realized in a natural, but only in a spiritual, condition and sphere of consciousness, which are made possible to the soul by the assumption of a universal form of Human Nature by the Son of God, and by the realization in Himself and in Human Substance of a divinehuman principle, by which a medium of communication is established between Man and his Maker.

As the Soul must be developed first as a dualistic natural, and afterwards as a tri-personal spiritual form, and as the natural must always be unconsciously sustained by the spiritual, it is created both dualistic and tri-personal. All its particular departments, therefore, contain natural dualistic forms representing Infinite and Finite; and also contain a supernatural form representing Spiritual Life through Marriage, or the union of opposites through voluntary sacrifice, which constitutes a medium through which the Divine Activity operates in the continuous creation, combination, and manifestation of these natural dualistic forms: while the general form of the Mind, and also of the Will, is constituted tri-personal by three spheres, related as Spiritual, Supernatural, and Natural; the first containing unconsciously, as the centre of life, spiritual forms representing the Universal Laws of Being, and the form of God as Creating Cause, and also a natural form representative of these by which they are connected with the natural consciousness; the second containing supernatural forms representing Spiritual Relationships corresponding with these laws, and also a natural form representing the manner in which these become realized; and the third containing laws and