natural appearance of evil cannot be accounted for, except upon the ground of evil in the spiritual cause, by which it must, of course, be produced; but, in the case of Plutarch, the phenomenon of evil only led him to infer the existence of an absolute cause as its origin, and did not lead him to posit any absolute principle, or to construct from such statement any theory by which imperfection or evil could rationally be accounted for. It was simply a recognition of the fact, that good and evil are to be referred to opposite spiritual principles or causes, the sole object being to get rid of the absurdity of referring evil to God; but even the attempt was not made to explain the nature of these two principles, or to show how two opposite principles of any kind could possibly co-operate in the creation of the world, and thus how the opposite phenomena of good and evil could become mixed therein.

An apparently absolute dualism was recognized by the Hebrews, as we may see from the records of the Old Testament, because they were the legitimate representers of a supernatural order of thought; and absolute evil, as well as absolute good, must therefore have been represented, although it could not have been recognized, by them. But this dualism of the Hebrews was poetic, representative, and symbolic, and must have been so for the reason, that until humanity, and consequently philosophy, had been developed in three natural spheres, nothing but poetic representation was possible. Therefore, although this dualism was apparently an absolute one, from the manner of its realization it was made to contradict the dualism which it represented. In this process, the second term was forcibly transferred from the natural to the spiritual, where it could not possibly belong: so that, in point of fact, only one absolute principle was actually posited by the Hebrews. The manner in which they undertook to realize Evil as an absolute fact, or as an absolute personification, was through the apostasy of the angels. But the supposition that absolute evil could originate in the angels, who were not uncreated, but created, cannot be entertained for a moment from any rational point of view, but must be regarded as the poetic representation of an absolute fact that could not then be stated. Besides this apparent recognition of an absolute dualism in good and evil, the Hebrews also made a statement of dualism as a law of universal natural relationship. Thus we read in the book of Ecclesiasticus: "Good is set against Evil, and Life against Death. So is the godly against the sinner, and the sinner against

the godly. So look upon all the works of the Most High, and there are two and two, one against the other." It must be seen, however, that this is only the representation of a law that could not be conceived, and so could not really be stated, because it is stated in terms which render it entirely useless for any practical purpose; and we therefore find that this formula, which is here given as a law of universal natural relationship, no one has ever thought of applying for the purpose of classifying and explaining these "works of the Most High."

A dualism similar to that of the Hebrews has been recognized in the Christian Church; where, in addition to a belief in the origin of Absolute Evil through the apostasy of the Angels, and its consequent personification in Satan and other infernal personages who were subordinate to him, Evil is conceived as originating a second time in the first man, Adam; by the apostasy or disobedience of whom, sin and death were introduced into this lower world, and the entire human race were brought under the dominion of Absolute Evil. As this theory of the Church, how-* ever, is also poetical and not rational, being only a natural representation of spiritual facts which could not at the time be stated; as the irrational and immoral character of all the theories of the Church, which are fast being abandoned and repudiated, must be obvious to the philosophic mind; and as all the questions which are involved in the theology of the Church will be fully considered and clearly explained in the theological portion of this science, nothing more need now be said upon this subject.

A dualism has always been recognized in Philosophy, in Infinite and Finite, Spirit and Matter, Unity and Multiplicity, &c., which have been conceived as excluding each other, and still as being referable to one substance or cause; and in the modern eclectical school, founded by Emanuel Kant, this dualism was taken up, from the point of the Consciousness, as Subject and Object. As neither Kant nor any of his followers, however, were able to posit a second universal principle, for the reason that they were confined to a naturalistic point of view, the law of Unity in Diversity became their only governing principle; and the consequence of this was, that, separate from their recognition of the opposite elements in thought, which exclude each other, and still seem to be combined in every fact of consciousness, they were obliged to obtain their principles by generalizing phenomena, in which these elements are combined, and their conclusions by reasoning logically from these generalized appearances. Instead of separating, analyzing, and

explaining, therefore, they could do nothing but combine, and thus confound; and instead of being led to antagonize opposites, and to discover the law which realizes their union, it finally became their object to show that no opposition really existed between them. As these philosophers attempted to conceive opposite laws, the relationship between them, and the manner in which they become combined in production, before the laws of relationship and of production had been discovered, nothing but failure could have been expected; and we therefore find that nothing but failure was the result. Kant continued to recognize both subjective and objective, both the unconditioned and the conditioned, both the one and the multiple, but maintained that no conception of the subjective, the unconditioned, or the one, was possible to man, and consequently, that, separate from the knowledge derived from sensible experience, nothing can be known; while those of his followers who continued their speculations became lost in a variety of pantheistic, atheistic, and anthropomorphic delusions.

We have now shown that the dualistic theories which have been recognized in Philosophy and in the Church are simply the recognition of an apparent, representative dualism which is found to exist in the phenomena of natural life, having no substantial foundation, and not, therefore, being competent to furnish any law that can aid in the classification and comprehension of these phenomena. This is not the fact, however, with regard to the law of Duality that has here been stated as the universal law of Existence; because, as this law has been founded in a legitimate conception of the manner in which Absolute Existence is realized in the union of opposite Absolute Laws through the Law of Marriage, — and as every thing in the Natural exists as an image or representative of this opposition and of this union, it is a law by the means of which, in connection with the law of Unity, all natural phenomena can be classified, analyzed, and explained; showing how it is that "the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his Eternal Power and Godhead."

THE LAW OF TRINITY.

ACCORDING to our statement of the law of Trinity, "As the condition of Spiritual Life, the Individual must become at one with Infinite Life by the marriage in him of spiritual opposites; this being realized through the consciousness of Infinite and Finite Law as a personal experience, — the voluntary sacrifice of Individual Life, the realization in him of a spiritual substance as the centre of life,—and his regeneration into a spiritual form as a medium for the manifestation of Spiritual Truth, Good, and Beauty."

This universal law of Life is founded in the process by which the union of Infinite and Finite Principles was effected, and TriPersonality in God established. It may therefore be termed the Law of Marriage which realizes the union of opposites through the voluntary sacrifice of individual life, -a law that is represented in all the vital forms of Philosophy, of Society, and of the Church, and in all the legitimate forms of Art; but is represented in a particular manner in the ontological conceptions of philosophy, and in the theological conceptions, by the church, of Absolute Cause. As these are natural conceptions, however, they contradict the idea which they represent, and therefore cannot be applied by philosophy in the explanation of the origin and nature of phenomenal existence or the facts of the human consciousness, or by the church in the explanation of those theological forms by which the nature of God, of Man, and of Christ, and their relations to each other, are represented; for, as no posit of opposite universal causes as the ground of Existence has been made, no adequate idea of Marriage could, of course, have been realized either by Philosophy or by the Church. A threefold form of absolute substance has been recognized by philosophy, as the ground of her ontological

speculations; but this was not because the nature of these forms or the manner in which creation is effected by them was comprehended, but because all natural things are found to exist in this threefold form, and it was inferred that the cause of these must also so exist. These conceptions of a threefold condition of one absolute substance represent the result of the operation of the law of Marriage in the realization of Tri-Personal Absolute Cause, related as spirit, soul, and body, and the activity of this cause in the creation of the Universe; while they contradict this law, because, instead of recognizing the law of Marriage, which realizes the union of opposites in God, and the law of Existence, through which opposites are combined and manifested by the divine providence of God in the production of Natural Life, nothing but the laws of Unity in Diversity and Tri-Unity have been applied in realizing conceptions of God, and of the phenomena of the Universe and the consequence of this has been, that every thing belonging to a supernatural order of thought has been contradicted, and nothing could be understood; for we have already shown how destructive to philosophy these natural laws have been. A threefold form of Absolute Being has also been adopted by the Church as the foundation of her theology, for the reason that the Scriptures demand this threefold conception as a ground for the representation of Christianity: but in all cases the conception of this form has been suggested to her by some form of the human consciousness, and includes three divine persons whose manifestations in the salvation and regeneration of the soul are of a diversified and discordant character, corresponding with the moral manifestations of human nature in its most external natural condition, and do not suggest one spiritual idea to the mind; while, as we have shown, the realization of Tri-Personality in God is through the experience in an Absolute Sphere of those conditions which, in a phenomenal sphere, constitute the experience of Christianity. Although in theology the religious sentiment has assisted to give a tri-personal character to the conception of God, there has been a constant tendency in the Church to merge the idea of Tri-Personality in that of Tri-Unity, or simple individuality; a tendency of which the unitarians take advantage, to aid them not only to overthrow the idea of Tri-Personality, but to set up their destructive naturalistic forms of thought as the real Trinitarianism, perverting with unholy lips the sacred names of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. As a preparation, therefore, for the application of the law of Trinity in connection with the laws of Dual