stated to well-known philosophical facts derived from observation and from the consciousness, by which they have been systematized and explained. We are compelled to do this, because this system contains the only scientific and consistent statement of the principles of human nature, and therefore is the only one that can be used to illustrate absolute truth, or the laws of a universal science and we have a right to take this course, because it is not the perfection of any logical process, or conformity with any received hypotheses, that gives to this science its claim to consideration, but the perfect universality and the perfect harmony, combined, that it presents; and also the use that it performs in accounting for and in explaining the phenomena of life, the facts of the Consciousness, the beliefs of the Church, the records of Inspiration, and the theories of Philosophy; all the principal forms of which have been conceived by us through the application of its laws, and their production demanded in the precise order in which we find them to have been realized. The mere fact that a scientific form can be constructed that shall embrace in harmonious combination so many spheres of thought, and such a variety of subjects, which had before been utterly discordant and hostile, and in which all partial and discordant systems and theories will be explained and accounted for, is of itself sufficient evidence of its truth: so that, unless some vital inconsistency can be detected, the system should be considered as demonstrated, so far as its general form and the laws which govern it are concerned, and therefore admissible for the purpose of illustration. This description will be made as general as is consistent with a distinct illustration of the Laws of Correspondence here stated; and the reader is therefore referred to the particular descriptions contained in other portions of this work for a more complete knowledge of the manner in which the laws of Absolute Science are illustrated by the structure and manifestations of the human constitution.

In making this statement of the primitive principles of the human constitution, we shall show that two forms of consciousness are necessary to man: a form of general consciousness, containing the principles of the Human Mind, which is developed from within outwards; and a form of personal consciousness, containing the principles of the Individual Soul, which is developed from below upwards, that separate individualizations are demanded for these in threefold forms, as spirit, soul, and body; in which body is the manifesting principle, and in which the

spirit is real, the soul is representative, and the body is externally productive, but internally destructive, and that the manifestations of these are governed by the laws of opposition, attraction, and union in production. We will now state the most general form of the human constitution, showing the relation between its spheres and departments; and then describe each of these in order, from the highest to the lowest, and state the various principles by which they are constituted, thus separating it into its constituent principles, and describing the general character that belongs to each department. In making a threefold individualization of the principles of the Human Mind,-which are the first in order, because they furnish the material for the incarnation of the Individual, or of the Soul,- we conceive this tri-personal form to represent the three descending spheres of Life in which God. exists as a tri-personality of Spirit, Soul, and Body, and to be constituted by Spiritual, Supernatural, and Natural Spheres. The Spiritual sphere is constituted by the Reason, which is the medium through which the Universal Laws of Being are communicated to the consciousness. The Supernatural sphere is constituted by the Sentimental Nature, which includes the Religious and Moral Sentiments as opposite departments, the first being internal and vital; and the second, external and destructive: these constitute an internal definite sphere of Truth and Good, and the mediums for the communication of phenomena which correspond with the laws of the Reason, and furnish materials in which they become definitely realized in forms that shall govern the development of the mind and of the individual consciousness. The Natural sphere is constituted by the Understanding and the Instinct as opposite departments, the first being internal and vital; and the second, external and destructive: these constitute an external sphere of Truth and Good, and the medium for the realization of forms of thought and of affection which furnish materials in which all the higher forms of consciousness must become incarnated before they can be comprehended through definite conception, apprehended through external representation, or manifested in individual experience. This tri-personal form of human consciousness - the Human Mind — incarnates in definite forms two most universal and indefinite principles, named "Perfection" and "Imperfection," which are the opposite poles of this consciousness, and represent the Infinite and Finite, which are the opposite poles of Being.

FORM OF THE GENERAL CONSCIOUSNESS,

WHICH CONTAINS

The Principles of the Human Mind.

As the opposite poles of this Consciousness, and as the roots of the Mind, are two principles, representing Infinite and Finite, which we name —

PERFECTION. — IMPERFECTION.

These are incarnated and individualized by three Spheres, related as Spirit, Soul, and Body, which constitute the Human Mind, as follows:

Spiritual Sphere, as Spirit.

THE REASON,

CONSTITUTED BY

TRUTH.-Good.

BEAUTY.

These most general divisions of the Human Mind we will now separate into the exact number of primitive principles which they contain, and show their correspondence with the laws of Absolute Science.

The principles of "Perfection" and "Imperfection," which constitute the opposite poles of the Mind, and are combined in all its forms and manifestations, are universal indefinite principles representing the Infinite and Finite. No particular description of them is therefore possible; and a knowledge of their character must be derived, through analogy, from our statement of the infinite and finite principles, and from our description and analysis of the vital and destructive forms and manifestations of the mind, which are their representatives. The first general division of the Mind is the Reason, or Rational Department: this contains the principles of Truth, Good, and Beauty, -as soul, body, and spirit, in which spirit is the manifesting principle,―constitutes the spiritual region of the mind, and is the medium through which Universal Spiritual Laws are communicated to the Consciousness. Being a medium for the communication of the Spiritual, the Reason does not, like the natural and supernatural departments of the mind, include a double duality of vital and destructive principles, representing the infinite and finite; but is harmoniously constituted as a perfect individuality of soul, body, and spirit. As the Spiritual, however, includes two opposite forms of Existence, one of which is Divine, and the other Infernal, the latter being an inversion of or total opposite to the former, as these cannot be made known except as they are contrasted by the presentation of opposite laws, and of opposite external representations, and as both must be included in any absolute presentation, for the reason that a choice between them must immediately be made, each one of these principles is constituted by antagonistic forms as opposite spheres, so that the Reason shall be a sphere through which can be presented the laws of Spiritual Life, in Truth, Good, and Beauty; and the laws of Spiritual Death, in Falsehood, Evil, and Deformity. We therefore find, that in a natural sphere of consciousness, where these principles obtain a natural, representative development, a double manifestation is to be observed, which is productive of opposite orders of symbolic correspondences, representing these opposite spheres, and constituting the foundation of Art, which is the external representative of this department of the mind.

The next general division of the Mind is the Sentimental Region, or the Supernatural Sphere; and it is interesting to observe that this region of the mind-although it is calculated for the representation in the Natural, and the realization in the Spiritual, of Spiritual Phenomena, and thus to furnish materials in

which spiritual ideas and laws can become incarnated - appears in a dualistic and discordant form, or as divided by two departments which are antagonistic to each other; and that these, like all the natural departments of the mind, represent the infinite and finite in dualistic forms, as "two and two, one against the other;" by which, diversity and discord are introduced, and also the necessity is realized that these should be combined and manifested in a supernatural manner, in order that any productive manifestation should be possible. This is necessary, first, for the reason that spiritual laws, for the incarnation and representation of which this region is calculated to furnish the materials, are both divine and infernal, and it must therefore be competent to realize forms corresponding with both Absolute Life and Absolute Death, in order that any conception of these laws should ever be realized in the consciousness, or any freedom of choice, consequent upon a spiritual condition of this consciousness, should be possible; and, next, because the incarnation of natural forms representing these phenomena in an unconscious symbolism, and in self-conscious forms corresponding with individual experiences, must be realized as a natural preparation for this great spiritual experience, — a natural preparation that must include both vital and destructive forms, realized by the successive development of these vital and destructive principles of the sentimental nature. This fact is particularly interesting, because it must settle conclusively the question of spirituality with regard to all sentimental manifestations, both religious and moral, without any reference to their psychological character; it not being possible either that spiritual life should be realized through a knowledge of phenomena separated from the laws with which they correspond and by which they are made comprehensible and vital, or that Spiritual Law, which is necessarily one, should be either communicated to, or manifested through, forms which have never realized any thing but dualistic and discordant conceptions of phenomena. Instead of being, like the Reason, threefold, the Sentimental Nature is divided into two opposite departments; one containing five principles appropriated to religious, and the other containing five principles appropriated to moral manifestations; these being arranged in the following order :

Religious Sentiments.

SPIRITUALISM.-NATURALISM.

INTUITION. VENERATION.

REVELATION.

Moral Sentiments.

JUSTICE.-SYMPATHY. SATISFACTION.-APPROBATION.

OBLIGATION.