symbols which are the representatives of spiritual ideas, and are therefore mistaken for them from a vital supernatural point of view, should be sacrificed and repudiated, and even those which are opposite substituted in their place, in order that the progress of the soul may be secured, and the Spiritual Itself be finally reached and realized. The Law of Contrariety is illustrated in the most particular manner by the manifestations of the Sentimental Nature and the development of the Individual Consciousness. The general illustrations of this law are, first, that the internal and vital sentimental laws are represented and become physically incarnated through the external and destructive sentimental principles in the most external and destructive condition of the individual consciousness, while the external and destructive sentimental laws are realized and become intellectually incarnated through the internal and vital sentimental principles in the most internal and vital condition of this consciousness; next, that, in an external sphere, the individual appropriates these incarnations and representations of vital laws in combination with destructive partial and personal forms, while, in an internal sphere, he appropriates these intuitions and conceptions of destructive laws in combination with vital partial and personal forms, these being combined and manifested through the Will, in the first case productively, and in the second destructively, in relation to supernatural truth and good. This law is also illustrated by these particular manifestations, which are individualized under four forms, developed successively and antagonistically; these being Catholicism, Protestantism, Unitarianism, and Transcendentalism; each one of which is developed under the operation of this law. We will therefore describe these forms in the order of their production, and state the opposite sentimental principles and the opposite individual forms which operate in their production and experience by the individual. Catholicism, as the lowest and most external form of vital sentimental experience, was produced through the unconscious operation of the principles of "Spiritualism" and "Veneration" in the Religious, and of "Justice" and "Approbation" in the Moral department, as the governing sentimental principles; the first, in both cases, being the vital male, or perceptive principle, and the second the destructive female, or receptive principle. These vital laws were incarnated in the Catholic Church, according to laws of correspondence, in a supernatural, incomprehensible manner, in physical forms and spontaneous external manifesta tions, by which Spiritual Truth, Good, and Beauty were represented, and natural and supernatural uses became realized by the individual through the unconscious, spontaneous apprehensive recognition of these forms. This recognition was entirely disconnected from any comprehension of that which was represented by them, and also from any connection or comparison with internal individual experiences; and was productive in the individual simply of emotional states of the consciousness and of external physical manifestations representative of spiritual life. These forms were established as the governing laws of the individual life, by the subjection of the individual to this Church, through the sentiments of "Veneration" and "Approbation," in their most external condition, by which he became receptive entirely from her, in the development of the principle of "Direction" in the Will, a principle through which the individual obtains a consistent and calculated external manifestation and direction of himself, under the highest external influence that can operate upon him. Externally considered, this is the most perfect form of Individuality that can be realized in a natural condition of the soul, because it is constructed after a vital supernatural form or pattern provided by the Church; while, internally considered, it is the most imperfect, because it is completely artificial and unreal, even from a natural point of view; the individual not having yet commenced his development from an internal, self-conscious position, and his real personal condition being, in its growth from below upwards, the most imperfect and destructive, ― this not having been changed, but only concealed from observation. It will therefore be seen, that no two things can, in the natural, be more antagonistic than the form and the substance of the individual at this period of his growth and development. Protestantism, as the highest and most internal form of vital sentimental experience, was produced through the conscious operation of "Spiritualism" and "Justice," which are the vital sentimental laws, - through the external development of "Intuition" and "Satisfaction," which are the vital receptive sentimental principles through which these laws must become incarnated, and through which the incarnations of these laws must be recognized, through a personal affinity for these forms of vital law, as incarnated in forms of thought, and connected with the individual consciousness,—and through a consciousness of destructive personal forms, or of forms of individual manifestation that correspond with the personal want, which is destructive, because opposite to the universal; these being recognized, not from an external point of view, as in Catholicism, but from a point of self-conscious experience. In consequence of this change from an external and unconscious to an internal and self-conscious condition, and the consequent demand for manifestation from within, instead of manifestation in subjection to external forms, the individual comes into a discordant dualistic condition of the consciousness. Conceptions of vital supernatural phenomena are realized upon the one hand, and a consciousness of destructive personal forms is realized upon the other; and these have to be combined in the individual manifestations with the subjection of the personal to the sentimental element; because these sentimental conceptions, which are religious and moral forms, are necessarily appropriated by him as the laws of his belief and life. This antagonism of universal and personal in the consciousness not only characterizes the religious and moral conceptions of the Church, but is the foundation of many of the peculiarities of Protestant experience; and it may be seen both in the violence of its voluntary asceticism, and in the conflict that is continually going on between these two opposing forces in the individual, giving to his character a contradictory appearance that may be termed picturesque, and is often unjustly stigmatized as hypocritical. In consequence of this demand that every thing should be realized from the point of the individual consciousness, the vital sentimental laws, instead of being incarnated and represented from a universal point of view, as we find them to be in the Catholic Church, became incarnated simply from the point of individual self-consciousness, by which the forms representing them were realized as limited and one-sided. They were onesided, because the mind becomes so developed from a self-conscious point of view, as we shall have occasion to demonstrate; and they were limited, because they were confined to forms which can be incarnated by self-conscious individual experiences, and consequently excluded all forms of symbolic correspondence, which constitute the principal foundation of the representations of Christianity by the Catholic Church, and of Art as a representative of the Spiritual. Instead of an unconscious recognition of supernatural symbolism, through which vital supernatural ideas were incarnated in physical forms, ceremonial observances, and social institutions, these ideas became consciously incarnated by the Understanding in forms of thought founded in individual experiences, by which they were made to constitute a conscious internal power in the production of self-conscious, instead of an external force productive of unconscious, individual manifestations. In this incarnation, Moral Good, as a representative of personal want, which is destructive and a representative of the Finite, was made subject to Religious Truth, as the supernatural representative of the Universal, which is vital, productive, and a representative of the Infinite. The individual became subject to these religious and moral conceptions through the sentiments of "Intuition" and "Satisfaction," which now became developed from an external point of view, and operated in the external development of the principle of "Relation" in the Will, a principle through which the individual obtains knowledge from a self-conscious position of the external form of all his relationships, both natural and supernatural, and obtains both an internal and an external direction of himself in conformity with them. In this way, monstrous conceptions of religious truth became realized upon the one hand, and practical conceptions of individual duty were realized upon the other; and, although these moral manifestations were excessively ascetical and pharisaical, they were necessary to restrain the unruly and destructive propensities which are incidental to an immature condition of the individual newly released from subjection to the Catholic Church. The highest religious and moral ideas were thus brought down into forms which could be comprehended and manifested by the individual in his lowest self-conscious condition; and the religious truths contained in the Scriptures were made to operate upon him in an internal, instead of an external manner. At the same time, in consequence of the demand now made, that every thing should be realized from a self-conscious point of view, as the condition of its vitality, all the external objects of veneration in religion and in art were at once repudiated and destroyed, as the objects of an idolatrous worship; and the Protestant became violently antagonized to the Catholic Church, notwithstanding that the supernatural ideas represented by them were the same. By this conscious experience of supernatural ideas, and this demand for their incarnation in individual experiences in connection with the most external moral conceptions in which a vindictive conception of Justice is predominant, the most opposite things were brought together and combined in production; pretensions to saintship were violently contrasted with the actual condition of the individual, and with a consciousness of destructive personal affinities; and the acknowledgment, that the individual is totally depraved, and cannot be good or become so through his own effort, was violently contrasted with the most ascetical and pharisaical manifestations. No two things, therefore, can, in the natural, be more antagonistic than the beliefs of the individual, and also his beliefs and condition, at this period of his growth and development. - Unitarianism, as the lowest and most external form of destructive sentimental experience, was produced through the unconscious operation of "Naturalism" and "Sympathy," which are the destructive sentimental laws, and the internal development of "Veneration" and "Approbation," which are the destructive receptive sentimental principles, - combined with a consciousness of vital personal forms, or forms of individual manifestation, which corresponded externally with a universal instead of a personal principle, while they corresponded internally with the destructive sentimental laws. In consequence of this change from vital to destructive sentimental laws, and from destructive to vital personal forms, a total change was produced in all the individual manifestations, and in all the sentimental experiences; the Scriptures were interpreted from a destructive moral and natural, instead of a vital religious and supernatural, point of view; and Religious Truth was regarded as natural and destructive, and was made subject to Moral Good which was conceived as spiritual and productive. Unitarianism thus became realized as Natural, in opposition to Supernatural; natural ideas based upon a conception of the dignity of human nature, upon independent individual power, and upon a capacity in the individual for becoming perfect, or indefinitely wise and good, through his own effort,—took the place of a belief in the total depravity of human nature, and the dependence of the individual upon God for preservation, for direction, and for salvation; and a belief in unreal, natural appearances took the place of a belief in supernatural forms and manifestations which represent the spiritual and real. In this incarnation, religious forms belonging to a supernatural order, as the representatives of vital supernatural phenomena, were either repudiated, or perverted and made subject to moral ideas belonging to an external natural order of thought and experience, as the representatives of destructive spiritual phenomena. Conceptions of religious and moral truth perfectly antagonistic to those of the Protestant Church were thus realized by the individual, and were appropriated by him as laws of his belief and life. In the development of the mind from within out |