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hensible experience, and to witness the combination and manifestation of these by the Divine Activity in forms of spiritual truth, good, and beauty; by which he becomes a medium for the manifestation of Absolute Cause in the most external and diversified manner. We have shown, however, that Creation in its natural condition is an unreal phenomenon that is the opposite of what it seems, being constituted in every part by dualistic forms representing opposite absolute principles, and therefore productive of manifestations representing spiritual life upon the one hand, and spiritual death upon the other, while its life is constituted by definite forms of the laws of finite phenomenal substance; and that, being a dual substance created from infinite and finite substances which are only combined, and have not been united as one, both infinite and finite material forces must continually operate upon all natural forms, one as a vital and the other as a destructive power, in their decomposition and recomposition under the control of a divine creating power, who makes use of this continuous destruction and reproduction in the realization of a series of natural manifestations which furnish to the soul every possible variety of experience for its natural instruction and development, a variety of manifestation that must include the greatest diversity, partiality, and separation that is consistent with life; because, as these are the laws which constitute the natural life, they must govern the production as well as the manifestation of all natural things. The continuous destruction and reproduction in the natural, that has here been shown to be necessitated by the substance, constitution, and condition of Creation, does not rest entirely upon this internal evidence, but is represented in wellknown physiological facts, of which this gives the only possible explanation, for the reason that life and death, or production and destruction, must necessarily be referred to opposite spiritual causes, in order that any rational explanation of them should be given. As the soul is subjected to the operation of these opposite influences, one vital, producing growth, and the other destructive, producing decay, and as the production of all its forms and manifestations must be governed by the laws of diversity, partiality, and separation, the law of Circularity is demanded; because, under these finite governing laws, there can be no such thing as aggregation or indefinite multiplication, but only successive unfoldings and births, by which all the forms and functions of natural life are successively produced and destroyed, so that only a partial manifestation of the Soul can at any time be realized in

the Natural; the successive unfolding of its forms constituting its development, and the successive births of its substance, by which it becomes elevated in its consciousness, constituting its growth. The Natural is not therefore a state of Being, but only a state of Becoming, in which nothing remains for a moment the same, and in which the Soul is not only in a state of continual change, but is also in a state of partial development, in which every thing is gained at the expense of something that is lost, so that Change becomes a permanent characteristic of Natural Life. These changes are regulated by the law of Circularity now being described; and, in illustrating this law, we shall show in what these changes consist, and the order in which they appear.

Besides this law of Change, however, which the destructive influence of finite law imposes upon Creation, there is a law of Permanence by which also it is governed. This is seen, first, in the fact that it is a medium for representation, in which the natural is representative of the spiritual, and the external of the internal, so that the forms of all things remain the same, however much the substance may have been changed; and it is seen, next, in the fact, that, in every change in the consciousness and in the condition of the soul, a permanent advance has been made towards the Spiritual. This gives to Creation a condition of permanence, and converts the whole Universe into a representative of absolute causes and of spiritual conditions and relationships, as we have already shown in our statement of the Laws of Correspondence. This law of representation is not so distinctly illustrated in the Caucasian race as it is in the imperfect races, for the reason that it is only in this race that a full development of those natural experiences can be realized which must be obtained by the individual before the spiritual can be presented to his consciousness; and growth and development are therefore in this race so rapid, that quite a material change is often perceived in the course of a single life, separate from those changes which the individual experiences in passing from infancy to old age: although, even in this race, this law of permanence operates in giving a comparative stability to the forms of truth, of good, and of use, but particularly in giving to each nation of this race a certain type of character which is permanent; much of the diversity that is here observed being occasioned by the departure of individuals from different points in the great circle of human development, and by that infinite diversity in the forms of the soul that is demanded by the laws of creation. In the imperfect

races, however, which are more particularly representative races, every thing is permanently representative; and, as there is here no development, character remains stationary and uniform in the members of each race.

In describing the phenomena which are realized in the natural growth and development of the human constitution under the law of Circularity, several things are to be considered; namely, that there are three Atmospheres into which the soul successively comes, a Material, an Ethereal, and a Spiritual atmosphere, the last of which is either Heaven or Hell, that there are three Bodies into which the soul successively comes, or rather in which it becomes conscious, a material, an ethereal, and a spiritual body (and by body we mean the whole organization through which the soul becomes conscious, and is manifested both mentally and corporeally), - that there are three Spheres of Consciousness, or kinds of Life, into which the soul successively comes, an external-natural, an internal-natural, and a spiritual consciousness, and that these atmospheres, bodies, and spheres of consciousness have a certain adaptedness to each other in the corresponding spheres, but not out of them, so that only those phenomena which belong to an external sphere of consciousness are appropriate to this external atmosphere. It cannot therefore be supposed, that all the conditions of the consciousness which are here to be described, and which include the entire natural development of the individual in an internal as well as in an external sphere of consciousness, are to be witnessed in this atmosphere, except in a limited number of individuals; although, were there not here some manifestations belonging to internal-natural and even to spiritual life to constitute "the salt of the earth," the race would become brutalized, and, instead of progress, we should find nothing but decay; as the Scriptures would become buried in the letter, and thus totally obscured for ever, were there not portions which obviously represent the spiritual and furnish the direct teaching from which the doctrines of the Church are derived. In illustrating the law of Circularity, therefore, we shall first describe and illustrate the phenomena which belong to an external sphere of the natural consciousness, and which are therefore appropriate to this atmosphere; and then describe those which belong to an internal sphere of the natural consciousness, and are appropriate to an ethereal atmosphere, but are, to some extent, realized in this. In doing this, we shall confine ourselves to those manifestations of the white or Caucasian race, to which alone belongs develop

ment, and therefore a history, which are to be found in the history of the development of the Individual through the operation of the Sentimental Nature, in the history of the State, and in the history of Art, including Philosophy as its highest element. There is one illustration of this universal law, however, of a purely physical character, which has been furnished by recent geological discoveries from an examination of the rock formations anterior to the creation of man, and which is so remarkable that we cannot refrain from noticing it here: this is, that, in the succession of plants and of animals, a degradation of the old always preceded the introduction of a new species; showing that their development had been from within outwards, or from higher to lower forms. This is alluded to in the following manner by Dr. Bushnell in his work entitled "Nature and the Supernatural :" "Thus, in respect to misshapen monsters and deformed growths, it is a remarkable fact, that as the layers of Geology rise, and creatures are produced that stand higher in the scale of organic perfection, the number of deformities and retrograde shapes is multiplied. This fact has been strikingly exhibited by Hugh Miller in refutation of the development theory. It is also shown by Miller, that the fishes lost ground, or grew deformed in organization, as the human era drew nigh."

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE LAW OF CIRCULARITY

IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL

THROUGH THE OPERATION OF

THE SENTIMENTAL NATURE,

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF

CATHOLICISM, PROTESTANTISM, UNITARIANISM,

AND

TRANSCENDENTALISM.

We have already shown, in illustrating the law of Contrariety, that the Individual Consciousness is developed by the operation of the Sentimental Nature, through which the individual becomes subject to certain institutions, ideas, and forms of thought, which furnish the laws of the individual life, and which he unconsciously or consciously submits to according to the progress he has made in growth, which is the cause of his becoming internal and self-conscious, that the supernatural forms which become realized and individualized in the supernatural sphere of human development through the constructive sentimental principles, and furnish those laws of faith and of practice to which the individual submits, are the Catholic and Protestant Churches upon the one hand, and Unitarianism and Transcendentalism upon the other,— that these Churches are the unconscious and the conscious representatives of "Spiritualism" and "Justice," which are the vital laws of the Sentimental Nature, and that Unitarianism and Transcendentalism are the unconscious and the conscious representatives of "Naturalism" and "Sympathy," which are the destructive laws of the Sentimental Nature, - and that the vital sentimental laws must be first, and the destructive laws last, in the order of realization and application in the development of the Individual Consciousness. As growth is from below upwards, however, it is not the internal and conscious, but the external and unconscious, element in the Church, and in its opposite, that first becomes realized; and thus Catholicism and Protestantism become realized and succeed each other as external and internal representations of the vital, and Unitarianism and Transcendentalism