CHAPTER IV.

PANTHEISTIC THEORY OF MAN.

Spirit Divine, let not my speech betray
The cause of Jesus, by its human frailty.

THE subject now approached; is the constitu tion of man; the cause and design of his being; the means by which his physical nature obtained its peculiar type: by which his life and constitution are made to differ so widely from other forms of animated nature; by which his propensions are so peculiarly inclined; by which the texture of his physiology is so exalted; by which his attitude is so absolutely distinct, and his physiognomy so majestic;- the means by which his mode of thought, action, expression and communication, are so radically one, and beyond the power of imitation by any other order of mundane existence; by which he changes the mode of material manifestation around him; conquers other members of creation; controls even the elements; and by which he is capable of devising and executing;—the means by which he conceives of moral quality, and hopes for futurity; by which he aspires to supermundane existence, knowledge, and attainments; and his contemplations, as antennæ, seek to know the

measure of infinity;- finally, by which, with such extatic delight, he bids adieu to earthly forms, and launches forth into the boundless and unknown realms of spiritual life. These consid erations, these realities, and the truths thereof, are all embraced in that metaphysical question, the solution of which, Mr. Davis attempts in this subject: and upon the truth of which depend the vitality of all metaphysical and ethical sciences. Involved within the limits of this ca pacious theme, is that truth for which the phi losopher, sage, poet, prophet, and saint, have sighed. The pearl hidden in the field of mate rial treasure; buried beneath the avalanche of human error; o'erhung by the dark and heavy cloud of sensual passions; lost to the eye of hu man reason; and unperceived by material sense. Of its locality, the deist, atheist, pantheist, and infidel, have contended; of its nature and use, the christian and sensualist have ever varied. This is the question, the all-important question, introduced into this chapter. It is the object of our labor; the desire of our heart, and the bur den of our prayer.

In view of the importance of this subject, our extracts and references will be liberal, that the gentiments entertained by pantheists, materialists, and harmonial spiritualists, may appear in their proper light.

Truth, especially upon a question of this magnitude, should be the object of all research and discussion, and therefore no effort should be spared, or earthly consideration regarded, while laboring to secure it.

Pursuing the order of Creation, according to N. D. Revelations, we learn: After the original mass had been duly prepared to unfold its principles, it caused to emerge vast billows of native element; and after these were resolved into sun systems, and suns had evolved nebular spheres, and these by integral laws had determined their spheroidal forms, and thence obtained stratified surfaces; then, mineral motion, vegetable life, animal sensation, and human instinct or reason appeared.

As the "Seer" approaches the plane of animal existence upon this orb, he thus comments:

"The earth, when comprehended as an entire whole, is a stomach, an organ of imperceptible but ceaseless digestion of which the mineral substances constitute the ultimate and excrement." "And thus the minerals are the polygastric bodies by which the vegetable kingdom receives existence and life, and the vegetable kingdom is a universe of polygastric parts, by which a higher creation is breathed into being." N. D. R. p. 309.

This proposition it is well to note. Earth is

here represented as a stomach, whose ultimate and excrement, constitute the mineral substances; the minerals digest vegetables; vegetables, according to the theory, animals; animals,

men.

Having announced the polygastric constitu tion of earth, he pursues the mineral and vege table kingdom until the inferior orders of ani mal life manifest themselves. Whence through the various forms of radiata, articulata, molusca and the vertebrata, he traces the native elements of human beings, until arising somewhat superior to the Saurian and Mammalia tribes, they merge into the Quadrumana, where he dilates upon the subject as follows:

"I come now to a stage of creation in which the lower types of Mankind are distinctly exemplified. And of these I am impressed to speak particularly, and to trace them connectedly and with rather more minuteness than the other degrees of creation have been traced. And this will be done in order to impress the understanding with the important truth displayed in the first ascension of interior principles to the individualization of the inner man. * * * Before speaking of the type of anatomy that exemplifies partially the form of man, it is well to remark that Nature is like the human brain and is incessantly producing forms, as the brain

is thoughts. And each form and peculiar organization in Nature is determined by the exist ing, controlling circumstances, which were the cause of such form's creation. It is therefore impossible for any order of animals to remain for many periods the same as its original: for they are changed in accordance with the exist ing surrounding circumstances. * * * At the present period of creation, which is the first part of the sixth day, the quadrumana that existed were very differently formed from those now existing, and their stature and strength exceeded those of man at the present day. They resembled very much those that were described as existing on the planet Saturn. Their body was short and heavy; their limbs disproportionately long, and their heads of a very wide and low form. The spinal column in the early spe cies resembled more nearly that of the fish than that of any other form. The shoulders were of great width, and the neck was very short and full. The whole body was covered with thick, heavy hair, like many of the plantigrades of that period. Some parts of the body of this quadrumana, resembled those of the lower animals, such as the fore limbs, which were used always in walking. The trunk bore some resemblance to those of the lower saurian species, and the head nearly represented a combination

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