rock is such, that it would not cause it to produce. And he would have no hope, because he had not acted in accordance with the nature of the thing. That the principle of life exists in the essential properties of matter, can be as clearly demonstrated, as that the diameter of a circle is always equal to one-third its circumference, No matter under what form life is found, whether it be in a tree, flower, vegetable, animal, or in a man, it is indebted to the operations of this great law for its being; and the attention of even a common observer will have to be directed only to what is going on around him, to find the proof in every thing. It has heretofore been the case that we have been contented with observing the progress of things without seeking to penetrate into their causes. We know that if the seed were properly planted, it would ripen in time to grain or fruit; but of the causes of this process we know nothing, but in the operations of this law all is clearly and satisfactorily proven. Let us take three acorns, for instance; we lay one upon a rock, one is planted in the earth, and one is placed in a vacuum; trace now the result of each position. The one on the rock decomposes— the one in the vacuum remains the same-the one in the earth springs forth, and its sprout is seen struggling up through the ground. Now let us find the cause of the state of each. First, the one placed on the rock is decomposed; its relationship to matter has not been observed to make its germinating principle productive, notwithstanding it has not been permitted to retain its original form. No-it has been acted upon, and it has ceased to be. It was a spontaneous action, no extraneous or visible power was applied, and yet this change took place. Now, it is impossible for any change, however small, to take place in any particle of matter without a power; and wherein consists this power? Of necessity, it must be in the essential principle of matter, as it can be contained in nothing else; the proof of which is clearly found in the acorn which is placed in the vacuum; this remains the same. Why? Because no element from without could come in contact with it, and therefore, no action could be produced. The one in the earth has passed through a different process from either, because the relationship to matter has been observed in the earth, and elements acted upon it so as to produce a sprout, the tree. The product is nothing more than the action of one element upon another. The acorn itself is composed of elements; the earth in which it is planted is composed of elements; the air up to which the sprout shoots is composed of elements; the heat of the sun, or caloric, is an element; the rain that waters it is composed of elements; and all these elements, acting upon each other, produce what is called life and growth, and the tree is the product of their combined action. And the same process of reasoning applies to whatever has life. The animal masticates the vegetable, which is composed of elements; it passes into the stomach. When the juices, which are composed of elements, act upon it, the nutritious part is conveyed to the blood, and the blood forms the solids of the system, perfectly simple and perfectly plain; one element acting on another throughout, and in sustaining their relationship to each other, life is produced and continued. And it is impossible to find anything in the universe that lives, whose being is not begun and continued in this way. The action of one element upon another, is not only the cause of all that exists, but by it alone we are enabled to perform the simplest act. We are constantly talking of the power of steam, of electricity, of the mighty ocean, of the rushing wind. Calculations are made as to the horse-power, from the mighty Niagara to the little stream. Now, all power is obtained by opposing forces, and opposing forces are nothing but the essential principle of the being of matter, of elementary principles to act upon each other; instance in detail the above. Steam is nothing more

than oxygen and hydrogen acted upon by caloric, and its expansive force is réstrained by a pressure from without. We call it a steam-boiler, but the iron of it has been analyzed. It is composed of elements, and the nature of its elements is such, in their present combination, as to enable them to withstand the power exerted against them by the elements, of what we call steam. Here, then, are two powers resisting each other; the one the expansive power of steam, the other the cohesive power of iron. The power will continue to increase until the greater overcomes the weaker; for this belongs also to the essential properties of matter, that the lesser force must always give way to the greater. But man does not carry things to this extent; for it is not his object, in constructing a steam-engine and boiler, and building his fire, merely to blow it up, as it is called; he has invented vipes, and tubes, and cylinders, by which means the action of these elements is brought to bear upon each other, and from this he obtains motion or power. The power of electricity is gained in the same way, by opposing forces. When it has no opposing forces it remains insensible; oppose it, and the sublime artillery of heaven is its voice, the sundered rock its victim, and the splintered oak its prey. It plays upon the world from the clouds on high, and the startled earth trembles beneath its power. The power of the ocean is derived from the winds, which disturb its equilibrium, and the law of gravitation which draws it back; these forces contending, produce the mighty conflict which the mariner beholds with fear and trembling. The law of gravitation causes the water to descend with force; and a weaker force opposing it gives way, or is put in motion, as the water-wheel, for instance. It is not necessary to extend these remarks, as the information of every one upon these subjects is sufficient to enable them to make a further application. The rushing wind, or rather air, derives its force from the law of gravitation-heat and its nature, to maintain its equilibrium. Heat being much greater in some places than in others, causes the air to become rarefied or lighter, or more correctly speaking, enables it to overcome, to a greater degree, the force of the law of gravitation, and rise from the earth; the cool air from a distance commences moving forward to fill up the vacuum caused by the warm air ascending, and thus its motion or power is produced. Similar observations might be extended through volumes, but these are quite sufficient to show that all force or power is caused by oppos ing force or power; and the proof of this fact proves, also, that this universal opposing force so found, exists in the essential principles of matter to act upon each other, and this being proved, it is self-evident that all that exists is the product of the working of this great law; and unless we are willing to deny that we are matter, and not composed of elements, and not only to deny it but prove it, we must inevitably come under the operation of those laws which govern material beings. And to undertake to say we do not, when the testimony of every science proves that we do, would be merely an assertion of no weight; and to argue from the imagination rather than from the facts of the case, is as useless as it is unwise. The difficulty with us all is, we give ourselves up entirely too much to our imagination, and we have fixed the existence of a certain state of things that have no existence at all, and we take it for granted that we know all about things, of which in reality we know nothing; and notwithstanding it is one of the most pleasing traits bestowed upon us, yet it is one of the most dangerous, if not under proper control, for its tendency ever is to lead us into error; every one having pictures in their minds, which, if they should take the trouble to investigate and reduce to a tangible form, would find they could actually have no reality; but from their being permitted to dwell there from year to year, they have taken a strong hold, and have become to be believed in as realities. I

will not stop to define what these pictures are, as they will be treated of in another place. I wish particularly here to request the reader to give himself up to the facts that have been set forth, and to free himself if possible from previously-conceived opinions and prejudices.* This work must be read as a whole, and what has been already stated in relation to the power and omnipotence of the Creator, borne constantly in mind; for the object of its author is to show our true relationship to him, and to explain our existence here, so that we may be enabled better to discharge the solemn duties incumbent upon us, and not, as some might at first think, to show that either we or his works exist in a kind of independence of him; for any such attempt would be no less impossible than censurable; and we might just as well regard our limbs as some other person's limbs, or an enemy's, for instance, as to regard the works of the Almighty in any way separate from him; and, in proving that we exist from the essential principles of matter, sustaining in their movements their relationship to each other, it is only to be borne in mind, that not only the essential principles of matter, but matter itself, came fresh from the hands of the Infinite, and that all its combinations and formations are the result of his pleasure, which we always find to exist under certain laws, which were assigned when being was given. I say it is only necessary to bear this in mind, in order to satisfy the most pious and conscientious Christian.

It has too long been the habit with us to endeavor to involve everything in mystery and surround it with impenetrability, as far as it relates to our material being here, and even our existence hereafter, rather than by a proper spirit of investigation to find out the real truth of the matter. No matter where error is found, it is dangerous, and the man who propagates it, is an enemy to his race. These remarks, then, serve to prove, without any detriment to revelation, first, that we exist precisely the same as everything we behold exists, namely, by the essential properties of matter, sustaining in their movements their relationship to each other; that our life is commenced and continued by the operations of this great law; that there are two direct and opposing forces within us, which keep up the action, (on the same principle as has been previously explained, and in relation to force, page 69;) that these forces are, first, one exerting itself to preserve us in our present form of being, the other to change us into another form of being. The conflict is the action, which is life; and in compliance with the laws of nature, that a greater force always overcomes a lesser, we do what we call live or die. Whenever the elements acting upon each other, which cause life, are overcome by the opposing force of these elements, acting so as to free themselves from their present form of being, which we call death, then we die, when all action ceases in one sense, so far as new supplies go, and the counter-actions sweep our remains back to their elementary principles, the cause of which is, there has ceased to be an opposing force. Death, then, is brought about by the operation of the same great law as life, viz. by the action of one element upon another in an opposite direction; and is nothing more than one force overcoming another, on the same principle that a projectile force is overcome by the laws of gravitation and resistance; or else a ball put once in motion would fly on forever. So with ourselves—if there was no counteracting force, we would live on as we now are, forever. The medical profession will at once see that it is on the same principle of opposing force to force, that daily governs them in the treatment of all diseases. The equilibrium of the system is disturbed, which superinduces some manifestation of disease; to counteract the force which has thrown it from its equilibrium, they make use of force under the form of a medicinal agent; the greater overcomes the weaker, and their patient is restored Referring to the work already spoken of.

*

to health, or an equilibrium is regained. To this part of the work the author would call the particular attention of the medical profession. It cannot be too strongly insisted upon and enforced on all occasions, that in all investigations as to the real and true nature or condition of things, the power of the Almighty does not come up at all; it is a subject with which we have nothing to do in this examination. No mind of ordinary intelligence would for a moment think of calling in question a power which the Infinite alone expresses. When it has been unfolded to us by the science of astronomy, that from our planet here we can look forth through boundless space, and behold rolling there one hundred millions of worlds, the extent of thousands of which have been accurately measured, and surpass our own in size hundreds of thousands of times;-when we find systems revolving round systems, some of whose orbits are so immense that it takes eighteen millions two hundred thousand years to complete a revolution ;— when we find that the immensity of space is so great, and that part of creation, which is open to our view, so vast, that no calculation or conception of it can be made or formed by us;-when it is told us this is by no means the extent of the universe of God, on the contrary, that like him it is boundless, infinite, and that all we see is only in comparison one atom of his works; when we see this vast infinitude of worlds moving in such perfect order and harmony-that their motion is music, and their being life;-when we see them balanced and sustained in space by the operation of this law of gravitation, which attracts every particle of matter in the universe with a force proportionate to its solid contents, directly and inversely in proportion as the square of its distance ;-when we see the nature of their being so perfect, that they seem to require no extraneous power to sustain them in their relationship to each other;-when we go back thousands of millions, and millions of billions, and billions of quintillions of years in time, and find we are no nearer the beginning of the existence of this great creating power; when we find that he is an eternal present; that to him there is no time, nor place, nor distance, nor measure-no future, no past-that to him the future can reveal nothing, nor the past conceal-that with him there is no passing away of time, no renewal of being-that a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years-that, in short, all is an eternal present. When, I say, we see and know all this, for us to undertake to make a question of his power, as far as it relates to any thing here, is the folly of a fool, the part of a madman. Our business is to ascertain the direct and permanent manifestations of this great creating power. All things that relate in any shape or manner to material being, and our existence here, are reducible to immediate and visible causes, and are as susceptible of proof, or rather as self-evident, as that twice 2 are 4; and I fearlessly assert that nothing can come into being, or go out of being; that nothing can change place, exist or cease to exist, but what is assignable to a direct and immediate cause. That there is no mystery connected with anything, so far as this world and our existence in it goes-that is to say, no more mystery in one thing than another thing; and all is explained in a few words. What exists, exists from the essential principles of matter, and the essential principles of matter exists because they were so created; and there are scarce any but what have sufficient capacity to trace the cause of one thing to the cause of another thing. Let us take, for an example, a man who, by some accident, has broken his leg. Now learn the cause of this; the circumstances are these:-the man is a mason; he is standing on a scaffold laying bricks; the scaffolding not being equal to sustain his weight, gives way, and he with it falls to the earth, and his leg is broken. But this is not the cause of his leg being broken

after all; the real cause is the operation of certain laws of nature.It takes, for instance, a certain force to resist a certain force. The force or strength of the scaffolding was not equal to the force or weight of the man; the weaker gives way to the greater; the laws of gravitation bring both to the earth. The material of the scaffolding is uninjur ed, while the man's leg is broken; the cause of which is the difference of organization. The wood is not injured, because its force or strength is greater than the force opposed to it, when it strikes the earth. The man's leg, however, yields, because its force or strength is overcome by a greater, and is broken. Is there any mystery here? Certainly not. In order for such a train of circumstances not to be followed by such a train of causes, all these laws would necessarily have been suspended, which we know is never done. For further illustration, take some of the many steamboat explosions that are constantly occurring on the Mississippi River, where hundreds lose their life. What is the cause? Merely by opposing force to force; and the greater overcoming the lesser, the cohesive force (or power, for it is the same) of the boiler gives way to the expansive force of steam. The force or power of the caloric contained in the steam, is greater than the force of resistance in the organization of man ; the greater again overcomes the weaker, and the man is destroyed, or as we say, scalded to death; or a projectile force given to some surrounding splinters may come in contact with him, and destroy his life in the same way; or the boat may sink, and the man coming in contact with the water violates his relationship to life, for he cannot live in the water, and the force of the element overcomes his force of resistance, and we say he was drowned. Is there any mystery here? None, whatever. The relationship of material being have all been violated, the result is, material being ceases to be. So in relation to railroad accidents, and all other events commonly known by accidents; they all grow out of permitting one force to become opposed to another force, in such a way as to cause either injury or death. The causes are all self-evident. There is no mystery growing out of any of these instances. All things come to pass by the operation of well known and established laws; and the law of opposing forces is the cause of action in all things, not only applying to this world, but to all which we have any knowledge of, lying away off in the depths of illimitable space. The law of gravitation or force, acting on a projectile force, the strength of the two forces results in their revolving around the sun, in an elliptic, instead of flying off through space. If the law of opposing forces should be responded, the whole universe would pause, and everything in our own world would remain stationary; every human being would remain in precisely the same position as they were in when this law was suspended. Life in every thing would be extinct, yet no change of the body would take place, because nothing can change without a force. Life is the product of contending forces, and the moment the contention ceased, life would cease. Let us view, for a moment, the world thus situated. Every one walking in the street would remain standing upright, a step partly taken, the mouth partly opened to speak, the smile on the lip-all would remain precisely the same; nothing could move either one way or the other, because there would be no force to move it-nothing could either fall to the earth or from the earth. What a picture! The man at his merchandise, and the man at his trade-the minister in his desk-the physician beside his patient-the carriages in the streets-horses, drivers and occupants, all, all remaining fixed, stationary, lifeless. From opposing forces there spring beings, and by them it is continued; the proof of which is, that the moment they should cease or be suspended, all would be stopped.