The independent. (Harrisonburg, La.) 1853-18??, 1857-09-23

nature, and refusing TO make any bwer pos
tulate concerning tn. Infinite than one which
answers to his level so it is Of unspeskable
importance that we make the essential and
creative germ in man the type Of the crea-
tive power that informs the universe. Sys-
tens of philosophy, when they come to this
question Of the source and character Of IA
ture, only show, on large scale, the princi-
pie or faculty which the author chose from
his own nature as the type. principle of bu-
msni,y, and most worthy to suggest the
essence Of God. If the man believes more
in the moral sphere than in the intellectual,
as furnishing the nobler quality Of truth,
God will be Holy Will; and no evidence
of memorable and Indifferent law in the
fields of space, or the catastrophies of the
earth, will annul his confidence, -because
the origin Of it is dawn from the region Of
spirit, infinitely nearer to God, and therefore
to be preferred as the mirror Of his being.
If thought stands higher a. his type of ex.
cellence, the universe will be to him the
outgush of the pulses Of Infinite Thought
and fortunate will be the man il hs saves
himself by inconsistencies Of logic from a
Pantheistic world.
The study Of ourselves supplies the color
Of our anthology. Mr.. Martineau has struck
the keynote OF the true metaphysics in his
recurring thought, that our only notion Of
cause is derived from will; and in the ur-
gency with which he has insisted, against
all the materialstc aud the merely specuia-
tive philosophers, that the conception Of will.
emil htened by thought and guided by good,
as it is the nobleht conception We can form
Of man, is the only nucleus Of sound sys-
TEN of Divine philosophy unless, indeed,
we attempt to feel after God in the hope OF
finding him more thoroughly in pre-Adamite
strata and hazy galaxics, than in the struc-
ture and struggles Of the human soul. 1t is
pleasant TO see, in the spirit and vigor of his
system, how an acute metaphysics puts the
Hebrew theology. into the costume of mod
ern science. And the tone Of pride and
peace which it enables man to take in re.
la,ion to ths menacing advances Of scientific
order may be seen in this remarkable pas
sage, which we quote from the criticism o.
Oersted's "Soul in Nature" in the Pros
pective Review for May, 1852.
NO Theist out to be alarmed. BY the en-:
croachment of Science upon the region Of
inIetermnats phenomena, her Interpretation
Of free into necessary facts, or even BY her
ultimate threat Of exhibiting the entire uni
verse as a deducible. lie ought BY nc
means to resist or disown her progress il
this direction, and to entreuch himself al
in forlorn hope on the heights not vel
within her reach. Let him rather anticipate
her Gnal conquest Of universal empire, ant
suppose it gained. His answer to any a:hs
istic boast may then stand thus: Il gran
that you can now deducs all things, ant
have won, in reference to nature, c!ev Q
universal prediction. But tho niece sity o
your sequences does not terrify me for it i
necessity reigning only in your thought
and not dominant in the reality Of things,-
the necessity with which consequences flow
Iron an hypothesis, not that with which Of
f.ct.s q rise from their cause. If your stool
of original forco;, AS conceived and dedos'
BY YOU, were p.odrcihlo as operative facts
having a corcrete histor! each for itself
thew would doultless be the producing sourc,
Of all pbenomena. But see no evidence
Of their reality, and end them to be, not con
crete existencies, but mere distractions Q
the mind, fctions Of analysis, formulas @
computation, no more resembling the l;vinl
agencies of things than the rules by whicl
the astro homer catches a stars place woul
resemble the instinct Of an angels flight re
turning thither home. All that YOU hav
done is, to say how, if you had to deal wit
a dead universe, you would make it do ii
your absence just the work it does now; ant
YOU have devised set of conditions which
ii they could but find themselves per6xed a
he outset Of events, might serve in place 0
Mind, If Mind could not be there. But
, Mind can be there and Is there, its compe
; tencv to the voluntary production Of the sam
effects cannot be denied; and We may the
dispense with your set of conditions as rel
!. causes, and use them simply as stock Of sui
stituted ratios, varying as the phcnomen;
t and so serving to predict them. A lecture
D on ANNA! mechanics will explain to you tn
) rationale Of Taglioni's movements; wi
anayze the complexities of An attitude, an
r the requisites Of the most graceful curve
II Will Tell you now many score O1 muscles, an
J. in what nice antagonisms, compose . gestu
e of equilibrium. And doubtless, if he ccul
r make salstory automaton, with all the SCI
J. arate springs Of which he speaks, he migl
C set it on the stage with like effect. But
If the performer herself, 1t is simple posc
y that does it aN; tie Irving Wiz. inspir,
a Nth rhythmic and poetic feeling, and leapin
J. Without once touching the steps Of the scie
t. tifc dyaamics, straight from conception
,r beautiful farm to the execution. As sure
as This lecturer gives US but qnasi-dauce
If 50 surely do physical systems the most pc
II feet give US, instead Of the divine rsali,
r only Natures hypothetical equivalent
J. -
III M,sSEsorA CONSTITUTIONAL CoSvErr1o