Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-10
UNION&AMERICAN
Lecture by Andrew Jackson
Davis.
HarmOnial Views of Things
and Principles.

| ana PrIncIpIeSo
| Progress i'm ReIigiOn-vaIue and Import
of SpirituaIism-The Opposition-Sei.
enee Overcoming Error in Theology.
The Era of Individual Liberty.
| The following is the substance of dis
course delivered by A. J. DAVIS, the most
able lecturer of the school Of spiritualists,
| before the st. Louis Mercantile Library Hall,
as reported for the Democrat of that city.
| Mr.. Davis Is an exemplifcatiOn of the adage
that genius is closely allied to insanity"
1t will be found highly readable:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN In response
| to your fraternal invitation, | am here to
l deliver a course of lectures upon questions
l connected with mankind's most vital inter
| ests, both temporal and eternal; and. as the
| first of these discourseS l have chosen 4
/ theme which may be entitled Harmonial
Views of Things and Principles" or teach
| ings of external and invisible realities from
| philosophical and spiritualistic standpoint.
And right here, on the threshold of our
| freedom Of thought and utterance. let US lift
our hearts in gratitude to Heaven for the
manifold glorious privileges of the present
day and age. The supernal spirit of Liber-
ty, which is the spirit Of everlasting Truth,
is abroad in the land. The long, gloomy
night of enthralment is melting away. The
sun5eams of a new epoch 'rest, with bright
and cheering radiance, on the hill tops of
the West" The bonds of sectarianism and
the accursed temples Of superstitious ignOr-
ance are crumbling into ruins at the feet of
their illogical worshipers. From ocean to
ocean, and from pole to pole, the visible signs
of a higher humanity are many and certain.
The mists of superstition are rising from
The valleys and the plain,
And Spirit is awaking that shall never sleep
again."
Let us gratefully acknowledge our glorious
privileges of larger mental freedom-the
right OF untrammeled expression everywhere,
on all important questions in church and in
State, and, above all, let us rejoice that the
last great conflict, world-heaving and heart
breaking though it was, has opened up a
brighter prospect for the future of earth's
thousand millions. In the rapid transition
from the old to the new, many follies and
fanaticisms have come to the surface, and
many organized villainies and incorporated
evils have been probed and overthrow, and
many elegant hypocrisies and respectable
customs have been put through the crucible
of Justice, and many innocent and noble ma
lures have deeply suffered in the wheels of
these revolutions, but all this is inseparable
from great transitions and grand agitaiOns,
which go down into the ccnters of social life
and individual interests.
Old habits and old opinions are alwaysun-
settled by great revolutions Of thought.
Spiritualists were fully prepared for these
radical upheavals and National changes.
Prophecy after prophecy, through the differ
ently-gifted media of the land, years ago
announced. the nature, magnitude and results
of the mighty struggle through which the
American people have passed. So extrava-
giant and seemingly so improbable were some
Of these prophecies-purporting to emanate
from far-seeiug statesmen long-since assembled
that even "full believers" in the doctrine
ofSpiritualism laughed at and rejected them.
But the "fanaticaP' visions of the mediums
have been more than fulfilled. And we lit
up our hearts in gratitude fer the higher
privileges and nobler destinies which the
painful trials of the past few years have Sc
cured to the onward marching nations of the
earth.
PRINCIPLES IN AND OUT OF MEN.
Man, harmonically viewed, Is the repOsi-
tory of the germs of all divine principles.
Every property of matter in the outlying
universe, finds its respondent and counter
part in man. That which in matter is chem
ical affinity and attracts, in the human spirit
is love and sympathy. The correspondence
is perfect The world of mind is clothed
and tremendously dressed with world of
matter Mans spirit is composed of all
principles which, in their tOtality and infin-
tie organization, is called God. This iden-
tity of the essentials of mans Utmost with
the principles of the infinite spirit is the
basis of his immortality, and the cause Of
his tendency for endless progression.
The Greeks believed in the existence of a
Deman "a guardian intelligence in the
heavens, which could speak to the Reason"
in men. This is the "Logos" of which
something is divulged in the beginning of
Johns Gospel He aflirms that this Deman
was the "Logos" which uds God; in other
'r.,-ls. the Reason of the Universe, are one
and the same. The life of the Spiritual Uni
verse-the "Logos," or God-became Light"
in the spirits of men. Thus the essences of
infinite life flowed into infinite conscious
ness in the human organism. and thereby
became the true Light, which light2th
every man that cometh into the world" Did
Plutarch learn this doctrine from the Christ
iSns? Did Marcus Aurelius first read this
idea in Johns spiritualistic gospel! Nay
from Intuition and Reason, and not from
written authorities, did the Grecian Spiritu-
alists learn of the impersonal "Logos" resi-
dent in the life of every man. John, in his
beautifully pure gospel, admitted the Har-
monial Uiew of man, as did Jesus and Plato
and Socrates, teaching that the Logos"-
j. G., the essentials of the life of the Universe,
God-"was made fesh," OF vas clothed in
material organs and forms, and dwelt" in
the visible realm full of grace and truth"
But neither Plato nor John were fully up
to the view we take from tho Harmonial
stand point Plato, while teaching that the
human soul is an emanation from the infinite
Divinity, and thus admitting the essential
affinity between man and God; yet, in his
logical reasoning, he was compelled to run
the individual through various transmigra-
tonaI ordeals, and finally, when perfectly
pure, to annihilate him by a process Of alb
sorption. John, on the other hand, taught
the Immortality of every man, but intro
duced sectarian mystery, contrary to the
fixed principles of Nature by teaching the
dogma that the "Logos" was manifested in
one individual. Nature brings to eight"
by perpetually recurring manifestations and
tllS lblNliS iilS 10 III
carnated-is made flesh" and human
every time a child is born The harmonial
view of this subject is anti-Platonic in that
it makes the individual immortal, and is
anti-J ohm in that it demonstrates the univer-
salty Of the incarnation"
THE PLAN OF SALVATION.
Something in the human universe is
vitality out of order" is the conviction of
both heather and christians and the qnes-
ton arises on all sides, "What is ii ?' and
" How is it to be remedied ~
The greatest ante-Christian philosophers
substantially said: ave must strive TO bring
the God that is within us into harmony with
the God that is within the Universe" This
was their effort. This God within was be-
lieved to be estranged from the God without;
and the conflict between mankind and the
Divinity they said would continue till the
God without is found and inseparably allied
to the God within. The Christians, on the
other hand, said in substance: "The God of
the Universe is the same as the God in you,
but He is striving TO bring you in harmony
with himself" The heather, therefore, strive
as strangers to find God, and thus attain
Heavenly rest" the Christians beho,d
God striving TO attract man unto himself to
crown him with eternal life and peace"
Il,