The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-08-28
PANTHEIsM.

eiOho OCLWCCu buc CIodbSu duu tuo
uncreated. God is the world, and
holds that there is but one thing
which includes all things and that is
God. In other words it holds that
that there is but one substance, and
that all things that do appear are
only attributes, forms or modes of
this one substance.
This substance is God and all
things are only forms or modes or
parts of God. The world, nature,
this planet of ours, is only mani
festation or form of God and so a
part of him. Man, too, has no ex-
istence separate from God, but is
only form or manifestation of God,
and hence part or piece of the in
finite substance.
Now this substance may be either
matter or spirit. OF course it may be
neither, but somewhat" with a
material and spiritual side. But
in that case we know nothing of the
substance but only of the forms in
which it appears, and hence, SO far
as our present discussion is con-
cerned, it will make no difference
whether we consider these forms as
the substance or only the sides of the
substance. We say therefore that
this substance may be either matter
or spirit. If it is matter then we
have materialistic pantheism. All
that is. including man, is of "the
earth, earthly" Nature and her laws
are the sum of things, and these con-
stitute God. Hence there is no free
dom and no morality, but the uni
verse is locked into a system of ma.
terialistic fatalism. Man is only
wheel in the mighty machine, and
what he does, or fails to do, has no
more moral quality than the move
ments of the planets.
But if the substance is spirit, then
we have spiritualistic pantheism.
Everything is spirit. What we call
matter is only form of spirit.
Bodies, worlds, trees, animals, men,
are only forms of this one spiritual
substance, and so are really forms of
God for this substance is God. What
we call the material does not exist in
reality, but only appears so; it is
a phantasm or illusion of the senses.
All material forms are simply ap-
pearances of this one spirit, and this
spirit is God.
Hence, whatever one of these forms
does, God does. Man, for instance, is
only form or manifestation of the
infinite Spirit. Hence, whatever man
does, this spirit does, and since this
spirit is God, whatever man does
God does. Man has no freedom but
acts only as this spirit acts upon or
within him. Hence when man sins
God sins. The evil this man does, or
what we call evil, is done by God. In
fact all moral distinctions are broken
down.
Good and evil are both alike in so
much as they are both the acts of
God. Righteousness and sin are
both the work of this one all-pervad-
ing spirit operating in man. Hence
man has no accountability. If he
does we'll it is because God acting
through him does well; if he does i'll
it is because the God in him does ill.
Man really has no personality but is
a mere puppet in the dance of time,
the Almighty at every moment pull
ing the wires.
1t is. easy to see, therefore, that in
either form of pantheism there can
be no such thing as religion or NOR
atty. There certainly cannot be in
materialistic pantheism. If there is
nothing but matter then there is
nothing to worship and nobody to
worship and no good to do and no.
body to do it. If the mind of man is
merely the result of organized mat
ter, the chance arrangement of ma
terial atoms, then religion and NOR
atty sink to zero. They do not and
cannot exist in reality. Man can no
more worship or do what we call good
and evil than thrashing machine or
a saw mill.
But the same is true of spiritualis-
tic pantheism. AS we have seen,
there can be no such thing as moral
itY, for God does everything that is
done. Man has no freedom but acts
only as the one "Great Spirit" acts
in or upon him, and SO his acts have
no more moral quality than the grow
ing of tree or the plunge of water
fall.
The same is true of religion. If
man is only part of the whole, just
a piece of the one all including spirit