Chapter III - Spirit and Matter
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dent have we for the growth, maturity and decay of
dent have we for the growth, maturity and decay of
man. If man were matter, a tree, or a monkey, in his
earlier stages of existence, we might admit his growth
and decay; but he is the reflex shadow of Spirit, and
Spirit knows neither infancy nor age. If man goes out
in decay or death, there is a time when Jehovah is left
without a likeness or representation, and Soul is with-
out even an image, and Principle loses its idea. Reason-
ing from the premises that Soul is in body, and Spirit
and matter mingle, our only logical conclusion is, that
man goes down with matter, and is annihilated. But
Spirit forms man, and is not in that which it creates;
can the sculptor bury himself in the statue he is chisel-
ing, and inside the marble work out his model, at
every point of progress giving it new outlines and
touches? Nor is God, the Soul and Intelligence of the
universe and man, divided into larger or smaller propor-
tions, or "gods" which enter man and matter. There
is but one God, even the Intelligence outside of matter,
that is a unity and not integral parts, neither mixed up
with error, decay, or death. The Principle of man is
outside its idea; mortal man would possess no ponder-
ability if permeated by Spirit, and Spirit be ponderable
if it dwelt within matter. Reason permitted scope, and
guided by revelation repudiates theories so suicidal to
the science of being; for theories are false, and science
is true. Take away the belief, that limits, and sensation
in matter constitute man, and you have immortal man
the idea of God, and remove personality from your
belief of God, and you have the infinite principle,
even God that is Love. If Intelligence is in man and
matter, what is there outside of these to govern the
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heavens and earth that "declare thy glory." Intelli-
heavens and earth that "declare thy glory." Intelli-
gence in matter, and outside of it, also, would be two
powers, the unerring and immortal, and the erring and
mortal in perpetual warfare; there is no Omnipotence,
or Omnipotence is all there is. "Dust to dust" was
not spoken of man; we know all that God produces
needs no erasure, and cannot be blotted out, for it is
the idea of Spirit and not matter.
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Life is the same yesterday, to-day and forever; an-
Life is the same yesterday, to-day and forever; an-
achronism and organization have nothing to do with it.
Life gives immortality to all it creates; what is not
Life, Wisdom, Truth or Love, and their idea, is but a
fading error, and empty dream. We say, "I dreamed
last night"; would that we understood better than this
the wide difference between Soul and sense. "I," sig-
nifies Intelligence, the Principle of man, that never
slumbers nor wanders into illusion; belief is the only
dreamer, and its dream says, Life and Intelligence are
in matter; to be sure sleep is one of the phases of this
dream, also the nightly thoughts get nearer the Truth
of being, that silence the waking dream of substance
matter, and yet convey the body whithersoever you
will, for this comes nearer the reality of man's exist-
ence than the waking dream of Life in matter; and is
sometimes prophetic. We have no occasion to find
fault with science because it repudiates personal sense,
if we would not quarrel with a man for waking us from
a nightmare, that produces suffering real to belief, but
unreal to science. Our past and present views of man
and God, have not made man harmonious or immortal,
nor God, Love; hence the need of a change of views,
as in the science of man. The man intoxicated would