SUCCESSIVE PLATFORMS.

67

him the pillar of cloud and of fire puts itself in front, and he follows it or not, as he chooses.

In the above cases it will be seen that the process is one of the addition of new forces, with a constant limitation of the field within which the forces act. The sphere of gravitation is wider than that of cohesion. Cohesion rests upon it as upon a base. The sphere of cohesion is wider than that of chemical affinity; that of chemical affinity wider than that of life; that of vegetable life wider than that of animal life; and that of animal life wider than that of rational life. Hence, the plan of the creation may be compared to a pyramid, growing narrower by successive platforms. It is to be noticed, however, that while the field of each added and superior force is narrowed, yet nothing is dropped. Each lower force shoots through, and combines itself with all that is higher. Because he is rational, man is not the less subject to gravitation, and cohesion, and chemical affinity. He has also the organic life that belongs to the plant, and the sensitive and instinctive life that belongs to the animal. In him none of these are dropped; but the rational life is united with and superinduced upon all these, so that man is not only a microcosm, but is the natural head and ruler of the world. He partakes of all that is below him, and becomes man by the addition of something higher.

If now we pass to the physical system of man, we shall find that it is composed of various systems and groups of systems which are conditional and conditioned in the same way.

Here again there are three divisions. In the lowest group we have those systems which are for building and repairing; in the next higher, those which are for support and locomotion; and in the third those which are for sensa

tion and direction; and each lower group is conditional for the higher.

In the several groups, also, the same general order holds. Among the builders or repairers the nutritive or digestive system is the lowest. This is conditional for the circulatory, this for the respiratory, and this again for the secretory and assimilative. In the systems for support and locomotion, the osseous system is conditional for the muscular; and that system of nerves which is for sensation is conditional for that which is for motion and direction.

Whether these subordinate systems can all be placed in a right line is not important. It is now conceded that in the classification of animals and of plants there are groups within which no precise order can yet be traced. But in all cases, and here is the principle contended for, if the end accomplished by any system or group be conditional for any other end beyond itself, it will be lower than that end. Thus, building and repairing are lower than support and movement; and these are lower than sensation and direction.

Nor does this law stop here. It applies to the mind. In this, too, according to the latest and best classification, there are three groups, and each lower is conditional for the higher. There is first the intellect, including what are sometimes called the cognitive faculties, all our faculties of knowing. These are conditional for the emotive or pathematic nature, including all the feelings and emotions consequent upon knowledge. These again are conditional for what Sir William Hamilton calls our conative powers, those of desire and of will.

In each of these we have a group, which we need not now examine; but we shall find running through each the same principle of order and arrangement already noticed.

METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT.

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We have thus a beautiful gradation from those "foundations of the earth" laid by God, and "the corner-stone thereof," up to the point at which "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."

But in attaining and preserving the unity and order of the universe, God's methods are two. Besides this of addition, there is another applicable only to organic beings, that of development. In all organic beings there is something central and enveloped, and the being reaches his perfection by being developed.

In some respects this is the reverse of the other method. In that, in making our analysis, and seeing what we can spare, we reach that which is lowest; but in this, by the same process, we reach that which is highest. If we ask what the last thing is in the universe that can be spared, and unity remain, it is gravitation, the lowest force; but if we ask what the last thing in man is that can be spared and he remain a man, it will be that in him by which he is highest. In the method of additions that which is most fundamental, which is first in the order of our conceptions, is lower than that which is later, and serves it. But in the method of development that which is the most fundamental and first is the highest, and all else is lower as it is less or more essential to this. Here the lower are a condition for the development of the higher, but still are conceived of as coming in later. Here, therefore, when anything is spoken of as a condition, it is not to be regarded as a condition of being, but of development. In both methods the principle of arrangement already stated will hold; that is, if the end accomplished be a condition for any other end beyond itself, then it will be lower than that end, and all the means and apparatus for producing it will be lower than those for producing the higher end.

In the range of conditioned forces and systems above spoken of we find no good till we come to the gratification there is in the lowest sensitive being from the assimilation of food, and in the performance of those functions which are at once the condition for life, and by which life manifests itself. From that point the rank of the good rises precisely as the systems do through their whole gradation till we reach the highest of all.

We thus find the law of subordination both of forces and their products, and of susceptibilities and faculties, and of the good resulting from their activity. This we needed here because there is involved in it, or results immediately from it, what I shall venture to call the law of limitation. By this I mean the law which fixes the proper limit of every form of activity, and so of every kind of good except the highest; and so will enable us to live in the best sense of that much-abused expression, "according to nature."

This is a point of great importance in morals. According to an ancient theory, that of Aristotle, virtue and good consist in proportion, or the golden mean. It is readily seen that many things, that most things which men use and enjoy, are good up to a certain point, but that, carried beyond that point, they become, if not in themselves, yet relatively, evil. The pleasures of the senses and of the appetites are good, but may be readily carried to excess. Where is the limit? Amusement is good, the pursuit of money is good. Where is the limit? There is a wide range of questions which arise at this point in respect to the use of things lawful. How far may we go in dress? in expense? in conformity to fashion, and the usages of those around us? To determine these questions we need some plain criterion. Besides, there are those who think

all pleasure and good alike except in intensity and duration. Paley thought so. The sensualist makes an irruption upon us and says that his joys are as high as any others,—that is, in his opinion, and that, on such a subject, the opinion of one man is as good as that of another. It is a mere question of taste and feeling, and there is no standard. We are also asked by another class, as by Whewell, "How are we to measure happiness, and thus to proceed to ascertain by what acts it may be increased? If we can do this, then indeed we may extract rules and results from the maxim that we are to increase our own and others' happiness; but without this step," which he plainly supposes cannot be taken, we can draw no consequences from the maxim."* For such cases and inquiries we need a law of subordination and of limitation, a test and measure both of activity and of good.

If man would enjoy his whole good, it is obvious that his life must be a unity as the universe is, so that all the forces that conspire to make it up may act in harmony. This would give all possible good. But the method of attaining this is clearly set before us in the method pursued by God in making the universe one. As the forces in man, that is, his faculties, bear the same relation to each other that the forces in nature do, we shall find their proper limit by finding the limit which God fixes in proportioning the conditional and conditioned forces of nature. His method of doing this is to give to each lower force precisely the relative strength that shall make it most perfect as a condition for the activity of those above it, and which are conditioned by it. It is to carry that which is an end in one sphere no further than will fit it to become a means for the one next above. Gravitation

* Vol. I., B. III,