representing the actual state of things in nature. It is no exaggeration
to say that a relation similar to the supposed one exists throughout the
vast dominions of animate beings; so that you cannot obliterate or change
one species without affecting all the rest. Often the change is effected
so slowly and indirectly that the beings experiencing it are unconscious
of it; or they may realize some slight disturbance of the balance in
organic nature, and yet be unconscious of the cause. By the illustration
above given, when one or more species is removed from the supposed sphere,
or its repellent force weakened or strengthened, although an influence
will reach all the other species, yet a new equilibrium will soon be
established, and no permanently bad effects seem to follow. But not so in
nature. There the balance originally fixed between different beings by
infinite wisdom is the best possible; and every change, not intended by
Providence, must be for the worse. It was intended, for instance, that man
should subdue forests and extirpate noxious plants, as well as ferocious
and noxious animals; and, therefore, such a change operates to his
advantage, but to the injury of the inferior animals. Yet often he pushes
this exterminating process so far as to injure himself also. Thus the
farmer wages a relentless war against certain birds, because of some
slight evils which they occasion. But when they are extirpated,
opportunity is given for noxious insects to multiply, and to bring upon
the farmer evils much greater than those he thus escapes.
To prevent an excessive multiplication of some species is one of the grand
objects of the present balance established among the whole. Such an
increase is an inevitable effect of the extinction of a species, and it
often occasions great mischief. The carnivorous species, especially, were
intended to act as nature's police, to prevent a too great increase of the
herbivorous races, which are rendered excessively fruitful to keep the
world full. If, then, a carnivorous species become extinct, the species on
which it has fed will so multiply as to prove great nuisances, and to
produce wide disorder among many species, not only of animals, but of
plants. And often has man, in this way, by the extermination of species,
in particular districts, unwittingly brought a powerful reaction on
himself.
On the Island of New Zealand, within one or two hundred years past, eight
or ten species of gigantic birds--the dinornis and palapteryx--have become
extinct, probably through the persecution of man. The natives, without
doubt, hunted them down for food, until all disappeared: and as no
quadruped of much size inhabits the island, we think there is no little
plausibility in the suggestion of Professor Owen, that when the birds were
all gone, or nearly gone, the natives were tempted to the practice of
cannibalism, as the only means of gratifying their passion for meat. What
a terrible retribution for disturbing the equilibrium of organic nature!
The records of zoology and botany afford endless illustration of this
subject. But the great truth which they all teach is, that so intimately
are we related to other beings, that almost every action of ours reacts
upon them for good or evil; for good, upon the whole, when we conform to
the laws which God has established; and for evil, when by their violation
we disturb the equilibrium of organized nature, and produce irregular
action. In this latter case, we cannot tell where the disturbance, thus
introduced, will end; for it is not a periodical oscillation, like the
perturbations of the heavenly bodies, nor a mere change of position and
intensity by mechanical forces.
But does not this law of mutual influence between organic beings extend to
other worlds? Why should it not be transmitted by means of the
luminiferous ether to the limits of the universe? Who knows but a blow
struck upon a single link of organic beings here may be felt through the
whole circle of animate existence in all worlds? That is a narrow view of
God's work, which isolates the organic races on this globe from the rest
of the universe. The more philosophical view throws the golden chain of
influence around the whole animal creation, whether small or great, near
or remote.
Reverting to the reasoning which we employed in tracing out the extent of
mechanical reaction, we shall see that organic reaction may extend not
only to other worlds, but also into eternity. For if the matter of the
universe is to survive the conflagration of the last day, the future
economy of life must have some connection with the present, whether this
earth or some other part of the universe be the theatre of its
development.
I speak here not of moral influences, which we know will pass over from
time into eternity, but of a physical reaction, which may also reach
beyond the same gulf. For at least a part of those creatures, who in this
world have felt the modifying power of other beings, will survive the
world's final catastrophe, and occupy material, though spiritual bodies,
whose germ is represented as derived from their bodies on earth. We have
reason, then, to suppose some connection and modifying influence between
them. And we might show, also, that moral causes, which so affect the
physical character here, may exert a like power in eternity. But time will
not permit the argument to be followed out.
The conclusion, then, from this argument also, is, that probably every
action of ours on earth modifies the condition and destiny of every other
created being in this and other worlds through time and eternity. What
though human experience, dependent on the bluntness of mortal
sensibilities, cannot demonstrate such an influence? Shall the gross
perceptions of this disordered world be made the standard of all that
exists? Rather let us listen to the suggestions of science, which tell us
of the possibility of senses far more acute in other worlds, and in a
future state of being--senses that can trace out and feel the vibrations
of the delicate web of organic influence that binds together the great and
the small, the past, the present, and the future, throughout the universe.
_My seventh argument in support of the general principle depends upon
mental reaction._
Mental reaction operates in two ways--indirectly and directly; indirectly
through matter, directly by the influence of mind upon mind, without an
intervening medium. When describing electric reactions, I have shown how
our thoughts and volitions change the electric, chemical, and even
mechanical condition of the body, and, through these media, that of all
the material universe; and I need not repeat that argument. But to modify
the inanimate world through these agencies necessarily affects all other
intellects, which are connected with matter; and since man in a future
world is to assume a spiritual body, we may reasonably suppose that all
created beings are in some way connected with matter; and, therefore, by
means of materialism, through the subtile agencies that have been named,
we may be sure that an influence goes out from every thought and volition
of ours, and reaches every other intellect in the wide creation. I know
not whether, in other worlds, their inhabitants possess sensibilities
acute enough to be conscious of this influence; certainly, in this world,
it is only to a limited extent that men are conscious of it. Yet we must
admit that it exists and acts, or deny the demonstrated verities of
science.
But is there not evidence that mind sometimes acts directly upon other
minds, without any gross, intervening media? It may, indeed, be doubted
whether any created intellect operates, except in connection with some
form of matter. Yet there are certain facts in the history of individuals
in an abnormal state, which show that one mind acts upon another,
independent of the senses, or any other material means or
intercommunication discoverable by the senses. Take the details of
sleep-waking, or somnambulism; and do not they present us with numerous
cases in which impressions are made by one mind upon another, even when
separated beyond the sphere of the senses? Take the facts respecting
double consciousness, and those where the power was possessed of reading
the thoughts, of others, or the facts relating to prevision; and surely
they cannot be explained but by the supposition of a direct influence of
one mind upon another.
Still more decided in this respect are the most familiar facts of
artificial somnambulism, called mesmerism. Whatever may be our views of
this unsettled branch of knowledge as a whole, it would seem as if we
could not doubt that its facts prove the action of mind upon mind,
independently of bodily organization, without rejecting evidence which
would prove any thing else.
Now, if we admit that mind does operate upon other minds while we are in
the body, independent of the body, can we tell how far the influence
extends? If electricity, or some other subtile agent, be essential to this
action, it would indeed transfer this example to electric reaction, but it
would still be real. Yet, in the absence of all certain proof of the
electric power in this case, and with certain proof of the existence of
such an influence, we may place it among those marvellous means by which
man makes an impression, wide beyond our present knowledge, upon the
universe, material and mental; and it ought to make us feel that our
lightest thoughts and feeblest volitions may reach the outer limit of
intellectual life, and its consequences meet us in distant worlds, and far
down the track of eternity.
_Finally. I derive an argument in support of the general principle from
geological reaction._
By this expression, I mean those reactions of whose existence geology
furnishes the proof. They are, in fact, the reactions already considered;
but geology proves that they have actually operated in past time in many
instances, by evidence registered on the rocks, and thus tends to confirm
our reasoning derived from other sources. I do not mean that the proof is
before us of precisely such an action as our reasoning has supposed, but
so analogous to that supposed as to lend it confirmation. A few examples
will illustrate the argument.
The effects of mechanical reaction are, perhaps, most frequent and
striking in the rocks, especially those deposited from water. Here we
have, for instance, the _ripple marks_, which present us with a faithful
register of the slightest movement of the waters, and also of the motions
of the atmosphere, or of the currents in it, that agitated the waters. In
the almost impalpable powder that sometimes constitutes the rocks, we can
trace the slightest erosion and comminution of the strata from which the
deposit was worn. In the petrified rain drops we find an indelible trace
of the most gentle shower. And here, too, we can see the direction of the
wind. Such facts, also, imply the operation of electricity and gravity, of
heat and cold, collecting and condensing the rain, and bringing it down;
and so similar to present meteorological phenomena do these ancient
showers appear to have been, that we may conclude that electrical
reactions, in all respects, were the same as at present.
The preservation of the tracks of numerous animals in some of the
sandstones shows us how deep and permanent an impression the most trivial
action of a living being may make. In these footmarks we sometimes notice
a change in the direction of the animal along the surface; and, of course,
an impression deeper or more shallow than usual, of parts of the foot, by
the action of the muscles employed in changing the animal's course. Here,
then, we have the register of so slight an action as an increased or
diminished action of a particular muscle of the leg. Nay, further, such a
movement affords us an infallible register of an act of the animal's will,
since that must have preceded the change; and that implies an electric
current, first inward along the sensor nerves, and then outward along the
motor nerves.
Geology lays open before us a map of the changes in organic nature from
the apparent commencement of life on the globe, and thus enables us to see
examples of this kind of reaction. We find different economies of life to
have appeared, but all of them most wisely adapted to existing
circumstances. In each economy we perceive the balance between the
different tribes provided for. If, for instance, one race of carnivorous
species died out, new races were created to occupy their place, so that
the herbivorous species should not overrun the globe. Thus, when the early
sauroid fishes diminished, the gigantic and carnivorous marine saurian
reptiles were introduced. And when the chambered shells, whose occupants
were carnivorous, disappeared with the secondary period, numerous univalve
mollusks were created to feed on other animals; although previously that
family were herbivorous. It would seem, however, as if each successive
economy of organic life had contained within itself the seeds of
extinction. It was, indeed, mainly a change of climate which first caused
some species to disappear. But their destruction so disturbed the balance
of creation that others followed, until total extinction was the result,
which, however, was often hastened by catastrophes.
Thus we have in the stony volume of the earth's history actual examples of
effects resulting from the acts, and even volitions, of the inferior
animals, which can never be erased while the rocks endure.
If, therefore, with our imperfect senses, we can see these results so
distinctly, we may safely infer that human conduct, and thought, and
volition impress upon the globe, nay, upon the universe, marks which
nothing can obliterate.
The thoughts which press upon the mind, in view of such a conclusion, are
numerous and interesting. A few we can hardly help noticing.
_In the first place, what a centre of influence does man occupy!_
It is just as if the universe were a tremulous mass of jelly which every
movement of his made to vibrate from the centre to the circumference. It
is as if the universe were one vast picture gallery, in some part of which
the entire history of this world, and of each individual, is shown on
canvas, sketched by countless artists, with unerring skill. It is as if
each man had his foot upon the point where ten thousand telegraphic wires
meet from every part of the universe, and he were able, with each
volition, to send abroad an influence along these wires, so as to reach
every created being in heaven and in earth. It is as if we had the more
than Gorgon power of transmuting every object around us into forms
beautiful or hideous, and of sending that transmuting process forward
through time and through eternity. It is as if we were linked to every
created being by a golden chain, and every pulsation of our heart or
movement of our mind modified the pulsation of every other heart and the
movements of every other intellect. Wonderful, wonderful is the position
man occupies, and the part he acts! And yet it is not a dream, but the
deliberate conclusion of true science.
_Secondly. We see in this subject the probability that our minutest
actions, and perhaps our thoughts, from day to day, are known throughout
the universe._
I speak not here of the divine omniscience, which we know reaches every
thought and action; but I refer to created beings. Science shows us how,
in a variety of modes, such knowledge may be conveyed to them by natural
agencies; and we have only to suppose them to be possessed of far more
acute sensibilities than man's, in order to be affected by these agencies
as we are by more powerful impressions. And when we consider how fettered
and depressed a condition this world obviously is in, because of its
sinfulness, who will doubt but the unfallen beings of other spheres may
enjoy those keener perceptions that will bring our whole history
distinctly before them, day by day? The thought is, indeed, startling, but
not unphilosophical.
If this suggestion be true, then may we indulge the thought as highly
probable that our friends, who have gone before us into the eternal world,
may be as familiar with our conduct, our words, and even our thoughts, as
we are ourselves. If we are acting as we ought, and so as will please
them, this must be an animating idea; but if we are not, let it serve to
stimulate us to our duty, if a sense of the divine omniscience is not
sufficient.
_We infer from this subject, thirdly, the probability that, in a future
state, the power of reading the past history of the world, and of
individuals, may be possessed by man._
The nature of the future spiritual body, and of the heavenly state and
employments, impresses the mind with the belief that it will be a
condition far more exalted than the present, and that the inlets to the
soul will be cleared of all obstructions; so that no impression made on
such a sensorium shall fail to give the mind a distinct perception. In
heaven, such extreme sensibility might become a source of richest
pleasure; in the world of despair, an instrument of severe punishment; yet
in both cases it might be the natural result of a man's earthly course.
Now, such an indefinite exaltation of the perceptions in futurity scarcely
any one will doubt. Why should we doubt any more that it may rise so high
that man will be able to read, through the agencies we have pointed out,
the minutest action and thought in human experience? If, as we have reason
to suppose, angels can do it now, the Bible informs us that we shall be
like the angels.
If this view be admitted, then it may be that the present world is the
only spot in the universe where deeds of wickedness can be concealed. In a
sinful world we can see reasons why the power of concealment should exist
to some extent. For though no man should do or think any thing which he is
ashamed to have known, yet, if all the plans of men for the promotion of
good objects were fully known from their inception, the wicked could
generally defeat them. But in a world of perfect holiness no such
necessity would exist, since the universal desire would be to promote
every worthy object; and, therefore, it may be that every soul will lie
perfectly open to the inspection of all other souls--an arrangement that
seems appropriate to such a world.
In what an aspect does this principle present the conduct of the suicide!
Tired of earthly scenes, he rushes unbidden into eternity to escape them.
But instead of escaping them, he goes where every one of these mortal
evils--yea, and multiplied, too, a thousand fold--shall start up in his
path with a distinctness of which he had no conception. And henceforth he
can never find, as in this world, even a partial deliverance from their
terrible vividness. It is as if, to avoid the moonlight, because too
bright, a man should plunge into the sun.
Again, if this principle be true, how annoying will it be, to the man who
has not acted well his part in this world, to meet in eternity the
ever-recurring mementoes of his evil deeds! He will hardly be able to open
his eyes without seeing some plague-spot on creation as the result of his
conduct; and although infinite wisdom and power have stayed the plague, no
thanks are due to him. The tendencies of his conduct on earth will be
most distressing to look upon; and these shall not cease to lie open
before him till the last sand in the glass of eternity is run out.
But, on the other hand, how does this principle strew the path of eternity
with flowers to that man who, in this world, finds his highest pleasure in
doing good! Not merely his highest and noblest deeds of benevolence here
shall loom up in bright perspective there, but a thousand acts of private
beneficence, unknown to the world and forgotten by himself, shall stand
out distinctly on the moving panorama of that better world; and he will be
amazed to see what a wide and blessed influence they have exerted, and
will exert, as the catalytic influence moves on and widens in its endless
march. It might have ruined him to see these fruits in this world, by
exciting pride and vain glory; but it will awaken there only gratitude and
love to the grace that enabled him thus, in time, to sow the seeds which
should fill eternity with flowers, and fragrance, and golden fruit.
_Finally. What new and astonishing avenues of knowledge_ does this subject
show us will probably open upon the soul in eternity!
I do not now speak of the new knowledge of the divine character which will
then astonish and delight the soul by direct intuition, but rather of
those new channels that will be thrown open, through which a knowledge of
other worlds, and of other created beings, can be conveyed to the soul
almost illimitably. And just consider what a field that will be. At
present we know nothing of the inhabitants of other worlds, and it is only
by analogy that we make their existence probable. Nor, with our present
senses, could we learn any thing respecting them but by an actual visit to
each world. But let the suggestions to which our reasonings have
conducted us prove true,--let our sensorium be so modified and
spiritualized that every thought, word, and action in those worlds shall
come to us through pulsations falling upon the organ of vision, or by an
electric current through the nerve of sensation, or by some transmitted
chemical change,--and on what vantage ground should we be placed! Without
leaving the spot of our residence, supposing the universe constituted as
it now is, we might study out the character and constitution of the
countless inhabitants of at least one hundred millions of worlds, which we
know to exist; nay, of ten thousand times that number, which probably
exist. Every movement of matter around us, however infinitesimal, would be
freighted with new knowledge, perhaps from distant spheres. Every ray of
light that met our gaze from the broad heavens above us would print an
image upon our visual organs of events transpiring in distant worlds,
while every electrical flash might convey some idea to our mind never
before thought of. Every chemical ray, too, might inform us of scenes far
off in the regions of night; and then who can calculate what organic and
mental influences might be transmitted to us from beings of all ranks and
scattered through all worlds? To speak of organs, indeed, as the medium of
perceptions in another world, may be absurd; but we mean only, by that
term, whatever may be substituted for our present organs; and we assume
that the properties of matter will exist forever; and, therefore, we may
presume that light, and electricity, and chemical affinity, and corporeal
and mental influences will, under modified forms, be the modes by which
knowledge shall ever be transmitted. At least, assuming that they will be,
and the magnificent conceptions we have now traced out may be hereafter
realized. And surely, if they be only slightly probable, the anticipation
is full of thrilling interest, and the moral effect of dwelling upon it
must be salutary. It spreads out before us fields of knowledge which
eternity can never exhaust, and attractive so immeasurably above all the
knowledge of earth that we almost wait impatiently for the summons to
break from our prison-house below, and to rise on our new pinions to
celestial scenes.
If such rich means of knowledge of created things be enjoyed by celestial
minds, and they can drink it in to the full measure of their faculties,
then one inevitable effect must be to make them unite, ever and anon, in
adoration and praise to the infinite Being who created and sustains all,
and whose glory is illustrated by all his works. And we can conceive that
there may be stated periods, when, from every part of the universe, the
anthem of praise comes rolling onwards towards some central spot, where
the divine presence is most felt. O, how gladly will each happy soul,
animated by every new accession of knowledge, join in the swelling paean as
it mounts up to the third heavens! Who knows but this is the hour when the
peal is beginning? O, let not this world be the only spot in the universe
where it shall be unheard and unheeded. Surely we see enough of the divine
glory here to begin the song, which we hope to pour forth in loftier notes
on high, _unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God;
to whom be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen._
LECTURE XIII.
THE VAST PLANS OF JEHOVAH.