now work in the full light of our understanding, the clear and unclouded light of the truth. By it the life of each individual is rendered capable of 'dissection, so to speak, and on the recognition of these fundamental truths depends the only true science of the anatomy of the soul. To sum up the doctrine of the Universal Church is 1. That all human beings have free-will. 3. That love to be perfect must be reciprocal. 5. To effect this reciprocal love man must be a free 6. He could not be a free agent without free-will. 8. Without free-will man could not be held respon- 9. Man being endowed with free-will is responsible for his actions. 10. And, being responsible for them, is, in consequence, punishable; 11. But to what extent is known to his Creator, and most holy, just, and merciful Judge, alone; 12. Because He alone is Omniscient, and does alone know the motives by which man has been actuated, and all the circumstances in which he has been placed. 13. That free-will is as necessary for the reception of the truth as for the love of God. 14. That the understanding in man is intended consequently to judge in freedom, and does so in its normal state. 15. That when free-will and love in man are in consonance with his free understanding, he enjoys perfect liberty, and then do love and truth dwell together in him. F 16. But when he indulges the dictates of his will and love against the consent and approval of his understanding, or vice versá, he lives and acts in slavery. 17. That free-will must remain inviolable in any and every conceivable state of spiritual exist ence. 18. That God predestines all men, without exception, to heaven. 19. That any other belief in predestination is derogatory to the power and holiness of God, and is most pernicious in its results to man. 20. Consequently, if man does not enter into heaven, it is his own fault. 21. That heaven consists, primarily, in the union of God with man and of man with God, by means of freely-offered and freely-accepted love; 22. And for this freedom of choice in love is freewill in man ordained, and established by his Creator. 23. Three distinct loves are implanted in man: the love of his Creator, the love of his fellow-creatures, and the love of self. 24. Liberty of selection in these loves is inherent in man. 25. The love of God tends to union with Him, to everprogressing spiritual improvement, to happiness, to heaven. 26. The love of our fellow-creatures tends to universal and active charity, to social intercourse, and to civilisation. 27. The love of self tends to the wellbeing of each individual man, and to wisdom for a man's self only. 28. When these three loves are exercised in due subordination to each other, man lives and acts in order. 29. If man indulges his love of self and places it above love of God and of his neighbour, the result must be evil; for it tends to reverse and destroy the established order and law of his Maker; 30. Consequently, if man does not carefully observe the law of these loves; he introduces disorder, degradation, misery, and evil upon earth, and is a rebel in act against the government of God. 31. But we do believe that the great mass of mankind are naturally in a healthy state, through God's grace, and consequently live and act according to established order. 32. Man being a spirit, though embodied in the flesh, has a capacity for purely spiritual love, even on earth. 33. Some such have lived in all ages and amongst many nations, and such are truly the sons of God. 34. On the other hand, many have turned themselves from the love of God to love of self, and have lost the true love of their fellow-creatures, in love of the world: such are in a state full of danger to their future wellbeing. 35. Others have given themselves up to love of self entirely, and have lost all love of God or of their fellow-creatures. 36. Such have forfeited their heritage, which is heaven, are sure of ever progressing misery here and hereafter, and stand in peril of eternal death. 37. But their final destiny is known to God alone, and to Him, and for them, do we look perpetually for His Divine assistance, and their ultimate salvation. CHAPTER V. MORE ON LOVE AND FREE-WILL; ON HEAVEN AND HELL. In the preceding chapter, relative to love and free-will, we have, for convenience sake, treated of love in man under three distinct headings, and have recognised three distinct loves in man, pointing out, at the same time, that though each, separately, was capable of being called into activity, still that they were all three intimately connected with each other, were combined systematically in man's spiritual organization, and were intended by the F 2 Creator to be exercised in due subservience one to another, harmoniously and in their proper order. But of these three loves, of God, of our fellow-creatures, and of ourselves, two only are primary and independent loves, namely, the first and the third-the love of God and the love of self. For love of our fellow-creatures is clearly derived from, and is dependent on, the other two loves, separate or together, and is consequently a secondary love: as may be perceived from this, that the love of God can be imagined in man as existing alone, and love of self likewise; but we cannot conceive in any manner, or by any means, that love of our fellowcreatures could exist or be exercised without reference either to God, on the one hand, or to a man's self on the other hand; but given, these two loves, and then the fact of the existence of fellow-creatures, and it becomes at once a necessary, a derived, and, consequently, a secondary love. Nevertheless, so important an influence does this secondary love exercise on the course and conduct of man's existence, that we have been induced to place it in conjunction with the two primary loves. And although we have placed it next after love of God, partly from old established usage, and partly for convenience of treatment, still it must be well understood, and will be clearly perceived from the following chapter, that love of self does and must exert, equally with love of God, the most important and direct influence, in this world at least, on all our thoughts and deeds; in fact, on the development of the whole soul, on all its powers, qualities, faculties, affections and desires, forming in their entirety and in their activity the life of man. We hold it as an article of faith, that in God are united infinite love and infinite wisdom. We have all heard and have been taught that 1. "God is Love." 2. But inactive love is barren. 3. God's love is not barren, and is, therefore, not inactive. 4. His Divine love is an active principle. 5. And out of its infinite abundance did God create man; 6. And created man with a capacity for loving his Creator; 7. Not for the Creator's sake, but for the happiness and welfare of the created; 8. For love desires love out of itself; 9. So love requires an object; 10. For there must be reciprocity in love, and without it love can have no satisfaction, outlet, or exercise. 11. Love is only fruitful when reciprocal; 12. And to be reciprocal must be free. 13. Thus love perfected, and to be fruitful, must be reciprocal, that is, freely offered and freely accepted. 14. God has created man with a capacity to accept, and, consequently, to enjoy His love; 15. Therefore God requires man's love, but it must be given freely, and from choice. 16. For this reason the capacity for another love is given to man. 17. That love is love of self. 18. Thus there are two primary loves in man: 20. To choose between these two loves, freedom of 21. Man is consequently at liberty to choose between these two loves. 22. Any and every other love is derived from, and depends upon, one of these two; 23. And one of these two tends to heaven, the other to hell. From the above propositions we arrive at the conclusion that man is endowed with a capacity for loving God alone, and for loving himself alone also; and that his will is ordained to be free, that he may choose one or the other of these loves, as may seem most desirable to him. Now we have nature, reason, and revelation all on our side, when we assert, that out of His infinite and disinterested love, God created man with a view to man's final and perfect happiness, through the reception and appreciation of the Creator's love. And although, from |