o convey the idea I intended; for which looseness
the only excuse must be that my mind was occupied more with the thought
than with the expression, and the latter was so absorbed in the former
as to have suffered in consequence. For it seems to me that the
strictures are due to misapprehension of the position assumed.

To commence with the assumed operation of spirit on the material world,
as seen in the action of nature: Does not the theory that the mysterious
productive forces are in their own nature spiritual verge somewhat
closely upon the dogmas of pantheism? What else than this was the belief
of the ancients, which placed a Naiad in every stream and a Dryad in
every tree? Does it not draw still nearer to Shelley's theory of a
'Spirit of Nature,' which was his God, creating, shaping, and pervading
all things? In a word, does not such a theory, in effect, place a god in
every object?

Spirit acts independently of God. And here I would not be misunderstood.
For though God, as the Author of all spiritual being, may be said to be
the indirect cause of all spiritual action, since, if he had not created
it, the action could not have resulted, yet He has created the soul to
act upon its own promptings, and entirely independent of Himself,
holding it, at the same time, to a strict accountability for all the
deeds done in the body. To deny this, is to deny the whole doctrine of
freewill agency, and with it that of all human responsibility, unless we
go to the other and blasphemous extreme of branding with cruelty and
injustice the entire system of revealed religion. In consequence, then,
of this independent action of spirit, we see the soul of man constantly
departing from its normal state, effecting evil as well as good, and
guilty of action for which its Creator can in no wise be held
responsible. And upon this simple fact hangs the whole system of future
rewards and punishments. If now we consider this force which we have
been discussing to be spiritual in its nature, it is not for us to draw
the line between it and the soul of man. Spirit, so far as it touches
our knowledge or experience, is one and the same thing the world over,
differing only in degree of its qualities. If we concede to this force
the status of spirit, we must also concede to it that essential
characteristic or faculty of spirit, _independent action_; and hence the
Creator God could not be said to have any hand whatever in the works of
this spiritual