VI PREFACE. 



gradually unfolded into its present form, and to illustrate the harmo- 

 nious principles, forms, movements, laws, and interactivities which 

 now characterize it as a whole and in all its parts. 



It has thus been the object to draw the bold outlines of a comprehen- 

 sive primordial philosophy, and to contribute, so far as possible, to the 

 establishment of a system of thought, in which all truths maj be viewed 

 in their serial, orderly, and mutually explanatory relations, from gen- 

 erals to particulars a system whose internal, vitalizing principle will 

 constantly tend to the absorption of all truths, and the elimination of 

 all errors, in the same way in which the principles of music constantly 

 tend to the appropriation of harmonies, and the elimination of discords. 

 If I have succeeded even to the extent of unfolding, with general cor- 

 rectness, the most general principles of such a philosophy, the sure 

 guide-boards and indices to something vastly more perfect of the same 

 kind may be considered as established ; and the key to all conceivable 

 truth, whether relating to nature without, the soul within, the spirit 

 world above, or to the Divine Author and Governor of all things, may, 

 in some sense, be considered as in our possession ; for no one can essen- 

 tially err in regard to either of these subjects, so long as he stands in 

 the light of a systeia which makes all truths the clear and certain ex- 

 ponents of each other. 



I would invite particular attention to that feature of the present 

 volume, by which the fundamentals of an elevated theology are pre- 

 served and established upon the very basis of those facts in science 

 which have been thought to be rather pantheistic in their intimations. 



Following, as it does, in some respects, a comparatively unbeaten 

 path, this Treatise can not, of course, reasonably claim entire exemp- 

 tion from errors and imperfections. Such as it is, however, it is re- 

 spectfully submitted to a candid and discerning public, with the hope 

 that any criticism it may excite may not be exclusively destructive, but 

 in some degree also constructive that it may not only expose errors 

 and imperfections (which should be faithfully done), but suggest im- 

 provementsso that by the combined intelligence of many, some 

 closer approximations to the truth may be made than I dare presume 

 to have yet attained, notwithstanding the degree of confidence I may 

 have in the general correctness of the method which has been pur- 

 sued, and the results to which it has conduced. W. F. 



WIJLLIAMSBURGH, September 7th, 1852. 



