PRINCIPLES OF SYNTHESIS. OO 



those atomic and infinitesimal forms constituting original 

 chaotic matter, have distinctly pre-existed in the Divine, 

 spiritual, and mental constitution.* 



The Deity and the universe the realm of Spirit and the 

 realm of Matter therefore, stand to each other in the relation 

 of Archetype and Antitype of Cause and Effect and there- 

 fore the two, as before remarked, stand as mutual exponents 

 of each other. In order, therefore, to arrive at some general 

 conclusions in reference to the constitution and principles of 

 creation as a whole, and also in respect to the constitution and 

 principles of its included and correspondent sub-systems, let 

 us first briefly interrogate Reason and Intuition in reference to 

 some such general facts as we can comprehend, respecting the 

 constitution of the Divine Being. 



The only way in which we can obtain any definite and pro- 

 per conception of the Divine Being, is by first conceiving of 

 a true and undegenerated human being such being the culmi- 

 nating point of all Divine creations, and hence the embodied 

 representative of all the Divine affections. Although it is not 

 the intention to base the propositions of this work on the au- 

 thority of inspired writings (whatever confirmations of such 

 writings may be incidentally developed in the course of our 

 philosophical investigations), we can not, in this place, avoid 

 noticing the biblical declaration that " God created man in his 

 own image," as impliedly sanctioning an endeavor on our part 

 to understand all that we may comprehend of God, by a com- 

 parison of the knowledge we have of man. Spirit, indeed, is 

 essentially of the same nature wherever found, whether exist- 

 ing in a finite or an infinite degree, though it is acknowledged 



* The idea of Archetypes, as here presented, was originally conceived by Plato, 

 and formed a prominent feature of .his philosophy; though the author here derives it 

 from sources independent of Plato's teachings. 



