56 PRINCIPLES OF SYNTHESIS. 



that it may exist in different shades of moral character as 

 resulting from different combinations, developments, and direc- 

 tions of the faculties. Conceive, then, of a perfectly consti- 

 tuted man a man whose physical, intellectual, and moral 

 natures are in harmonious development, and then conceive 

 this man to be expanded to infinitude, and you have the truest 

 and highest conception of God of which the human mind is 

 capable. 



But it would be diverting the reader too far from the object 

 of this portion of our treatise, to enter at present into an 

 elaborate discussion of the question, What is man? This 

 question shall be discussed at length in the second part of this 

 work. But for the present we must confine ourselves to a few 

 propositions which, to intelligent minds, will appear more or 

 less self-evident, and of the truth of which, as well as of the 

 ulterior positions which they will serve to illustrate, confirma- 

 tion will accumulate as we proceed, until any reasonable 

 doubts with which some minds may at first regard them, will, 

 it is believed, be either greatly diminished or entirely dissi- 

 pated. 



Let it be apprehended, then, that the most general constitu- 

 ents of human personality, are three; viz., 1. Soul, or interior 

 vitality, which is the seat of the affections ; 2. Spirit, or the 

 organized, pervading nerve-element, which, in its lower de- 

 grees, is the vehicle of sensation, and in its higher degrees, is 

 the seat of the understanding ; and 3. Body, or vehicle of 

 outer manifestation and action. 



Precisely corresponding to these are the three most compre- 

 hensive constituents of the Divine Being ; viz., 1. Interior 

 Soul, Life, or Love ; 2. Spirit or Wisdom ; 3. Outer sphere 

 or vehicle of operative Energy, the latter corresponding to the 

 body in man. 



