The human form was elaborated through the animal kingdom, but the spirit was not elaborated there. When the nerve-principle had done its best, had fulfilled its highest possible condition, and had brought form to join upon spirit, the condition of spirit was induced into this form; and the induction of that spirit raised the form of the animal kingdom into the human kingdom; and the first man thus stood forth, produced by the divine breath breathing into him, consequently the difference between the lowest man and the highest animal was very slight. The man, to be sure, takes his animal body, appetites, senses, and the laws which govern in the development of his body, from the animal, but not that which pertained to his spiritual, nature. It received this from above by the induction of the divine principle which took hold of the form and raised him out of the animal kingdom; so that man does not trace his parentage to the animal but to God. He has been begotten by the spirit and power of God, operating through every plane of being and action from the crystal to the divine. I detract nothing from the divine wisdom and power when I say that God works in an orderly and methodic manner. Forms are of the earth, but the spirit is from heaven. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the lord from heaven.
Every operation on the material side of the universe looks to the ultimating of a form which shall be so perfect as to become receptive of a spirit which shall be capable of living forever, of being conscious of all that is, of being truly affected by that which it perceives. There is not an operation in nature, not even the progress of the comet in its path, which does not look to the production of a human being, the production of an immortal soul. There is not a manifestation of power or wisdom in the world which is not laboring and conspiring to accomplish this great end of producing a son, a child of God, which shall be capacitated to be receptive of its divine origin. We shall eventually see that every law which we now think is working for destruction, is but the going forth of the divine power to produce the being, man.
I said that man was not immortal in consequence of his spirit-individuality alone. The reason that man is immortal is very manifest. The highest principle in the animal individuality is the nerve-principle, the principle of consciousness which can perceive material forms and material phenomena. That interior principle is not unfolded in the animal. The inmost principle of the animal, I grant, is spiritual, but that principle is not individualized. The animal has only the nerve-principle, but in the spirit-principle; and joining perceive facts and phenomena; but he can not perceive relations—has no desire after relations—and knows nothing of moral duties. He can not be active in that way, because his highest individuality is his mere nervous individuality. God does not breathe into the animal that breath of life which makes him a living soul. But man is individualized not only in this nerve-principle, but in the spirit-principle; and joining upon the infinite he does take the divine breath into him as the inmost principle of his being. Man is immortal by his relation to the self-sufficient and self-existent. It is his relation to God that makes him immortal. The animal is not immortal, because he has not this relation. Man having this higher principle individualized in him becomes a religious being.
In the example heretofore cited of Sir Isaac Newton and his dog perceiving the falling of an apple, the dog was seen as observing only the fact, while Sir Isaac Newton observed the law, which he called gravitation; yet not being developed in his divine consciousness, which perceives the absolute and divine, he could not tell the absolute cause of the phenomenon. The dog is in the manifestational sphere, while Sir Isaac Newton was developed in the manifestational and relational, but not yet in the absolute, but was capable of being developed in that sphere by induction. Man is therefore a microcosm. He has all those conditions which pertain to the universe. He is its fruit. There are three stages in the development of man: first, form; second, individuality; third, personality—to which Jesus made allusion in speaking of the development of fruit, saying that there was first the blade, next the ear, and after that the full corn. Man, standing at the head of the development, is the fruit of the universe. He is the grand ultimate of all preceding action. He is the footings-up of all that is and all that has been. There is no condition of being not a condition of relation in the wide universe which man does not contain in some department of his being; and just as he unfolds in his conscious nature, does he represent different spheres in the Spiritual world. If in self-lust, he registers his name in that department of the Spiritual universe called Gehenna, if in charity, he records his name in the sphere Paradise; and if in divine love—if the divine is so developed in him that it is a ruling love—he is registered in heaven; and then it is he perceives God. If he is developed like the Man of Nazareth, so that his Father’s will is his will, so that he can bow submissively to it, whether it be to inflict pain and death or life and prosperity, he is born into the absolute or divine. This, then, is the simple law of unfolding. Man becomes in the Spirit-world what he is in himself. When you determine where his ruling love is, you have determined his sphere; and if he is to manifest to this world, he will manifest according to the sphere he is in. He advances by the same principle of induction as is concerned in the development of his personality. It is as the poet remarks:
“All angels form a chain which in God’s burning throne
begins,
And winds down to the lowest plane of earthly things.”
Understand, then, each individual is a link in that chain, all put together in the various degrees of unfolding. So that “as each lifts his lower friends, can each into superior joys ascend.” As you would raise yourselves, raise the man next below you. As you would labor to save yourself, labor to save your neighbor. Your salvation consists in saving others. There is no way in which a man so entirely defeats his own happiness as when he attempts to make that happiness his highest end. The pleasure-seekers will bear me witness that the real happiness is in performing some duty or fulfilling some end, not with a view to getting happiness. If a man seeks after right, he can not avoid happiness.
Now you can understand that it depends upon you and me to determine our plane—to determine our condition in the Spirit-world.
Jesus said to his disciples that when he should go to his Father, they would see him no more, meaning that he should no longer appear in his form—no longer appear in the spheres of manifestation—Gehenna and Paradise. He can only be communed with by those in the same condition. But previous to going to his Father he told them, “A little while and ye shall see me.“ He was living then in his physical body, talking with his disciples through their natural understanding. He told them he was going to be gone a little while, and would return; but after that he would go to their Father, and they would see him no more. He first went to Paradise, from whence he could manifest himself. During forty days after his crucifixion he remained in Paradise, which joins the natural sphere, and manifested himself from time to time, endeavoring to open communication between the Spiritual and natural sphere. Having spent forty days developing his apostles as mediums, he went to his Father, into a sphere which is not one of manifestation, and they saw him no more. I do not mean that he went to a particular place, but that he went into a more interior condition; that is, he retired from the external to the absolute and divine, and of course could no longer be made manifest; and according to the description, he was separated from his disciples, and a cloud received him out of sight—not a literal cloud, but that interior condition of divine personality which made him invisible to them as a spiritual being, where he has continued from that time to the present. The second sphere, Paradise, is that in which angels are said to be God’s messengers. God can not directly communicate his consciousness to us in this sphere. He simply give his consciousness to his angels, who translate it into the external sphere.