MR. ALCOTT. But Holiness is grounded on

thing deeper.
CHARLES. On Spirit.

Subsistence of the Human Spirit on Holiness.

FRANKLIN.

some

MR. ALCOTT. Now, what does your Spirit

subsist on?

ELLEN. On Christ's Spirit.

On Holiness.

CHARLES. On Good or Evil.

MR. ALCOTT. On what does Good and Evil subsist? ELLEN. Good subsists on Christ; Evil on Absolute Good. the opposite Spirit.

istence of Evil.

CHARLES. I don't think Evil is a real exPhenomenal Ex-istence; but is the lessening of Good. It is the going away from Good which is called Evil; there is no being to evil.

WELLES.

in a man.

Good and Evil.

Good comes from God. It is God acting

ANDREW. Good is God in one sense; but when we say, it tastes good, we do not mean God. Material good is not God, but we mean it is a good to the body.

MR. ALCOTT. And so there must be some of God in it. And is not this true; is not God Goodness, and as much of Goodness as we get, is God? Man has Good within him. God is absolute Goodness. tell me what your spirit lives upon? SEVERAL. On Goodness. MR. ALCOTT.

end?

Eternity of
Holiness.

Now can you

Did Goodness have any beginning or

ANDREW. No; it is Eternal, Immortal.

Immortality of MR. ALCOTT.

And when you do a good

Holiness. act, or have a good feeling, do you revive any thing immortal, undying in you?

(All rose.)

But sometimes we find it, and lose it again afterwards. What Faculty takes hold of Goodness and revives the Immortal within you?

Religion.

SEVERAL. The Spiritual Faculty. Conscience.

MR. ALCOTT. When we bring Conscience out and make it act; when Conscience has acted out the Spirit's thoughts and feelings, what do we call it?

CHARLES. Reason.

MR. ALCOTT.

Reason.

I think it something more than

SEVERAL. Faith. Love. Affection. Religion.

Trinity of
Powers in
Conscience.

MR. ALCOTT. Is Conscience a good, or is it Goodness?

WELLES. At first, it is Goodness.

MR. ALCOTT.

Is Conscience an Instinct,

ment, or is it an Idea?

FRANKLIN. It is an Idea.

OTHERS. It is all of these.

Order of Spiritual Growth.

Instinct.

Love and Faith.

MR. ALCOTT. How much is there spiritual in Instinct?

CHARLES. A natural want.

MR. ALCOTT. What comes after this want? (Several answers were given, among which were, Love, Hope, and Faith.)

MR. ALCOTT. Well what comes next?

Imagination.

FRANKLIN. We imagine what it is.

MR. ALCOTT. And having shaped the spiritual life in the Imagination, what comes next? CHARLES. Reason, which finds the why. Fruits of Spirit- MR. ALCOTT. What is reason after? ual Growth. CHARLES. Truth.

Reason.

Truth.

MR. ALCOTT. What represents Truth?

CHARLES. Imagination.

MR, ALCOTT. What is Imagination after?

CHARLES. Truth.

MR. ALCOTT. Something more.

Good.

What is the spiritual faculty, Conscience, after?

CHARLES. Good.

MR. ALCOTT. And the Imagination unites them; and there is something which the Imagination finds that represents the union.

(Charles did not answer.)

What do you think of that cast? [Pointing to Chantry's cast of Lady Louisa Russel.]

Beauty.

CHARLES. It is beautiful; the Imagination finds beauty.

MR. ALCOTT. What, then, have we found in man?
CHARLES. Goodness, Truth, Beauty.

MR. ALCOTT. Are these of us, or of God?
CHARLES. Of God.

Absolute Being.

Elements of MR. ALCOTT. We may have the true, the beautiful, and the good, within us; but can

we have Truth, Beauty, and Goodness?

God.

Elements and
Products of

Human Nature.

CHARLES. No; these are God.

MR. ALCOTT. The elements of human nature are,

I. The SENSE OF THE Good.

II. The SENTIMENT OF THE BEAUTIFUL.

III. The IDEA OF THE TRUE.

What is that word which comprehends all the productions of the IMAGINATION?

(No answer.)

Is it not ART?

And what one word comprehends all the productions of the REASON? Is it not PHILOSOPHY?

And what does the spiritual faculty, CONSCIENCE, produce?

SEVERAL. RELIGION.

MR. ALCOTT.

Destiny of
Humanity.

If Jesus Christ knew what was in man, he knew all man could do and be - that he could lay hold on IMMORTALITY by his Spiritual Faculty, on TRUTH by his Rational Faculty, on BEAUTY by his Imaginative Faculty.

Irregular Growth

of Powers.

Have you all these elements?

ALL. Yes.

MR. ALCOTT. Who think the Spiritual Faculty in them is behind all the others?

(All rose.)

Who think its slumber is Evil?

(All.)

Who think their Imaginative Faculty is not cultivated enough; that they do not shape thoughts of truth and feeling into forms of truth and art?

(Most thought so.)

NATHAN. I have too much Imagination.

WELLES.

I don't know how it is with me.

MR. ALCOTT. Do you see clearly, all that you ought to do and think?

MR. ALCOTT. Then you have not Imagination enough. Imagination is the representative or shaping faculty of the Soul. Now tell me, whether you have the power of putting all your sense of what is good, your notion of what is true, your feeling of what is beautiful, into words, actions, or forms?

(None answered.)

Do you think this power of Imagination wants cultivation in you?

(All rose.)

Do you think that your Reasoning faculty is culti vated enough, that you always know why, and have facts to bring through your Imagination?

(None answered.)

Can you reason without imagination?

LEMUEL.

Yes.

MR. ALCOTT. What would you have to reason on, if you had no Imagination; what represents thoughts

and things?

LEMUEL.

Imagination.

MR. ALCOTT. How then could you reason without Imagination?

GEORGE B. You could reason on fancies.

Allegory of the Human

MR. ALCOTT. Fancy is Imagination's errand boy, who goes to gather flowers; and Faculties. Reason has an errand boy too; it is Understanding, who goes off by the Senses. And what is the errand boy of Conscience?

LUCIA. It has none.

MR. ALCOTT. What if Fancy should carry to Imagination what belongs to Reason; and Understanding should bring to Reason what belongs to Imagination? It is very important that these errand boys should mind their own masters. Some keep Fancy at work gathering flowers; and some keep Understanding at work gathering outward facts. There sits the Spirit on her throne, with Reason on her right hand, and Imagination on her left.

CHARLES. That is it!

MR. ALCOTT. And a little way off, before Imagination, is Fancy bending with the flowers which she has gathered, and which she brings to Imagination to name, for Fancy does not know their names. And, on the other side, Understanding brings her gatherings to Reason to name. But sometimes the Fancy and Understanding bring so many things, that the Reason and Imagination have no time to do their appointed work.

VOL. II.