CHAPTER III.

MOTION AND SHAPE.

WE would now refer to the general doctrine of motion and shape the former arises from polarity, or constant duplicity of force; indeed, a polar tension lies at the bottom of all motion, which must, therefore, in its course, realize a sphere, which is the only shape in which the Creator and his various manifestations appear. Neither sun, moon, nor any of the fiery globes, or æriform vibrations, or sea, or cataract can ever assume any form but the spherical; indeed, there are no straight lines in life or nature, and, for that reason, there are no angles. This may appear an extravagant declaration; but whenever we test this proposition, we shall discover therein the wonderful and harmonious purposes of God in so appointing and endowing all his agents with this single but beautiful shape and action. This spherical motion encounters no opposition in nature; it requires the least power and produces the greatest, occupying the least possible space. In its development sounds of nature travel, and those of music or voice are most beautiful and sweet, when rendered in that shape. This motion incurs the least possible injury to bodies, and often realizes many symbols of the sublime, such as smoothness, brightness, continuity, &c. &c. The engineer so fashions the stony bulwark of piers, the bows of vessels, and all parts of art which have to companionize with nature. It is the contour of the first line of our existence. It is the shape and motion of that organ which contains the divine

powers of sight; it is the shape of the greater and lesser channels of our life, as well as of the muscular and nervous powers; the vessels and arteries of man are all spherical. It is in this shape the whole body is prefigured; indeed, in the form of man is all nature prefigured. The light, the air, the fire, the water, are all thus prefigured. Some have thought that the whole body consists of a series of rings or spheres. The sphere is the shape which furnishes the greatest convenience in the least possible space; indeed, it is so obviously a supereminent expression, that generations of man in all time must acknowledge its eternal powers and graces. As we have said, there are no mathematical straight lines in the world, as real lines are constantly in a state of polar action or tension, always converging and diverging, at once central and peripheric, i.e., assuming their natural bias as boundaries of the sphere; in truth, the whole universe is a globe or sphere; it is, like its Creator, a total and independent spirit. For should the Mighty One (in reverence we speak) appear real, He must appear in a sphere; and we never contemplate His mystic being, but enshrined in that space, which is a point of space in a state of expansion. And in those sweet and happy moments when the tired spirit of man pauses and allows the eye of faith to enter the unseen world, his being conceives itself in presence of God, and his angels are shadowed forth by a sphere of bounds immeasurable.

Another axiom, which is most obviously sequent, is, that there is no level surface in the universe (the sail of the ship is first seen); no pure surface or pure lines, all being curved. The surface of a sphere cannot be regarded as a continuum, but as drops, or the fashion of the heavenly bodies, or as when a given quantity of air is displaced so many spheres are readily moved amidst other