The central idea of the Harmonial Philosophy—which is the closing form of the present cycle of destiny—is inherent to all spirit and will be acceptable ultimately to all degrees of mind. In the opening future of this planet, it will shape and sway the interests of humanity. Its fontal inspiration and aurelian centre of attraction is the perfect love of all wisdom—meaning by wisdom the sum total of impersonal and eternal principles. Knowledge and judgment, on the other hand, are the result of accumulative sensuous observation and experience. Wisdom is thus a name given to the highest embodiment and comprehension of scientific, philosophical, spiritual and celestial principles, while knowledge is a name applied by Harmonial Philosophy to the mind's practical or available recollection of facts, things and events. It is, however, the forerunner and ordained servant of wisdom, a vestibule leading to the inner Temple of Truth.
Harmonial Philosophy recognises the existence of a First Cause, outside all human conceptions, and that its eternal attributes are power, wisdom and justice, this triad containing and implying a central attribute which is sum and crown of all—and this is goodness, the operative effect of which is that quality called mercy. Whatsoever is manifest or hidden within the universe is an
expression of Divine Perfection, of an Eternal Principle of Divine Intelligence. Power, goodness,1 wisdom, mercy, are various aspects of the Truth which is Absolute Being. There are recognised also the law of progression; the science of correspondences; the endless chain of action, motion and development throughout Nature; the immortality of man; a purified and perfect state of existence; the unity and harmony of all things. The pure love for this totality of immutable principles is that unmixed and irresistible attraction which is realised by the spirit toward truth, for truth's immutable glory. Passion is of and from the soul, but the spirit within the soul is the fountain of love.2 The soul is the source and playground of thoughts, but the spirit-essence is the sea of ideas. So will the reader comprehend that the definition of Harmonial Philosophy is this at the heart thereof: an unselfish, dispassionate, divine love of unchangeable principles.
The term Harmonial describes the quality of love which the individual must bring of necessity to the investigation of truth. Those only who seek and, having found it, impart truth with a Harmonial Love for the alpine summits of wisdom, who labour with unselfish aspiration to advance mankind in virtue and happiness, are worthy of the honourable title of philosopher. Whether the philosophy thus defined—which puts the human soul and spirit into harmony with God, Nature and Humanity—is religion or not is a question left for the intuitions of man to answer. Assuredly those who receive it are exalted above all popular infidelities into the realm of justice and truth; assuredly also the most
spontaneous fidelity is the characteristic of that intelligence which comprehends the truths of this philosophy. Formalities in the expression of cherished religious sentiment will give place in due season to the pleasures consequent upon spiritual harmony, whereby it will be easy to accomplish each day the good that should be done.
Furthermore, it is believed and proclaimed that the same great ideas are common to all men and that nothing new in this order can be originated by any one, though certain persons may be so organised and inspired as to give certain principles their best and most useful expression. The world's history confirms this doctrine. All institutions—political and theological—are crystallised about some central principle, which some particular mind was constituted and inspired to realise and reveal. But when talented men confound private thoughts with universal ideas, and when they exalt egotistic facts and convictions as though they were eternal truths, then come the controversies and sectarian animosities which distract the world.
The world of mind, in obedience to laws of history and progress, will continue to move through cycles of conflicting modulations; but the lesson of all is this—that humanity stands now between the evening of many discordant cycles and the morning of the Harmonial Era. Yet the discord will approach more and more to a harmony, not indeed understood, but perceived and enjoyed, within measures, from least to greatest. It is an under-law of history, part of the eternal rise and fall, the ebb and flow in the mental life of man. And Nature, Reason, Intuition will combine to overcome evil with good, till each human being shall surely realise the high principles of truth, as he advances in the path of spiritual development.
So opens the prospect before us, and in the distance lies the spiritual temple, resplendent with God's wisdom and filled with incense from the love-gardens of eternity.
There shall every soul gravitate eventually to his true position in God's harmonious universe, finding his just place in the pantheon of progress.
Hereof is the Harmonial Philosophy, the end of which is justice, nobility, freedom—for and in each and all.1 It comes to exalt us as immortals and humble us also as creatures; to unfold a world of meaning in everything; to kindle the Divine Flame of Love on the heart's altar and make its incense ascend from the one to the many and from the universal many to that One Who is God; to unfold the universe before us, all glorious and perfect as it is, and the perfection and glory of God Who rules therein. Under such aegis there will surely come upon our world that New Birth which is the passing of an old dispensation into the new, bringing a new heaven and a new earth. It has been said that the earth with its scarred face is the symbol of the past but that air and heaven are of futurity. Meanwhile, man is a fixed fact in the universe. When once he is born into being there is no way of escape, no door to annihilation. The deaths and births, like nights and mornings, are railway junctions where passengers change trains for their several destinations. Over such changings human theories may cast gloom and dread, and so fill the soul with sad imaginings; but Nature speaks a universal language, comprehended in the heart. Nature gives us genuine births and deaths, genuine sunrises and sunsets, with beauty piled on beauty, truth on truth, joy on joy, while man is the being able to experience and appreciate it all. Creation is a vast cathedral; its various life-principles unite in a grand orchestra; and the spirit realm is vocal with shouts of joy. And man through all moves in the path of progress—he who is the middle organism, the transition type between animals and angels, bearing the image and living the life of both.
When Nature—which is God's revelation as well as God's dominion—shows her mountains piled on mountains, her imperial views, her scapes of wondrous beauty, her song-filled valleys, her curling waves which break against the shore—let those who believe in annihilation, or future misery, close eyes and deafen ears. But away with these dismal fables, and bring us the Gospel of Nature: we will read in that mighty volume and live gladly in the Creator's mansion. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be," but here and now—as by turns—we are all animal, all human, all angel—because everything centres in man.
Here now is the final message and valediction of all philosophy: Death is but a door leading to another room in the "house not made with hands." With songs of praise in our mouths, be it ours to rejoice exceedingly and attune all life to the key-note of our spiritual conviction, in view of the great hereafter and what we shall be therein.
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THE PRINCIPLES OF NATURE, her Divine Revelations and a Voice to Mankind. A treatise in three parts. By and through Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie Seer and Clairvoyant.
Part I, The Key; Part II, The Revelation; Part III, The Application. 8vo., pp. xxii + 782. 1847. With Portrait. The work appeared concurrently in London with an analytical preface by the publisher, Mr. John Chapman. Forty-five American editions have appeared.
THE GREAT HARMONIA, being a Philosophical Revelation of the Natural, Spiritual and Celestial Universe. In five volumes.
Vol. I, THE PHYSICIAN, concerning the Origin and Nature of Man, the Philosophy of Health, Disease, Sleep, Death, Psychology and Healing. Crown 8vo., pp. 454. 1850.
Vol. II, THE TEACHER, concerning Spirit and its Culture, the Existence of God, etc. Crown 8vo., pp. 396. 1851.
Vol. Ill, THE SEER, concerning the Seven Mental States. Crown 8vo., pp. 401. 1852.
Vol. IV, THE REFORMER, concerning Physiological Vices and Virtues, and the Seven Phases of Marriage. Crown 8vo., pp. 446. New York, 1855, and Boston, 1856.
Vol. V, THE THINKER, a Progressive Revelation of the Eternal Principles which inspire Mind and govern Matter. Crown 8vo., pp. 438. 1855.
PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE: An account of Spiritual Developments at the House of Dr. Phelps and similar Cases in all parts of the Country. 8vo., pp. 176. 1851.
PENETRALIA, containing Harmonial Answers. 8vo., pp. 516. 1856.
THE MAGIC STAFF: An Autobiography. Crown 8vo., pp. 552. 1857.
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH, containing Medical Prescriptions for the Human Body and Mind. Crown 8vo., pp. 428. 1861.
ANSWERS TO EVER-RECURRING QUESTIONS FROM THE PEOPLE: A Sequel to Penetralia. Crown 8vo., pp. 417. 1862.
PROGRESSIVE TRACTS: A Series of Lectures, Nos. 1-4. 1863. N.B. — It is possible that others were issued.
MORNING LECTURES: Twenty Discourses delivered before the Friends of Progress in the City of New York. Crown 8vo., pp. 434. 1864.
A STELLAR KEY TO THE SUMMER LAND: Illustrated with Diagrams and Engravings of Celestial Scenery. Crown 8vo., pp. viii+202. 1867.
ARABULA, or THE DIVINE GUEST. Crown 8vo., pp. 403. 1867.
DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. Crown 8vo., pp. 210. 1868. In part a reprint of some Addresses in Morning Lectures.
THE PRESENT AGE AND INNER LIFE: Ancient and Modern Spirit Mysteries Classified and Explained. A Sequel to Spiritual Intercourse. Crown 8vo., pp. 424. 1868.
EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SEER: Embracing Authentic Facts, Visions, Impressions, Discoveries in Magnetism, Clairvoyance and Spiritualism. Crown 8vo., pp. 488. 1868.
APPROACHING CRISIS, or Truth versus Theology. Crown 8vo., pp. 293. 1868. A review of Dr. Bushnell's lectures on the Bible, Nature, Religion, Scepticism and the Supernatural.
TALE OF A PHYSICIAN, or Seeds and Fruits of Crime. Crown 8vo., pp. 325.
1869. Described in the preface as a narrative of facts put forward under a thin veil of fiction.
THE FOUNTAIN, with Jets of New Meaning. Crown 8vo., pp. 252. 1870.
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EVIL, with Suggestions for more Ennobling Institutions and Philosophical Systems of Education. Crown 8vo., pp. 234. 1871.
THE TEMPLE, or Diseases of the Brain and Nerves: concerning the Origin and Philosophy of Mania, Insanity and Crime, their Treatment and Cure. Crown 8vo., pp. 487. 1 871.
THE HARMONIAL MAN, or Thoughts for the Age. Crown 8vo., pp. 167. 1872.
FREE THOUGHTS CONCERNING RELIGION. Crown 8vo., pp. 215. 1872.
THE DIAKKA AND THEIR EARTHLY VICTIMS: being an explanation of much that is False and Repulsive in Spiritualism. Crown 8vo., pp. 102. 1873.
THE GENESIS AND ETHICS OF CONJUGAL LOVE. Foolscap 8vo., pp. 142. 1874.
VIEWS OF OUR HEAVENLY HOME: A Sequel to A Stellar Key to the Summer Land. Crown 8vo., pp. viii+290. 1877.
BEYOND THE VALLEY: A Sequel to The Magic Staff. Crown 8vo., pp. 402. 1885.
CHILDREN'S PROGRESSIVE LYCEUM: A Divine Idea of Education. Crown 8vo., pp. 316.
N.B.—The dates given are those years in which the works were entered according to Act of Congress, and in most cases the volumes were issued at their respective places of publication in the course of the year following.