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, we think, both by Revelation and reason, and uncontradicted by science—that noxious, destructive, and malignant things in nature, whether in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom, were not created in the beginning, but are effects consequent upon, and derived from, the existence of moral evil in man. How,—it will now be asked—could such effects be produced? It is not impossible to see how they might be produced, if we go back to first principles. What in fact Is the material world, but an outbirth from the spiritual world? And what is the spiritual world, but an outbirth or derivation from the Divine Mind? Creation is, properly speaking, production,—a sending forth, as it were, by the Infinite God, of indefinitely various forms and existences from Himself. Now, in the Divine Mind, there is nothing but what is good and beautiful: consequently in the spiritual and material worlds derived from Him, there could have been nothing, at first, but what was good, beautiful, and useful. In the spiritual world, the world of mind, there were all sweet and innocent affections, and, derived from these, all bright and elegant thoughts—beautiful and sparkling ideas, which would shine and glitter in the light of heaven, just as atmospheric coruscations, beautiful flowers, and gems, glow and sparkle in the light of the natural world. The latter, indeed, may be considered as actual effects of, and derivations from, the former. Plato said, not less truly, perhaps, than prettily,—"If there were no pure hearts, there would be no white lilies." There exists, throughout, the closest and completest analogy between the world of matter and the world of mind. And this, for the simple reason, that the world of matter is