"Mr. Sunderland seems to be unsettled in his mind about the Spirit world, and about the Spirits being good or bad, or _how much_ evil; and is rather disposed to fall in with Swedenborg, at present, on that subject. Mr. Sunderland will do some good with his paper, but I regret some of his articles. This criticism upon Davis is most unjust and uncalled for. "I am confident Mr. Davis is more correct, more consistent in his philosophy of the Bible and the Spirit world, than Swedenborg. "Nature and Reason is the standard whereby Davis directs to test all these subjects. God manifesting himself in Nature, in the Universe, is a true revelation to man, and whatever corresponds to the philosophy as discovered in Nature is truth. "If a revelation is given us not in harmony with philosophy which is _known_ to be true, then that revelation is false. Davis's standard and general philosophy cannot be overthrown; Davis sometimes being himself in sympathy with higher or purer Spirits, may use language to convey too high or too pure conceptions of the Spirit world; but if Davis is too high, Swedenborg is too low. His hells are inconsistent with a God of wisdom; and if the doctrine of progressive development can be established, or is true, as I think it is, then Swedenborg's doctrines are not all true; but that is the great doctrine of Davis's philosophy, and if it is true, it is all we need. Ultimately we must all become right. "Although Swedenborg was a very learned and good man, and was Spiritually enlightened while on earth, yet his mind was trammelled by his preconceived theological views. Davis's mind is under less bias, and more free. I am well convinced his writings are destined to produce a great effect upon Christendom. Such men, or writers, as Sunderland, Farrald, and others who follow Swedenborg in part, do not seem to take in the whole ground in one view. They view the Universe in fragmentary parts. They do not seem to consider that a certain relation exists between all things. That 'All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;' that Law is necessary as Light; all is an effect of the same interior cause. The higher could not exist without the lower; and surely without the lower there could be no progress, and without the parts the whole could not exist. Higher and lower, evil and good, heat and cold, are relative terms, comparatively positive or negative. I have not written one word of what I intended to write, and what I especially requested a reply to. So you see that nearly my whole letter is a digression. But now to the subject.