1850 Burnett Philosophy of Spirits

THE
PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS
IN
RELATION TO MATTER
THE REAL EXISTENCE OF TWO VERY DISTINCT KINDS OF ENTITY

WHICH UNITE TO FORM THE DIFFERENT BODIES THAT COMPOSE
THE UNIVERSE, ORGANIC AND INORGANIC,
BY WHICH THE PHENOMENA OF LIGHT, HEAT, ELECTRICITY,
MOTION, LIFE, MIND, ETC.
ARE RECONCILED AND EXPLAINED.
C. M. BURNETT, M.D.
Remember that thou magnify His work which men behold. Every
man may see it man may behold it afar off."
;
Job, xxxvi. 24, 25.
LONDON:
SAMUEL HIGHLEY, 32, FLEET STREET.
1850.
WU
/?. Jr/y/^
Wilson and OgUvy, 57, Skinner Street, Snow hill, London.

Newton was eminent above the philosophers of his time, in no one talent so
much as in the power of mathematical deduction. When he had caught
sight of the law of universal gravitation, he traced it to its consequences
with a rapidity, a dexterity, a beauty of mathematical reasoning which no

other person could approach ; so that, on this account, if there had been no
other, the establishment of the general law was possible to him aloue. He
still stands at the head of mathematicians as well as of philosophical dis-
coverers. But it never appeared to him, as it may have appeared to some
mathematicians who have employed themselves on his discoveries, that the
general law was an ultimate and -.sufficient principle : that the point to which
he had hung His chain of deductions was the highest point in the universe.
Lagrange, a modern mathematician of transcendaht genius, was in the habit
of saying, in his aspirations after future fame, that Newton was fortunate
in having had the system of the world for his problem, since its theory could
be discovered once only. But Newton himself appears to have had no

such persuasion that the problem he had solved was unique and final : he
laboured to reduce gravity to some higher law, and the forces of other
physical operations to an analogy with those of gravity, and declared that
all these were but steps in our advance towards a first cause. Between us
and this first cause — the source of the universe and its laws — we cannot
doubt that there intervene many successive steps of possible discovery and
generalization, not less wide and striking than the discovery of universal
gravitation : but it is still more certain that no extent or success of physical
investigation can carry us to any point which is not at an immeasurable
distance from an adequate knowledge of Him."
Whewem/s Beidgewatek Treatise.

PREFACE.
I AM too well aware of the infirmities and short-

comings that are to be traced throughout the
following pages, not to feel the utmost diffi-
dence in submitting them to public opinion.
A very cursory glance at them, however,

will be sufficient to satisfy the reader that they
have been put together not for the purpose of
elucidating scientifically or systematically the

different subjects here touched upon, but for
the carrying out of the theory which is here
for the first time propounded.
The vast extent of scientific subjects em-
braced ; the general, historical, biblical, and
classical knowledge required to illustrate, as
ought to have been done, many of the points

that could not here be well passed over in
silence, will, I trust, be a sufficient apology for
VI PREFACE.
any oversights I may have been guilty of, in a
work purposely comprised within the compass

of two or three hundred pages.
The one great point constantly borne in
view throughout the work, has been to shew,

in the clearest and simplest manner, the real
amount of proof we possess, by the combined
assistance of philosophy and revelation, of the
real existence and operation of spirits of diffe-

rent degrees of power, and of their relation to
matter.
The existence of spirit I assume to be fully
ascertained through the medium of revelation.
I have, therefore, in the first chapter dwelt
shortly upon the claims this particular and
supernatural source of evidence makes upon
our belief. After this, I go on further to prove
the existence of spirit, by shewing in what way

it may be detected in the analysis of natural
bodies.
Having thus proved the existence of spirit
through that authority that cannot reasonably
be disputed, and subsequently by natural and
experimental philosophy, there remains a ques-
tion of paramount importance, as relates to the
subject before us. What is this spirit ? The

answer to this question will be found to occupy
PREFACE. Vll
a large portion of the remainder of the book.

If, however, the reader expects that in answer-
ing this question I am about to give a disserta-
tion upon the abstract nature of spirit, he must
inevitably be disappointed, for I have certainly
no more capability than any other individual
of speaking of the nature of spirit in the final
or abstract sense of the word, though I may
prove its existence, and the qualities or pheno-
mena that result from it. The same observa-
tion applies with equal force to any attempt
we may make to penetrate into the abstract
nature of matter.
Nevertheless, as we recognise the qualities
and phenomena of certainwe term
bodies
created bodies, —
that is, of bodies as we behold
them to have been created or put together by
the Infinite Jehovah, — I shall be able to shew
that those qualities and phenomena are not the
result or proof of the existence of bare abstract
matter, any more than they are of abstract
spirit, but that they follow as the natural result
of the union of these two distinct kinds of
entity in the organic world, in the same way
as we observe to be the case with those created
bodies we designate by the title of organic or
living bodies. And that form, consistence,
Vlll PREFACE.
colour, taste, &c, as qualities ; and light, elec-
tricity, motion, life, &c, as phenomena, are the

result of the union of these two kinds of entity.
And in the analysis of created matter I have
endeavoured to shew that both kinds of entity
may be detected and proved by instruments to
have been in a conjugate state as constituting
that created matter.

It is certain we can no longer be contented
to receive that negative definition of spirit
which, inasmuch as it had not been detected
as a separate entity from matter, it has received
at the hands of all those who distinguish it by
the title of " imponderable matter." Neither
can we be content to call it a " force," for this is
only to define it by its effects and we may as
;
well say that colour is the same as that which

produces colour.
These two expressions, " imponderable mat-
ter" and " force," are as different from the true
interpretation of the cause they partly proceed
from, as strength is from the arm that displays
it, or magnetism is from the iron through
which it is manifested. What philosophers
call either " imponderable matters" or "forces,"
are neither them entities, like spirit or
of
matter, but mere effect, which follows the
PREFACE. IX
union or application of these two entities in
different ways.
It may be asked, then, do these phenomena
which I presume to proceed from the action of
spirit upon matter possess the power of produc-
iiig- themselves ? Does motion, for instance,
which is a phenomenon resulting- from the

action of the spirits of heat and electricity
upon matter, produce itself?
This question may most satisfactorily be

answered by the theory of spiritual entity I
have propounded. For there it will be found

that all spirit is not one and the same ; but on
the contrary, there must be several kinds of
spirit, having degrees of power and qualities
peculiar to themselves, and graduated in such

a manner as that one kind is superior to the
other. This is to be with certainty gathered
from revelation. It is also to be inferred, and
I believe proved, by a proper method of philo-
sophical induction.
And in the investigation of all the circum-
stances which mark the characters of the
different spirits, we shall find these characters
to be distinctly defined and sufficiently clear

to confirm the general fact that spirits are
different in kind and degree, though they may
PREFACE.
not so decidedly prove how many they are,

or what exact relative position they hold.
No sort of doubt can reasonably exist that
they are all in the power, disposal, and sub-
servience of the Great Jehovah ; and that, as
efficient causes in his hands, they are possessed

of very different kinds of power over matter.
Those that are brought to bear upon inorganic
matter are limited in their operation to the
production of the natural bodies, and natural
laws unalterably decreed that they should pro-
duce.
We do not here observe the phenomenon of
voluntary motion, though we do that of motion,
and this shows that motion, as it is fixed in the
phenomena of inorganic bodies, is one inferior
in degree to that of voluntary motion. It
would not be correct to say the heavenly bodies,

for example, move themselves in the same
manner as I now move my pen, for their move-
ment is limited to, and regulated by, certain
fixed laws. Not so my pen, which 1 can move
or not as I please. But the spirit that furnishes
to me voluntary motion may be withdrawn
from me, and then I no longer can perform
that phenomenon. Thus, even voluntary mo-
tion is subservient to a higher spiritual power
;
PREFACE. XI
that controls the spirit that produces it. We

cannot, therefore, believe voluntary motion
even can produce beyond the finite power
itself
of the spirit that is in the body producing it

and, as we have no power over that spirit, it
cannot be said that voluntary motion has power
to produce itself, still less can it be affirmed so
of ordinary motion.
The prevalent idea of spirit has been circum-
scribed within that of a conscious being. But
the consciousness of our own existence is the
result of a highly complex degree of knowledge,
which, as far as we have any experience, is
confined to the spirit of man, and which comes

to him by the aid and co-operation of other
spirits, which must first be brought to act upon
matter before consciousness can be produced.
To make consciousness a mark of distinction
by which to recognise spirit, is to borrow a
mere quality of the mind from a cause not
hitherto regarded apart from the spirit so made
conscious. But what is consciousness ? The
answer to this question will be sufficient to
bring conviction to the mind that spirits in a

less compounded, or rather in a less exalted
sense, exist in the first place as in the case of
the simple inorganic modes of union, before
;
Xll PREFACE.
they can combine to form the more elaborate

modes of union in animal organization, by
which consciousness is manifested.
In proof of the existence of spirits that are
subordinate to each other in their powers of

operation upon matter, as all are to the Great
First Cause, I have been anxious to show what
are the modes of union, and what are the modes
of action, of these different spirits : that the
modes of union are first simple, as in the in-
organic world, and, tin ough these, they become
more compounded, as in the organic world
that the same appearance of gradation will be
found to characterise the different modes of
action in all natural bodies. And hence we
have many structures requiring the co-operation
of several kinds of spirit before they can be
built and we have many phenomena pro-
up ;
duced through those structures, which alike

are dependent upon several kinds of spirit be-
fore they can be produced.
This is well exemplified by a reference to the
operation of mind. Mind is a mode of action
by which the characters and qualities of every-
thing around are depicted. It is the great
archetype of created things, and in its operation

affords the highest example of the most intri-
PREFACE. Xlll
cate phenomena that can result from the most

elaborate union of the same spirit and the same
matter, it is constructed to contemplate in all
created bodies around.

To accomplish this, we shall be able to trace
the distinct operation of several spirits, accord-
ing to subordinate order, each of which con-

tributes its indispensable power towards the
end in view.
The action of these spirits upon matter after
they have been first employed in the production

of different modes of union, is important to be
borne in mind. For the phenomena thus re-
sulting constitute all those correlative forces
hitherto treated as imponderable agents, or as
a very attenuate kind of matter. But without
wishing to hypostasize these forces, or to give
them place among the entities of creation, there

is the greatest reason for regarding them as
the result of the application of spirit to matter

precisely in the same relation as mind stands
to the spirit of life, which, being brought to
bear upon the material part, the brain, pro-
duces it.
The characters which mark the presence of

the spirit of life in animal organization will be
found to have a common resemblance to those
XIV PREFACE.
which I contend mark the presence of other

and subordinate spirits in created matter. Thus,
the spirit of electricity closely resembles that
which goes form the mind, in that particular
to
power they both possess of spanning objects

immeasurably distant from each other, as it
were synchronously. All possess alike, as spi-
rits, the character of indivisibility, and all
possess the power of imparting the characters

of divisibility to a greater or less extent to every
created substance they help to form. All are
alike without weight, all are invisible.
Yet the existence of spirits being a doctrine
of revelation, where they are represented with
degrees of rank and power, the fact being there
furnished to us, there seems the most ample
reason to infer that inasmuch as some of the
same general characters which distinguish the
higher spirits of life, of man, and of angels, are
to be traced in bodies that are less complicated
or organized, such spirits do really exist. That
degTees of power and subordinate operation
should be reposed in spirits that bear a corre-
sponding relation to the material and inorganic
parts of the creation, is neither improbable nor
unreasonable ; and though it is furthest from
my wish to be dogmatical in what I here bring
PREFACE. XV
forward, I have nevertheless the strongest

impression that other minds, higher and nobler,
and better fitted for the task, will, by this
theory, eventually be enabled to reconcile the
many conflicting phenomena now awaiting a
true explanation, and which will trace them
up, through the aid of subordinate and con-
verging spirits, to the great God that made
them.
C. M. BURNETT.
October 1850.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE RESPECTIVE CLAIMS OF NATURAL AND REVEALED
PHILOSOPHY UPON OUR BELIEF. . . . 1 — 20
CHAPTER II.
THE ARGUMENT TO BE DRAWN FROM PHILOSOPHY

AND REVELATION OF THE REAL EXISTENCE OF TWO
SEPARATE AND CREATED KINDS OF ENTITY IN THE
EVERY CREATED THING. .....

UNIVERSE BY THE UNION OF WHICH WE BEHOLD
21 — 61
Laws of the spirits of Heat and Electricity in
union with matter ... 22

their
Proximate principles of matter

Universal materiality and
...
universal
.
imma-
.
32
.......
teriality of all
correct
things shown to be alike in-
Important part taken by the spirits . .

35
46
The
......
doctrine of imponderable agents
be erroneous
shown to
47
in the works of creation

Difficulty of reconciling natural
....
Consecutive operation of the immaterial spirits
phenomena by
54
the old theories, and the reasonableness of

the doctrine of distinct spirits , 57
b
XV111 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
THE RATIONAL AND PHYSICAL PROOF OF THE REAL

EXISTENCE OP MATERIAL AND IMMATERIAL SUB-
STANCES, RENDERED CERTAIN BY THE INVESTIGA-
TION OP THE QUALITIES THESE UNITED SUBSTANCES
QUENT UPON THEM .....

PRODUCE, AND THE GENERAL PHENOMENA CONSE-
62 — 84
The different qualities defined and distinguished
of light is given .....

from modes of action by which a new theory
68
CHAPTER IV.
THE RATIONAL EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT ALL CRE-

ATED WORLDS HAVE BEEN MADE, ARE SUSTAINED,
AND WILL BE DESTROYED, THROUGH THE AGENCY
OF THE SAME MATERIAL AND IMMATERIAL ENTITIES 85 — 98
Created worlds have a relative connexion with
each other by means of these entities . 85
entities .......
Created worlds will be destroyed by the same
94
CHAPTER V.
THE SPIRIT OF LIFE, AND THE PHENOMENA DEPEND-

ING UPON ITS UNION WITH THE SPIRITS OF HEAT
AND ELECTRICITY IN LIVING BODIES . . . 99 — 111
Material modes of union of bodies formed by
the spirit of life 103
Spiritual
Power
modes
the spirit of life
of the spirit of
.....
of union in co-operation with
life to build up organic

104
structures . . . . . . 108
CONTENTS. XIX
CHAPTER VI.
THE COMBINED ACTION OF THE TWO SPIRITS OF HEAT

AND ELECTRICITY IN THE PHENOMENA OF INOR-
GANIC BODIES AND OF THE THREE SPIRITS OF
;
HEAT, ELECTRICITY, AND LIFE, IN THE PHENO-

MENA OF ORGANIC
SEPARATE IDENTITIES SHOWN ....
BODIES, REVIEWED, AND THEIR
] 12 — 137
The union of the spirits in the production of
the higher phenomena of natural bodies . 113

The characters which mark the separate spirits 127
CHAPTER VII.
THE SPIRIT OF LIFE, AND THE PHENOMENA DEPEND-

ING UPON ITS UNION WITH THE SPIRITS OF HEAT
AND ELECTRICITY GENERALLY IN LIVING BODIES,
PARTICULARLY
Laws of
......
AND WITH THE HIGHER SPIRITS IN MAN MORE
the spirit of life in its union with matter

138 — 167
] 40
Progressive development of the material struc-
tures as the vital and mental powers increase 149
The spirit of life, common to all creatures,
proved from revelation . . . . 158

General characters of the mental operations
performed by the spirit of life in animals,
compared with the mental operations in man 162
CHAPTER VIII.
THE MIND
The
.......
intellectual faculties and social feelings .
168 — 183
168
Distinction between the attributes of the mind
and the intellectual faculties and social
feelings . . . ... . . 172

XX CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
the mind [continued) . .
'
'-m. . . 184
Mode of operation of the attributes . . 184 — 201
CHAPTER X.
THE SPIRIT OF MAN
Operation of the
......
spirit of man in connexion
202
with the human body and mind its sub- ;
Of
quences ......
jugation to the spirit of
the immortality of the spirit of

evil, and the conse-
man in con-
202
nexion with the resurrection body .* . 217
CHAPTER XL
THE SPIRIT OF ANGELS 231 248
The spirit of the holy angels . . . 238
CHAPTER XII.
the spirit of angels (continued) . . . 249

The fallen angels, and the operation of their
spirit upon mortal bodies . . . 249
CHAPTER XIII.
the spirit of angels (continued.) . . . 270

Operation of the spirit of fallen angels upon
mortal bodies viewed in relation to mesmerism 270
The spirit of evil in relation to demoniacal
possession . . . . . . 279
CHAPTER XIV.
the spirit of god 287
THE
PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS
IN
RELATION TO MATTER.
CHAPTER I.
(introductohy.)
THE RESPECTIVE CLAIMS OE NATURAL AND REVEALED

PHILOSOPHY UPON OUR BELIEF.
In attempting to write a work, or to propound a

theory, in which philosophy and revelation are mutually
enlisted and appealed to for evidence to elucidate one

of the most mysterious, difficult, and practically impor-
tant subjects that can engage the human mind, as it
stands related to the physical and moral government of

the world, it may be thought necessary, and indeed
indispensable, that in the first place something by way
of argument should be brought forward in support of
the just merits which these two great sources of all
knowledge demand at our hands.

2 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS
And while I find myself totally unable to advance in

the discovery of this important inquiry without the co-
operation of both kinds of evidence supplied to me from
these two very different and distinct sources, I do not
find that either philosophy or revelation demand an
unreasonable or an unconditional belief in the truths
they each of them propound ; but, on the contrary, I
am, in appealing to them, compelled to admire the

noble and indisputable proofs, — the clear and tested
evidence they mutually afford, in their own intrinsic
way, of the power, the attributes, and the works of the

one great, universal, and benevolent Creator.
If philosophy makes, therefore, any demand upon
our belief, it is only on account of the very high and
complete order of evidence we have received of its truth-
fulness and stability, —an evidence that forces us to

rely on its statements, when we are enabled to be as-
sured these rest not upon mere inference, or analogy,

or unsupportable rules, but upon a true and scientific
method of induction, which, like the centre of attrac-
tion, makes many facts to converge and bear upon one

point ; or upon true syllogistical reasoning, where the
premises bear a just and logical relation to the conclu-
sion.
Yet philosophy alone, however nearly it may ap-
proach to truth, dependent as it is on the progressive

attainments of the human mind in the advancement of
learning and inductive science, is at all times exposed
to the disadvantages, in contemplating subjects so ex-
alted, which must necessarily result from a capacity

IN RELATION TO MATTER. 3
limited to the consideration of those that alone can be

assigned to it more equitably.
And it must not be forgotten, that upon many most

important points relating to the physical as well as to
the moral condition and position of man upon this earth,
as he stands related, not only to the Creator, but to the
different matters and bodies that surround him, philo-
sophy is almost wholly silent, possessing little or no
power or means to unfold them ; so that we are called
upon to be most scrupulously correct and vigilant, be-
fore we receive and acknowledge as axioms of science
such statements as we know to be beyond the boundary

of human learning or natural philosophy to determine.
Such are those statements that would attempt to explain
the abstract nature of causes ; for natural and mental

philosophy can only treat of or expound those causes,
termed efficient causes — or, to speak more comprehen-
sibly, created causes — as they stand related to, or are
made manifest by, created matters.

On the other hand, the claims which revelation makes
upon our belief are of the very highest order, demand-
ing assent upon grounds, not only equally secure and
extended with those of true philosophy, but also more
diverse and incontestable in character. For here we
have statements, not put forth upon the assertions of
mere tradition, or of testimony, — not resting upon any
one or two proofs, but on such as are based upon its
own internal and inherent evidence, and drawn from

the most accurate fulfilment of the prophecies it con-
tains.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS
Moreover, we have incontestable proof that our

Saviour literally quoted it ; and, finally, we possess the
most incontrovertible of all proofs of its integrity — viz.,
the fact of its containing so many thousand statements

of things, persons, and events, not one of which has
ever been disproved.
With gratitude and thankfulness to God, the Chris-
tian philosopher is therefore called upon to repose his
hope and belief in revelation upon every diversity of
proof which it is possible to bring before the human

mind. For it is truly incompatible with the love and
mercy of a Being infinite in wisdom towards that crea-
ture upon whom more especially he has bestowed the

noblest and highest privileges, to suppose that, having
revealed to him his great power and transcendent love,
which we could learn by no othor means, he should

suffer that revelation to rest upon a single kind of evi-
dence, and that an imperfect one. This can never be

received in extenuation when the sceptic and the infidel
stand before the Ancient of Days to receive that pu-

nishment for their unbelief in a revelation so unmistake-
ably attested. For the ground on which revelation

stands is of that broad and immovable character, that
the appeal she makes upon all for credit in her state-
ments is most powerful ; and he who attempts to erect
the elaborate superstructure of natural philosophy upon

a foundation that takes reason alone for its base, can
receive no harder rebuke than that which his own

favourite authority must convey, when it tells him it is
inconsistent with revelation.

—
And if this Word of God is so pure and unadulter-

ated that the holy psalmist compared it to " silver seven
times purified and refined," it must surely be a higher

test of truth than the mere unassisted wisdom of man.
And here I would add, there can be no more power-
ful argument brought down to the level of man's rea-
soning, in proof, not only of the truth, but also of the

necessity and use of revelation, than that which is im-
plied in the fact, that to contemplate such a revelation
as simply conveying the mere testimony of events which

occurred in the world at former periods of its history, or
its existence, and not also as the message of statements
which could never have been discovered by man simply
through the instrumentality of his own faculties, implies,
on the part of the Divine Author of our existence, an

act of supererogation we should hardly suppose an in-
telligent created being could be capable of committing.
To those, therefore, who are unprepared to answer
this question put to them by doubting philosophers
viz. Why was revelation given to man ? — I here state
it is essential that the Scriptures should have been re-
vealed to us, because without them we could never, by

any faculties or powers of our own, have been put in
possession of facts there so confidently and so irre-
fragably made known to us.
It sets out with disclosing to us events which could

never have been known in any other way, and which,
at the same time, we can never disprove ; and in this
position it stands boldly out, in its own strength, an

unrefuted history of the unsearchable wisdom of God
in the beginning, when, by his almighty spirit and ever-
blessed Son, "He made the worlds."
But though revelation is, in our day, more especially
admitted by many to be inspired, and to have been dic-
tated by supernatural means, yet the sacred historians

and writers thus employed to propound its statements
are nevertheless considered, I fear, to have delivered
themselves upon philosophical subjects, and those not

immediately relating to the moral condition and rela-
tions of man, with no little obscurity and want of pre-
cision, and certainly without any regard to the dictates
of what they consider to be true philosophy.
But lest the faith of the believer in revelation should

be shaken by this plausible assumption, let me remind
him that this is the grand shaft the great adversary of
truth is continually hurling at the philosopher. It is most
important to the interest of this great opponent of truth
and light, that revelation, in some of its more apparently
difficult parts, should be shaken, and, if possible, under-
mined ; for he is well aware that if he succeeds in inva-

lidating one part by casting it into the fathomless abyss
of doubt, or by attaching to it the infirmities and con-
tractions of human composition, there is a greater chance
of subverting the whole moral weight it conveys.
The reader will therefore be prepared to contemplate

revelation as a whole, and not as a part. He will regard
its statements as correct, not merely in relation to moral
truth, but as giving accurate and unanswerable physical
information on the subjects upon which it treats.
There is, then, a value to be attached to the evidence

IN RELATION TO MATTER.
of truths drawn from philosophy, which is of high im-
portance ; and there is also a value, though of another

and very distinct character, to be attached to the evi-
dence of truths, whether moral or physical, drawn from

revelation : and their separate, as well as their united
testimony, by adding strength to strength, conjunctively

bring to bear upon the subjects they unfold a weight of
evidence which is actually incontrovertible.
Thus guarded, philosophical truth has nothing to fear
from its enemies ; for revelation, resting its assertions
upon the invariable nature of the work of God, not only
challenges those truths for the proof of the reality of her

statements, but makes one of the strongest evidences of
her truthfulness to rest upon the unchangeable fidelity

of all natural laws which philosophy seeks to investigate.
On this stable foundation, true philosophy places her
corner-stone ; and no system can find a resting-place

on any other.
And, that we may ever possess this as one of the in-
valuable proofs of the reality of all that is revealed to us
by the God of Truth, we are permitted to assure ourselves,
that nothing conveyed to us in revelation is inconsis-
tent with our reason.

There may be, and there are, many statements therein
contained which are beyond our comprehension, that
are " high as heaven, what canst thou do ? deeper than
hell, what canst thou know ?" but there is nothing there
recorded which can convey to our minds a doubt as to
its rational probability.
But the very rare and extreme value of revelation is

& THE PHILOSOPHY OP SPIRITS
educed not simply where it accompanies and confirms

true philosophy, as they go together as handmaids of
eternal truth, but in that important of all points, viz. the
act of its taking up the subject where reason and phi-

losophy may strictly and safely be said to end, and con-
ducting it, single-handed as it were, up to its only
source.
How much need was there, therefore, that revelation
should have been so fortified and prepared to stand the
test of every crucible into which it might be thrown and ;
to this end, how necessary was it that it should be con-

firmed by evidence still more powerful and unshaken
than any we may bring forward in confirmation of
philosophical truth, seeing it stands alone upon the high
and lofty ground it has taken up.
We thus see a purpose answered in giving to man
that kind of assurance of the existence, the attributes, and
the decrees of God, which revelation affords, and by
which he becomes acquainted with such truths as it was
impossible for natural philosophy alone to furnish. And
therefore, when these truths are confirmed to our minds
by the surest of all tests, viz. the concurrent testimony
of the different kinds of proof that have been placed

within our reach, by the supernatural power of God, and
by which means he has so mercifully permitted us to be
assured of their unalterable reality, we can safely rest
and act upon them with the confidence they are intended
to inspire.
To natural philosophy we are indebted for much of
the information we possess of what have been termed

IN DELATION TO MATTER, 9
the laws of nature, and the influence these laws exert

upon the matter that surrounds us. We are thus also
made acquainted with the nature of the elementary

materials of which our earth is composed. In the inves-
tigation of these laws, many of which are made known
to us with a certainty founded upon their invariable
modes of action, that places them beyond all pos-

sibility of doubt, a very general belief prevails, that the
entire universe, as well the worlds composing our solar
system as those of systems far more remote in the
depths of space, has been created by one and the same
all-wise and all-powerful Being ; that these worlds have
been endued with certain properties, or forces, or laws,
by which they become relatively united and connected,

and by which they are sustained.
Yet it must be remembered, that though natural phi-
losophy recognises these laws, and observes with preci-

sion the many phenomena and modes of action they in-
duce, she has on no occasion proved them to be the
result of anything inherent in matter alone ; and if, there-
fore, they are not the effect of anything that is material,
it is the more probable they are the result of something

that is immaterial, or that does not partake of the character
of material substance ; and I think there is more than
common evidence to show that these forces or laws, as they
are called, are the result of some substantive and dis-
tinct, though immaterial and dependent spirits, while

acting upon material matter.
From the observations I have made upon the power
and use of revelation, it will appear reasonable that in
subjects so exalted and difficult of comprehension, phi-

losophy will, in contemplating them, imbibe fresh strength
and light, by following her, rather than by taking the
lead. She would be more indelibly impressed with that
profound and majestic truth, that God not only made
the worlds, — that is, the apparent material created mat-
ters composing them, —but that in doing so He also
created the separate elements or primary principles of

those created matters ; which principles were not only of
the character we call material, but were united to others
that were in their qualities not material. He therefore
created other substances that were of an immaterial na-
ture, and by these He brought materiality into light,
order, and beauty, and made them manifest to our senses.
And this course would have contributed, had it been

invariably pursued, to have established a point of great
magnitude and singular importance, which natural phi-
losophy alone has never yet discovered. This fact is,
that there are two very distinct and characteristic

kinds of substances, both alike as entities, but totally
different and opposite in their nature, which, by a
power inscrutable to us, the Creator has made to act
the one upon the other in the production of all those

qualities we observe to characterise the natural bodies
around us,and of all those phenomena hitherto termed
the laws of nature ; and that these two very different
substances are found to exist in the universe under two
distinct forms : 1st, in union, as we find them locked
up together in the construction of every natural and
created body, in which state of combination they pro-
1
duce the qualities* ofform, size, colour, consistence,

taste, <!Sfc. ; and, 2dly, in a separate and uncombined
state, as we find them existing in the atmosphere,
whence they are taken as they are required to form
new synthetical unions in the construction of vegetable
and animal structures, as well as to produce the phe-
nomena of light, heat, and electricity, by which these
structures are partly sustained. In this uncombined
state they also act upon created matter to the production
of the great forces necessaryfor sustaining the different
celestial bodies in their relative positions and motions.

We accordingly find the philosopher searching in
vain for any proofs, apart from revelation, of the real
* It is necessary here to observe, that in the following pages I

have used the terms quality and phenomenon, or mode of action,
in two very distinct but different senses. I regard the qualities
of bodies — 1st, to be the permanent result of the union of the two
entities as they are found combined in the natural creation : as
long as these entities are united, the qualities of create"d bodies are
palpable, —such are form, size, colour, &c. : 2d, as descriptive of
the characters of the entities before they are combined. Thus

indivisibility is a quality both of uncombined material and imma-
terial substance, while ponderosity is a quality of uncombined
material substance only ; and this it gives to created natural
bodies also, but it is not a quality of immaterial substance in its
uncombined state. By phenomena or modes of action I mean

such effects as are produced by the application of one or both of
the uncombined entities to created matter. Thus the spirit of
electricity, applied to iron, which is a created body composed

already of the two entities, produces the phenomenon of mag-
netism, and the spirit of heat applied to the diamond produces

the phenomenon of the solar phosphori, &c.
and separate existence of either of these substances,
material or immaterial, in the universe ; and hence the

confusion in the writings of so many philosophers who
have hitherto sought to prove, from the science of philo-
sophy alone, that there is evidence to determine, accord-
ing to the different views they entertain, either the
entirely material or the entirely immaterial origin of all
things.
The very method by which material bodies are made

to act upon our senses, in the first instance to convince
us of their real existence, could never be accomplished

by material substances of a like nature to themselves,
and unassisted by other substances* of a different na-
ture, which are, in fact, created spirits ; and accordingly,

as we find the same wonderful contrivance resorted to
by the Creator in bringing into sensible existence the
whole living creation, so here, in the first instance, we

behold Him, by means of a power which He alone pos-
sesses, bringing immaterial substances to bear upon
those that are of a material nature, by which means
* I use the term substance here to imply uncombined immate-

riality as well as combined materiality, the nomenclature of arti-
ficial language furnishing no word to express created spirits or

created materiality before these are united in the works of the
natural creation. As I shall frequently, in the course of these
pages, have occasion to use the word substance as applied to im-
materiality or spirit, I will here observe, once for all, that upon
those occasions I use the term conventionally, qualifying its mean-
ing by the antecedent adjective, and without any regard to the
characters that distinguish created substances as they are ob-
served on our globe.
they are brought out of the simplicity of uncombined

chaos into beauty, order, and consistence.
The evidence I shall presently adduce to demon-
strate the real and separate existence of material matter
in the universe, will, if supported by sound philosophical
reasoning, as clearly show that this kind of substance
was in its primordial condition, and, before it was acted
upon by substances of an essentially different and im-
material nature, as much an act of Divine creation as
were the immaterial or spiritual substances which He

also created. Nor has the one any power to annihi-
late the other : and this appears to offer a most sufficient
physical argument to prove that those phenomena here-

tofore thought to be imponderable substances, — such as
light, heat, electricity, &c. — are really in their nature

neither material nor immaterial, but are, like their kin-
dred phenomena of life and mind, the result or mode of
action of the combined operation of one, two, or more of
both kinds of these two great entities upon each other.
I think there is also a very clear and satisfactory

proof of the real existence of these entities as distinct
from each other, not only as entities, but as different
kinds of the same entity. To make this appear plainer,
I would, for example, say there is not only proof that
the spirit of heat or of electricity is distinct from the
matter of oxygen or hydrogen ; but there is proof also
that the spirit of heat is different from the spirit of
electricity, and the matter of oxygen from the matter
of hydrogen.
In revelation, allusion is often made both to visible

— ;
and invisible created things,* which can only point to

the fact that they are only so to us, as we have no
senses but those which recognise the unions of the
two entities in the natural creation, or as they are in
juxtaposition. But God sees them when to us they
are invisible ; and hence the truth of that Scripture

" Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night
shineth as the day ; the darkness and the light are both
alike to Thee."
It is, then, from revelation alone, and not by the
assistance of either physical or mental philosophy, that
the mind is put in possession of the real existence, in

a separate and independent state, of two distinct classes
of substances possessing characters and identities pecu-
liar to themselves; and it should be attentively ob-
served, that neither the one nor the other class could
be separately and disunitedly detected by our senses

for this can only take place by their mutual conjunc-
tion or their mutual juxtaposition. The ultimate ele-
ments of material bodies would be as invisible to the
eye of sense, without the concurrence and the presence

of immaterial substances, as these, on the other hand,
would be invisible without the co-operation of material
substances. Both are alike invisible and incapable of

detection, before they are united or brought in contact
in the works of creation.
I repeat, then, that much authority ought to rest on
the philosophy of revelation upon this point, and there-
* Col. i. 16 ; Rom. i. 20.

fore I have been the more anxious to give a short argu-

ment to support and to enhance the general impression
of its value. From thence we must undoubtedly collect
this fact, that two very distinct kinds of substances are
found to have been created by God from the time He

first made them manifest to us ; and hence the Apostle
Paul, in alluding to the means taken by the Creator to
assure us of the reality of immaterial as well as of ma-

terial things, says
— " The invisible things from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood

by the things that are made ;" hereby evidently marking
a distinction between the two, and showing their mu-
tual dependence.
But the great and indispensable advantage which

philosophy obtains in bringing to her aid the state-
ments of revelation, does not rest here ; for, however
we may suppose philosophy to be capable of unfolding
the more mysterious constitution, and still more in-
scrutable nature of uncombined material substance, we

must at once confess that, in the investigation of these
points in the case of spiritual entities, she is perfectly
incapable of offering any explanation ; for not only is
their nature wholly incomprehensible, even when exa-
mined by the light of revelation, but their very exist-

ence also would have been concealed from us without
such supernatural instrumentality. All, therefore, that
we can learn respecting the existence, the qualities, and

the offices of spiritual substances, however the truth
may be confirmed by the reasonings of philosophy, must
in the first instance have been made known to the
human mind through the agency of revelation. This

fact receives the strongest confirmation from the writ-
ings of heathen philosophers, where many of the
great doctrines first made known in revelation are
found complicated and bound up with the most absurd

and chimerical errors.
In speaking, therefore, hereafter of the existence, or

the qualities, or the offices of spiritual entities, it is to
be assumed that such information is the result of the

application of sound reasoning to the facts already
furnished by revelation upon the subject : nay, more
than this, we have to deal there with statements which
are over and above reason to either prove or disprove,
and which rest there upon the sole intrinsic and charac-
teristic authority of God's word.
Under this head we cannot fail to notice that extra-
ordinary but at the same time unanswerable assertion,

that the created, spiritual entities are in their indivi-
dualities distinct, while they are indivisible. This is a
most remarkable truth for our ideas of spirit are com-
monly antagonistic to those of matter • and it is in the
character of indivisibility that we contemplate, as we

suppose, a distinguishing qualification of spiritual bo-
dies, although I shall presently show this quality belongs
also to uncombined material substance.
Yet God's Word has said that the spirits of men,* as
well as of animals,! are distinct and separate ; and this
* Gen. i. 26, 27; ii. 7; v. 1, 2 • xxxii. 30, &c.
f Gen. ix. 9, 10 ; Deut. xii. 23 ; Prov. xii. 10, &c.

must assure us that in the original creation, both of the
material and immaterial entities, a supernatural agency

was first employed by the Creator, which was inde-
pendent of, and antecedent to, the establishment of
those laws which were made unalterable from the com-
mencement of their ordinance. After their first crea-
tion any subsequent attempt to deal with these spiritual
entities in the sense of divisibility is useless, for it is
well known they are not susceptible of division.
This, then, is an important fact reasonably to be de-

duced from the divine record, and it will be only pro-
ductive of confusion if we attempt either to overlook
the importance it assumes, or to explain its cause.
It is as clearly to be discovered there as the doctrine

of the Trinity, and even clearer ; but, like that doctrine,
it is beyond all human or rational interpretation. It
is most certainly a mystery ; but so are many things

first made known to us in revelation, where they are
accounted mysteries by the very writers that reveal
them. The Apostle Paul speaks of that wonderful union
of the nature of God and man in the person of the man

Christ Jesus as being a great mystery;* for, from his
conception to his death, one continued succession of
mysteries attended his career upon earth. So is the
resurrection of the human body, and its glorified changef
into that body that shall be, a great mystery. And
these, with many others, will continue to be so while
the world lasts; and as such we must receive them,
* Tim. 16. 1 Cor.xv. 51.

1 iii.
f
nothing doubting that they will be reconciled to, and

identified with, the profounclest wisdom.
If, however, there is any one fact to be taken upon
the abstract assertion of revelation, which can neverthe-
less, from its nature, be quite beyond a physical or
rational interpretation, and which, more than any other,
goes to prove the impossibility of determining all axioms

by a process of philosophical induction, it is the fact of
the separate existence of the spirit of man in every
individual of the human family. And this at once

shows the necessity of an appeal to the oracles of God
in explaining some of the great points I have attempted
to demonstrate in the following pages. If the spirit of
man in every individual is a distinct entity, it must be

complete in itself, and, though incapable of divisibility
in that state, yet it must be limited, even in a disem-
bodied state, to some kind of sphere. Here, then, we

seem bound to recognize entities having qualities widely
different from material entities, but at the same time

having qualities that mark them distinctly from those
qualities we are taught by the same authority to believe
distinguish the Divine Being of God. And the neces-
sity of referring to revelation for authority to mark with

accuracy the truth of the existence of these entities as
separate in their individualities, seems indispensable,
while the true nature of both kinds remains untouched,
either by philosophy or revelation. Bishop Butler's
argument in proof of the separate existence of every
individual living being, as shown in the principium in-
dividuationis, or principle of identity, is the clearest

philosophical proof on record of the certainty of this
separate existence in every individual ; simply because
this proof is drawn, not from any attempt to explain its
nature, or even its abstract existence, but from the
analogy its real existence bears to other facts we know

to be true from experience, but which we cannot explain.
It is, however, to the word of God that we first trace
any real authority for believing in the undoubted and

separate existence of spirits. And from the same source
is to be derived another fact upon which I have taken
occasion to dwell in the following pages. I mean, the
degrees of spiritual entities ; for there is evident and fre-
quent allusion in revelation, not only to the separate ex-

istence of the different spirits of the same kind of entity,
but also to different kinds of the same spiritual entity.

It requires no argument to show from the Scriptures
that the spirits which animate the brutes are, as well in
degree as in kind, different from those which dwell in

human bodies. Moreover, those spirits which there are
termed angelic, are described, in condescension to our
faculties of comprehension, when united to glorified
bodies, as having powers far more exalted in the aggre-
gate than belong to the spirit of man. And hence the

prophet Ezekiel represents the angels by those figures
which imply that their powers and attributes are of a
more elevated character than those of man, having
concentrated in any one of them the courage, strength,
vision, penetration, fleetness, &c. that, as distinguish-
ing qualities only, are displayed individually, in diffe-
rent species of animals. And further, these superior

;
angelic spirits, we are there taught to believe, are

composed of numerous orders, some of which have
fallen from their first estate. It will be for us to con-
sider whether these kinds of spirit have not degrees of
power. Indeed, most of the statements connected with
the subject of spiritual entities in the sacred records,
however they may receive confirmation from the exer-
cise of our reasoning faculties upon them, favour the
idea that not only those bodies in the universe which
have some sort of living phenomena about them are
those which are united and kept together by a spiritual
entity of some kind; but also those bodies which are, as
we term them, inorganic, owe their existence, form, and

properties to spiritual entities with which they are united.
And we are led to this at the very outset of revelation,
when we read that ' the spirit of God moved or brooded

upon the face of the waters." And in another part we
are told, God made the whole host of creation by the
breath of his mouth. He is equally spoken of as by His
spirit creating all things, both organic and inorganic
bodies ; and the spirits of living bodies are called alike
" His spirit ;" as are the great works of inorganic matter
represented to be the work of " His spirit."

Guided, therefore, by this light, I shall, with the
joint assistance of philosophy and revelation, proceed to
unfold a theory of spiritual life or existence in which are
comprehended those spirits which, I contend, compose

and move the inorganic matters of this and other worlds
as well as those spirits which animate the bodies of
animals, of man, and of angels.
CHAPTER II.
THE ARGUMENT TO BE DRAWN FROM PHILOSOPHY AND

REVELATION OF THE REAL EXISTENCE OF TWO SEPA-
RATE AND CREATED KINDS OF ENTITY IN THE UNI-
VERSE, BY THE UNION OF WHICH WE BEHOLD EVERY
CREATED THING.
We have now to consider the nature of the proofs
to be drawn from philosophy and revelation, of the

real existence of the very distinct kinds of substance
which were originally created, and subsequently, in

conjunction, were employed by the Creator in framing
the universe, — viz. material substance or matter, and
immaterial substance or spirit ; for, having by the
same Divine power been brought into a real and inde-
pendent existence in the first instance, these distinct
kinds of entity were in the subsequent acts of creation

brought to bear upon, and to combine with, each other
in the production of all the shape, order, beauty, and
other qualities of created bodies, and when in this
state to form higher and more intricate unions in the
carrying out of the many phenomena and forces of

those created bodies as we view them linked together in
the great chain of the created universe.
Laws of the Spirits of Heat and Electricity in their
union with Matter.
Before, however, I proceed to investigate these

proofs, it is important I should here state my inten-
tion strictly to avoid any attempt to explain the true
or abstract nature of the two kinds of entity of
which I am about to speak. Their real existence I
infer from the combined sources of philosophy and
revelation ; and the phenomena resulting from them
furnish us with a series and an aggregate of facts and
laws, upon the immutability and stability of which
rests the true method of induction. And the truth of
the real existence of these substances may doubtless
be inferred with as much certainty as that of the
Deity, while the abstract nature of either continues to be
inscrutable. There may be many causes the nature of
which is unknown to us, whose real existences are
known by their effects. If it is contended that the signs
of the existence of material matter are equally a proof
of the existence of immaterial matter alone, I shall be
able to show that those signs could not be made manifest

without the concurrence of both kinds of substance.
The mode of action, or result of the union of ma-
terial substances with others of an immaterial sort, has
been up to this time confounded with the substances
themselves ; and it is an important point to determine
whether these very different sorts of substances do not
each possess a real existence. Nor need this inquiry
carry us so far as to determine the nature of these

different substances ; it is only their real existence we
wish to point out. There is enough contained in reve-
lation to assure us that both bodily and spiritual sub-
stances exist. We do not dispute the existence of

many very different kinds of material substances and
material bodies. There is no more reason to dispute
the existence of many very different kinds of immaterial
or spiritual substances and spiritual bodies : for if the
natural bodies are thought to be all one kind of sub-

stance, it should be inferred alike of those we call
spiritual. But both, as created bodies, are made up
of the union of the two substances. "We believe that
God is a spirit, and we believe that the angels have
spirits ; we believe also that man has a spiritual part
united to him which partakes not of the same charac-
ters as that of angels. The fact, then, of the separate
existence of very different kinds of spirit is propounded
in the Scriptures : and I contend that their existence
in the operations and appearance of the created universe
is deducible from qualities as clearly to be referred to
them as to material substance.
I say, then, we can have no idea of the nature of

either material or immaterial entities, —that is, of the
primordial elements of all created substances of either
kind employed in the creation, before those substances
were used in creation. These may not be numerous of
either kind, and what we call the primary elements
of matter, in the language of chemical science, in every
probability are not primary in the sense of being un-

divided or unconstituent in their characters. We may

nevertheless investigate the qualities even of these
primordial, and supposed-to-be uncombined constituent
elements of creation, as they stand separately related
to created natural bodies. And when we do so, and
regard them as distinct from that created matter which
is the result of the union of the two kinds of substance,
material and immaterial, we are struck with the fact
that they both possess one quality in common ; they

are both indivisible in the sense of being able to isolate
or retain all their properties, in any one particular
portion, these being retained by the most minute
portions of either, however infinitesimally thay may be

apparently divided. Nor can all or any one of the true
properties be removed from the smallest divisible
portion. For example, we find this quality of indi-
visibility is attached alike in this sense to the spirits of

heat and electricity as it is to the matter of oxygen
and carbon.
It is necessary and important to observe in this
place that there is both reason and proof for stating

my belief that the primordial and uncombined con-
stituent elements of creation are to be discovered in
two different relations and conditions, — viz. uncom-

bined or single, and combined or fixed. In the first
state they surround our globe, and, as I shall hereafter
show by analogy, all other created worlds in the uni-
verse of the one only and true God. In the second

state they are to be detected in the analysis of natural
and visible created matters, when both kinds may
readily be obtained as in their original and uncom-

bined state, by means of proper instruments. This
process is one of the most undoubted physical proofs
we possess of the existence of different spiritual enti-
ties, as they are united to other kinds of substance
in the production of all visible bodies. For when
these natural bodies are separated by chemical dis-
union or analysis, the material part from the immaterial

atoms, to which they had by the Creator originally
been united, that separation is indicated by the actual
disengagement of these spirits, causing the sensible
appearance of light, heat, concussion, or report, according
to circumstances. Hence we have the true explanation
of the phenomenon of the voltaic battery, when, by the

chemical decomposition of one metal, by placing it in
contact with another metal and an acid, we observe the
spirit of electricity, by which and to which it was
united in the original synthesis, is separated and
makes its escape along the conductor in the form of
what is called chemical electricity, in order to blend itself
with the uncombined spirit of electricity everywhere

in the atmosphere.
The relation the spirit of electricity bears to matter
in its combined or its uncombined state may here-

after be shown to observe this difference between the
two, — viz. that in the natural creation of visible sub-
stances the spirit was mixed up with, and formed
an integral part of, created things ; and in the pro-
duction of the qualities of such created things, this
intimate and internal commixture of spirit with material

entities was necessary and fixed. But in the production
of the ever-varying phenomena of natural bodies, the
spirits engaged have no longer power to enter the sub-

stances, but are confined in their operations to the sur-
faces of all bodies, with which, however, they do not
blend. In the first case, or that of the naturally created
substances, the proof of the intimate mixture of these
spirits with every known kind of natural substance is
given in their perceptible disengagement from those

substances when they are submitted to chemical analysis.
In the second case, we are led to believe the phenomena

of created bodies are caused by the action of these
spirits upon the surface of created bodies, from the

well-known and down by
established rules laid
Coulomb, who proved by many experiments that when

electricity is accumulated in any body, the whole
of it is deposited on the surface, and none penetrates
to the interior. The deviation from this rule in the
supposed case of the magnetic fluids, which are said to

pervade each molecule of the mass, is explicable on the
hypothesis that the material substances of the universe

do not all bear the same uniform relation to the spirit
of electricity, and that some of them are specifically
acted upon by this spirit. Such are some compounded

bodies of the natural creation, as iron, nickel, cobalt,
&c, which have so great an affinity for magnetic elec-
tricity that they can never be said to be like non-electric

bodies, mere conductors ;
yet the action of magnetism
upon these and other bodies has been shown by Poisson
to be equal to a thin stratum covering their surface.
These two very different states in which the spiritual
entities are to be discovered in their relation to matter,
do not appear to offer a satisfactory explanation of

other phenomena besides those I have mentioned. I
would instance, not the natural synthesis of water, but

the changes that body undergoes in its transition from ice
into steam, which are evidently effected by the operation
of the spirits of heat and electricity upon it ; and here
these spirits being applied to the surface of created
matter, the action, so far, seems to resemble those
phenomena I have just been defining. But here the
resemblance stops, and we have the created body
changing its form by altering the position of its con-
stituent particles, in consequence of the application of
the spirits of heat and electricity to it. The relation
these spirits would appear to bear to the atmosphere is
also probably unique ; for while the relative proportions
of that body have a constant tendency to maintain a

fixed standard, it seems impossible to suppose that
a standard can be maintained without the co-operation
of these spirits in some way. If the atmospheric con-
stituents are not, therefore, chemically combined, it is
probable these spirits act upon it in the same manner

as if it were a compound created body. And yet a
feasible reason seems to be offered why that substance
should not be chemically united in its constituents like
minerals and other bodies forming part of the matter
of this earth ; which is, that the elementary materials
of the atmosphere being so constantly required to enter
into the structures of plants and animals, and to per-

:
form the daily changes that are going on in different
bodies on the surface of the earth, any decomposition

of its constituent parts, had they been in a fixed che-
mical union, would be attended with constant explosion

and danger to respiration, caused by the separation in
such cases of the material from the immaterial parts,
as in the ordinary chemical decomposition of bodies
whereas, the two kinds of entity can now enter the

living tissues, whether separately or in the more floating
and varying unions, without previous combustion. And
moreover they are kept separate in the atmosphere, in
order that both the material and the immaterial elements
may be ready for use as circumstances arise.
I believe these two very different states, in which we

find the spiritual and material entities to exist in their
relation to the physical universe, are moreover required

to be thus both in a fixed or locked-up state, and in a
floating or disunited state, in order to the carrying out
of the daily laws necessary to the sustaining of the

earth in her relation to all other created bodies, as well
as to the carrying on of the celestial forces, and the
support and conservation of all other systems of
creation.
It will be thus obvious that before the phenomena

of light can take place, the material substances and
bodies on which the spirits of heat or electricity are to
act must have, in the first place, been either created
separately, or brought together and united in a fixed
manner, as in the original creation. The visible pheno-
mena of light I consider to be caused by the operation
;
of the uncombined spirits of heat and electricity upon

created matter, which is already composed, whether
united chemically or not, of the two opposite entities,
matter and spirit, as we see them united in the atmo-
sphere. This I have proved in the next chapter,
where I give the analysis of a sun-beam, showing in

what way the two spirits of heat and electricity enter
the ray. The difference between light, conflagration,
and combustion, is, that light is produced without the

added spirit being so great as to effect a chemical
decomposition which is equivalent to combustion
while conflagration results from the relative difference
between the degree of spirits applied and the character
of the material to which they are applied, the degree
being higher, and the character of the material such as
is found only when it has been united at some former
period in the ternary and quaternary unions caused by
the spirit of life.
The natural phenomena thus produced by the ac-
tion of uncombined spiritual substances upon created

matter are therefore to be referred to two different
modes of action. The phenomena of one kind are
those of light. These, when produced, would ap-
pear to be the result of the action of one or two

spirits, but mostly of two, either upon fixed or created
matter, or else upon matter in its less fixed and more
floating and fluctuating condition, as we find it in the
air, or as it has been bound up in vegetable and animal

structures : while the phenomena of the other kind
are necessarily more mixed, and they proceed from the

action of these spirits upon the more fixed and created
matter of the earth and the universe. Thus motion,
gravity, chemical affinity, electro-magnetism, &c, are
forces that cannot be accomplished short of the union
of the two spirits of heat and electricity to the solid
and fixed matters of the globe, which have already been
brought together in such a manner by union with those
spirits as to be able to bear the new or second action
upon them without altering their component parts.
The intricate action, and possibly the modified action

of these co-operating spirits upon the matter of the
universe, has excited the interest of all our great natural
philosophers, although I am not aware they have de-

tected these regular and systematic unions more closely
than as they have been supposed to hold some correla-

tion in the sense of forces one towards the other.
They are all susceptible of explanation upon the prin-
ciple I now propounded. The wonderful experi-

have
ments and discoveries of many eminent philosophers
bring the strongest conviction to my mind that there
are distinct spirits in operation, and that these spirits
are conjunctively engaged as second causes in the pro-

duction of all the great mundane and celestial forces
used by the Creator for the conservation of the universe.

The experiments of Herschel* on the absorption of
* On the Absorption of Light by Coloured Media, and on the
Colours exhibited by certain Flames, &c. &c. : published in the
Edinburgh Transactions, vol. ix. p. 433.

light, and those of Brewster* on the prismatic rays,
prove that colours are caused by the variation in the

degree of heat applied to combustible material. " The
yellow cone inclosed in the blue envelope" shows that
in the production of the ordinary flame of a candle the
two spirits of heat and electricity are taking a part.

Pouillet has shown that positive electricity is present
around the visible part of the flame formed by the
combination of oxygen and hydrogen. This is shown
by experiments on the sun-beam, presently to be
noticed. The discovery of electro-magnetism by
Oersted; the researches of Hansteenf on the earth's
magnetism and the magnetic poles as regards their
position and revolution ; and more recently those of

Faraday | on the nature of the forces here employed,
and the identity of these with the phenomena of mag-
netic electricity, — are so much collective evidence to
prove that the spirit of electricity is acting upon par-

ticular matter, which spirit this last great philosopher
has brought to bear upon that same matter in the pro-
duction of the rectangular force, and in causing mag-
netic iron after the discovery of Ampere, and iron-
filing, and even a ray of light, to rotate upon it. These

are remarkable illustrations to show what these spirits
can do. " The calorific effects of magnetic electricity,"
* Description of the Monochromatic Lamp ; with Remarks on

the Absorptions of the Prismatic Bays by Coloured Media : pub-
lished in the same journal.
"J*
TJntersuchungen iiber den Magnetismus der Erde.
% Experimental Researches.
as shown by Joule the discovery

•
of thermo-electricity by
Seebeck ; and those of Daguerre, which have led to the
peculiar science of photography, — all prove that the ope-
ration of the spirit of heat is in a prominent manner
concurrent with that of electricity in the production of
the mixed phenomena they point out.
Proximate Principles of Matter.

One of the greatest debts we owe to natural philosophy
is for the discovery of the characters, uses, and chemical
combinations of those elements supposed to stand alone
in the composition of our globe. The study of their
modes of action and methods of union, the result of
patient observation and experiment, has led to the most

profound and extended induction. The advances made
in chemical philosophy towards a perfect knowledge of
the materials around us, both in their properties and
modes of union, have been hitherto most satisfactory.
Still, if we take the aggregate of all that has yet been
discovered, it must be admitted that our knowledge of

what really constitute the simple mediate or ele-
mentary principles of matter composing our globe is
incomplete ; and there is the greatest reason to suppose
that, provided we possessed the power, we might yet
be able to separate substances which, according to our

present knowledge and experimental attainment, are
incapable of further division.
In our investigation of some of these mediate princi-
ples of matter which chemistry has not further decom-
posed, and which, on this account, have received the
appellation of elements, we are struck with some three

or four of them, such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
and carbon, on account of the very etherial appearance
they assume, and more especially from the very universal

part we find they have been made to take in the com-
position, not only of the inorganic matter which enters
into the structure of our globe, but of the water and
atmospheric air that surrounds it, and of the living
vegetable and animal bodies that subsist upon its sur-
face. These substances are of that attenuate character,

and are capable of such minute and almost infinite
subdivision, that we find them placed, as it were, in an

intermediate position between the more characteristic
examples of materiality, and another class of substances
with which they have to deal, and which, as these pos-

sess none of the qualities or properties of what are
commonly called material substances in their elemen-
tary forms, I think there is every reason to believe are

immaterial in their nature.
Proximate Principles of Matter confounded with the

Spirits and their Modes of Action upon Matter.
These immaterial substances are the spirits causing

light, heat, electricity, magnetism, life, and mind, which
have hitherto been confounded with the proximate
principles of matter ; and, in order to distinguish these
expressions from the true immaterial and efficient causes
engaged to produce them, I shall use the term spirit
before these several popular terms, to prevent confusion

when alluding to their true immaterial and efficient
D
causes, and not to their effects ; for these terms (light,
heat, &c), as I shall presently show, are the expression of
phenomena the result of the combined action of the two

great entities of creation, materiality and immateriality.
They are, therefore, not even expressive of entities of
either kind, but are modes of action, and, as such, they
only express properties orqualities, and these are unable

to begin their existence as real efficient or created causes.
It is most remarkable that, after having created some

three or four material substances which natural philo-
sophy informs us are of an uncombined nature, one, two,
or more of which, such as oxygen, hydrogen, &c, consti-
tute part of the basis of every created compound of

matter, whether organic or inorganic, we find one or
two of these immaterial substances were now brought
forward by the Great Eirst Cause, and made in like
manner to act as universally upon those simple material

substances. This co-operation of material and imma-
terial substances is the only true and philosophical
explanation of all the beauty and order, of all the
qualities and quantities, of all the extension, consistence,
colour, taste, size, feel, &c, in the various objects we

behold around us. So that, in our investigations of
the component parts of all created bodies, whether
organic or inorganic, we have the most palpable mate-

rial proof that the same Being who made any one of
the material substances around us, —such as oxygen,
hydrogen, nitrogen, or carbon, —must have made all of
them ; for their ultimate analysis will furnish us with

some one or other of the same elementary substances,
differing only in relative quantity ; while the same fact
applies also to the immaterial substances I have alluded
to, for the three spirits causing the phenomena of light,
heat, electricity, magnetism, life, and mind, which we

found to be indispensable spirits employed by the
Creator in the synthetical arrangement and construc-
tion, or the analysis and reconstruction of material
bodies. And the proof we derive from the philosophical
investigation or analysis of the substantive world around
us is most convincing that these spirits do exist ; for
we may now assure ourselves both of the universal

nature of the common material elements of our globe,
as well as the living creatures that inhabit it, and of the
invariable phenomena resulting from the conjunction of
those material elements with others of an immaterial

nature, by which they exhibit unalterable properties
according to some fixed decree bestowed on them by

their Creator.
There is, therefore, nothing in the discoveries of na-
tural science conflicting to the doctrine that there are
existing and created immaterial substances, as well as
material substances, in the works of creation ; and there

is great reason to suppose philosophy has been too iso-
late in her views of immateriality ; she not having enter-
tained fairly and impartially the possibility that there
are several kinds and degrees of immaterial substances
or spirits which, like the proximate principles of mate-
rial matter, are incapable of decomposition or further
division into different parts, because they are not com-
36 THE PHILOSOPHY OP SPIRITS
pounded, although they may possess very different
degrees and kinds of power nevertheless.

I am quite aware the problem has not as yet been
solved, whether these imponderable substances, as they

are called, are material matters in their most minute
subdivision, or whether they are " manifestations of

activity," or modes of action of material matter alone.
But from the argument I have already adduced, and

the proofs I am about to give, I do think that such
substances have an independent immaterial existence,
which may be logically proved, and that it is their
application and adaptation to the material substances
of the globe in the two ways I have stated, that con-

stitute all the qualities and all the phenomena we
behold in the matter that surrounds us.
The Universal Materiality and the Universal Imma-

teriality of all Things shown to be alike incorrect.
When philosophers have attempted, by the unassisted

aid of rational or natural philosophy alone, to penetrate
the nature or dive into the cause of the two remarkably
distinct substances I have endeavoured to show have a
real existence in the universe as distinct entities alike
under the control of an infinite Being, they have fallen

into one or other of these two errors, — first, either they
have confused the true efficient causes of the manifest

and outward existence of material substances, by making
those causes inherent in the matters themselves, thereby
denying entirely the existence of immateriality and the
;
operation of spiritual causes in the universe as entities,

whether united to or disunited from material substances
or, secondly, they have endeavoured to prove that what
is commonly termed and received as material substance
is nothing more than an aggregation of qualities, which,
inasmuch as they are formed within the mind, have no
other than an immaterial, though at the same time a
real, existence.
We have thus the advocates of two very distinct and

conflicting theories — viz. those who contend for the
materiality and those who contend for the immateriality
of the universe ; and, if the views I now put forth have
any claim to be regarded as truth, it can no longer be

disputed that though the doctrine of universal mate-
riality or that of universal immateriality may have been
urged with undoubted ability and with apparent con-
formity to syllogistical or to mathematical rules, yet
each of them is amenable to refutation, and therefore
equally unworthy of belief.
When I speak of the existence of uncombined mate-
rial substance, or of material substance, as it is seen
combined in the visible created world, as a real entity,
and treat it as an indisputable fact, I do not make the

truth of that fact to rest upon certain and undoubted
effects, but I take up my stand on the verity of revela-
tion, which assures me of this fact at once ; for there I
ascertain that it formed part of the original creation*
* Gen. i. 1 ; Psa. xc. 2; Prov. viii. 23, 26; Jer. x. 12, xxviii.
5 ; Heb. i. 2, xi. 3, &c.

by the word of God. I think, however, with this fact

to guide us, its distinct identity from immaterial sub-
stance may be most unequivocally proved by philosophy.
It has been said that there is no proof to be drawn
from philosophy of the real existence of material sub-
stance, so that those who disbelieve in revelation are
strengthened in the idea by the plausible evidence ad-

duced to show that all we behold in the outward world
is comprehended within the mind, and in a material
sense cannot be without it. Thus the colour, size,
shape, and consistence of material substances are re-
garded by some as the mere qualities of those sub-

stances, but, when taken away from them, are thought
to leave nothing behind. Qualities they are, but they
have nothing to show they have any entity of existence

at all, either material or immaterial.
Having received the first announcement from reve-
lation of the real existence of material substance as a
distinct act of creation, I will now go on to prove the
rational probability— nay, the certainty, of this by the

following incontrovertible fact.
We find the different qualities and characters of

the visible and created bodies around us are regulated
by certain fixed and accurately adjusted laws, as they
are commonly termed ; which laws are really the action
of immaterial substances upon those that are material.
If the material substance did not exist apart, that is,
distinct in its nature from these immaterial substances,

how could we behold them by means of our senses?
for there is no evidence that immaterial substances are

patent to our senses, except as they have been used by

the Creator to give form, colour, consistence, &c, to
the proximate principles of material substance ; nor

could this form, colour, &c. be made manifest to our
organs of sense unless it was through some spirit, com-

bined with, and superadded to, a material substance on
which it could act. The immateriality producing light
and heat is necessarily latent, and totally incapable of
being recognized by sensations conveyed through the

nervous system of animals, unless they meet there with
material substance through which, and upon which, they
can manifest themselves ; and not till then do they pro-
duce effects according to the degree in which they are
applied, or rather to the nature of the material sub-
stance they come in contact with. The great proof

that they do come in contact with substances which are
different in nature to their own is, that they have
power, not only as efficient causes, to regulate and pre-
serve all the material substances, whether in a com-
bined or an uncombined state, of which the universe is
composed, but also to break down and decompose those

combined substances into their primary elements. But
here I contend they stop ; and their power to act upon
and dissolve those primary elements of uncombined
materiality any further is ineffectual ; indeed, it is im-
possible. They may dissipate them by repulsion, or
by conflagration, or by the most minute dissemination ;
but there is no evidence that they are destroyed, in the

ultimate sense of the word, as by annihilation. And
this is to be inferred by the most powerful analogical

deductions. If, for example, the destructive confla-
gration of hydrogen or carbon implies their total anni-
hilation, or even so much as their dissipation beyond
the atmosphere that surrounds our earth implied their
total annihilation, our globe must rapidly and sensibly
diminish in size, and could, on that account, no longer
maintain the accurate and uniform relation we know
it does to the sun and moon, and other bodies com-
prising the same system. The consequence of a total
annihilation of the materiality of our globe, and, by a
parity of reasoning, of others also, or even their dissipa-
tion beyond the radius of the atmospheres that sur-

round them, would be attended with no less than a
constantly varying action of those laws in nature which
we have the fullest assurance, by long experience, and
the most extended observation, are invariable. Now,
if light were a material substance, as the Newtonian
theory must make it to be, the incessant torrents of
light which the sun is perpetually supposed to be send-
ing forth must either diminish its size, which would at
once destroy the uniformity in the movements and laws

of the planetary and other bodies within the solar sys-
tem, or else the material parts are continually under-

going re-creation, —an idea inconsistent with the science
and revelation of facts.
The real existence, therefore, of materiality as a dis-
tinct entity is pledged, not in the sense of a variation

in its relative quantity, but in that of its having, in the
case of our earth and other created orbs, a distinctly

fixed totality, on which depends the regularity of their
motions, and the accurate computation of time.
It might be urged, though most unphilosophically,
and without any authority either from nature or reve-
lation, that the Creator is continually re-creating fresh
supplies of the primary elements of material substance :
but this argument, while it cannot fail to admit the

separate nature of the material entity, is as much as
to say the uniformity in the laws and collocations of
created matter, which proceed from the conjunction of

previously uncombined substance with the spirits of
immateriality, is not according to "an invariable and
divine appointment, but to some supervenient laws, or
to the accidental phenomena of vicarious action ; an

idea which is continually contradicted by the whole
course of Nature's undeviating laws.
The method pursued by natural philosophy to ascer-
tain with certainty the real existence, as well as the
constituent elements, of some of the simpler inorganic

bodies, is most satisfactory. She determines their com-
position, first by analysis, and then by synthesis. By
the first method their primary elements are separated.
And if we inquire by what instrumentality this sepa-
ration is accomplished, the answer is, by the imma-

terial efficient causes of heat, or of electricity. Thus,
by that of heat, we may separate many of the consti-
tuent elements of which inorganic bodies are composed ;
but we cannot, by this efficient cause alone, resolve

every inorganic body into its primary elements. Neither
has it been found that, with the additional concurrence

of the efficient cause of electricity, we can, in every in-
stance, succeed in disjoining all the primary elements
of which some bodies are composed. But we may take

for example a drop of water ; and by the application
of galvanic electricity we may analyse it into its pri-
mary elements of oxygen and hydrogen. And that we

may be re-assured of the correctness of the result of
our analysis, we are permitted, in this instance, to re-
verse our methods of proof of the reality of its compo-

sition : and this we may do by the synthetic process.
To effect this, we take the constituent elementary ma-
terials of water, oxygen, and hydrogen, and by bring-
ing these in contact with the spirit of electricity, attracted
for the purpose by the ordinary electric battery, the
result is the production of the natural substance we call
water. If this substance were strictly and simply a

binary compound of oxygen and hydrogen, the mere
bringing these materials together in the proportions
they go to form water would only be required. But
these material substances cannot enter into chemical
union without the co-operation of a third substance,
and that an immaterial one. The difference between
the first process of forming water, and that of causing
that water to become vapour, is just the difference in
the mode of application of the spirit of electricity.
Water is a naturally-created body ; and as such must

have had the electric spirit mixed up with the mate-
rials oxygen and hydrogen : but when thus formed into
water, and in this position fixed as a created body, its
further change into vapour is effected simply by sur-
rounding its surfaces with the spirits of electricity and

heat.
The complete immaterialist will argue that if we take

colour, shape, size, weight, extension, and a few other
qualities, from all material bodies, there is nothing of
them left ; and therefore they agree with Berkeley and
his followers, that, though these qualities have a real
existence, yet the whole materials of the outward world
are nevertheless immaterial in their nature. The advo-
cates for universal immateriality do not dispute the
possibility of the existence of materiality in the uni-
verse, but they contend it is not self-evident. This is
a truth applicable to both materiality and immateriality.

They are like the great God that formed them, and
rules over them, — in themselves they are invisible and
incapable of investigation. They are neither of them
as separate entities and in an independent state, — that
is to say, without the help and concurrence of each
other, self-evident ; and therefore, in this assertion,
these advocates at once show they have wrongly appre-

hended the qualities and characters of the substance
they so universally contend for ; for we certainly have
no experience to guide, or authority to support, the

idea that shape, or colour, or consistence, are real enti-
ties, any more than modes of action are modes of
being : and I question if any one of the apprehended
self-evident proofs of the existence of immateriality, as
a separate and distinct entity, would serve the purpose,

as incontrovertible evidence of immateriality, so well as
they would that of materiality, especially in the com-

mon acceptation : for we are certain that all the bodies
we behold with our senses, and which we term mate-
rial in common parlance, have ever been identified with
certain characters which philosophers have called pri-
mary and secondary qualities of matter; yet no one

could ever contend that these qualities were real entities,
but those who were ignorant of the true efficient causes
of them.
Now, however ignorant we may be of the precise
nature or cause of entity beyond the fact of knowing by

whom they were first made, in which fact revelation has
instructed us, we are certain from ample experience that

it exists, and moreover must be capable of producing
effects. But we have no experience to assure us that

effects, even, could be manifested or produced by
uncombined entity ; that is, by an entity which
wholly and solely partakes of the nature either of ma-
teriality or of immateriality, and that has no con-
junctive operation the one with the other.
Again : Modes of action cannot begin their existence,
and in this state they cannot produce effects, for they are
themselves but phenomena; and phenomena are not

efficient causes. It is said, that the qualities of bodies
being removed, there is nothing left in such bodies. This

is a safe observation, and no doubt ventured upon the
invariable nature of created things, for to remove a cause,
in the sense of its complete annihilation, shall always be
interpreted to mean the removal of the effects resulting
from that cause. And here the light of revelation breaks
in : for to believe that qualities only exist around us,
is not only to believe that effects can exist independently

of causes, which is a philosophical absurdity, but it is
to believe that we are misguided by revelation on this
point. For we are most plainly and unmistakeably told

there, that there was a time when matter was " without
form and void," —void of what ? Of the other quali-
ties that afterwards adorned it. Still it was matter, be-
fore it manifested or received those qualities by which
it was afterwards identified, or in other words before it
was acted upon by the spirits of immateriality.
Thus the goodness of God, that " so clothes the grass
of the field " that on every side it bears the impress of
divine workmanship, is by some reduced to an optical
illusion ; and the whole fabric of the globe is so loaded
as it were, and covered on every side, with surpassing

wonder and beauty, that the very materials on which
these beauties have so long been displayed are con-
founded, not only with their efficient causes, but by many
with the great first cause ; a powerful argument to shew
that, without the aid —the
of revelation and a chart
compass of the only true philosophy—we should not only
lose our track and so fail to reach the haven, but we
should sink, and that deeper and deeper, into a fathomless
abyss of darkness and doubt.
Had the immaterialist admitted that the substances
employed to produce the colour, shape, consistence, ex-
tension, &c. of material bodies were immaterial in their
nature, they would have cleared away the difficulty that
surrounds the doctrine of immaterialism ; and while they

took credit for the extent to which the immaterial prin-
ciples of light, heat, and electricity, were fairly entitled to
go, as immaterial substances acting upon matter, they

would acknowledge that something in its nature and
characters, diametrically opposite to immateriality, was
also necessary in order to the manifestation or proof of
the existence of both. We could not, for example, re-

cognise light without an atmosphere, nor heat without
some material body in which it may be developed, nor
electricity without a vehicle, nor life without an orga-
nised body. Light is not an entity, nor is it a mode of
action even of material matter alone, but it is a mode of
action of immaterial upon material matter.
Neither, then, can the existence of immaterial nor of
material substances be proved in the first instance by
the unassisted aid of philosophy, whether natural or
mental ; and the same argument we draw from reve-
lation to prove the real existence of immaterial spirits
and an immaterial world, is equally available and ne-

cessary to prove the real existence of material bodies
and a material world.
The power of the immaterial substances causing light,
heat, electricity, &c. over material bodies, great as it is,
still has its limits, and while we know nothing, but as a
matter of faith, of the true cause of these substances,

neither do we know any more of the cause of the ulti-
mate element of matter.

By that spirit that produces heat we may decompose
almost if not all compounded bodies, and reduce them
to their ultimate elements, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
and carbon, which are all the gaseous elements we are

acquainted with, or we may reduce them to their earthy
;
alkaline or metallic bases ; but farther than this decom-

position and analysis we cannot go ; and here, therefore,
material substance takes up its stand, and as it were
defies the immaterial spirits to annihilate them.
I can believe, therefore, rationally, in the existence
both of an immaterial and of a material world around me
and bringing revelation to my aid, I can see nothing but
the most complete evidence to be deduced from thence

of the separate and opposite existence of these two
grand classes of substances.
It will be seen, then, that those phenomena of created
bodies which have hitherto been so unphilosophically
called imponderable agents, have really no existence as
entities of either kind of substance material or immate-
rial ; still less are they likely to exist as created bodies
or created matter. Neither have they any analogical

resemblance to them, but they are really results of the
action of spirit upon matter ; and doubtless the theory
of atoms, as applied to such phenomena, will soon give
place to a more extended theory of immaterial agents.
The time is when we shall no longer think
not far distant
it possible that any bodies as we behold them with our
outward and inward senses, whether those bodies are
organic or inorganic, can be brought together, regulated,
altered or controlled, without the agency of powers as
truly spiritual as those we have so long regarded as ex-
clusively to govern organised bodies.
Important part taken by the Spirits.
If the immaterial efficient causes of those phenomena

which natural philosophers have termed imponderable
—
bodies, have any real existence as entities of material
matter, it is indeed singular and paradoxical that they

should possess such remarkable power over bodies of
like nature with themselves ; for it must be remembered
they are the active efficient cause of all the varieties in
the shapes, colours, and other qualities of every visible
substance, and when applied as uncombined spirit to
created matter they constitute the laws which govern

our earth. Indeed, the whole range of physical and
inductive science is but the demonstration of their mode
of action when united to materiality. I do not expect
there is any difficulty in proving that the spiritual sub-
stances I have alluded to are made to take an indispen-
sable position, and to act an important part in the for-
mation of every visible substance. Thus, the spirit of
heat being engaged to regulate the consistence of ele-

mentary materials, it may doubtless be proved that in
many instances their chemical union with materials of
like nature is accomplished by the spirit of electricity.
It is also highly probable that the natural separation
of the old materials into their primary elements is
the act of electric power. The strongest artificial
means we possess for accumulating or attracting these

spiritual substances in those bodies most favourable to
their reception, have not as yet enabled us even to

analyze correctly many of the natural inorganic bodies
around us. And with such potential tenacity do some

of the most minute portions of the gaseous elements
oxygen, hydrogen, &c, appear to be united to some
inorganic substances, that we cannot detach or expel
them by the help of our strongest batteries. For this

cause we are unable to follow nature in the synthesis

even of inorganic bodies.
Tlie doctrine of Imponderable Agents shewn to be
erroneous.
There is a class of philosophers, — and when I men-

tion such names as Aristotle, Newton, Bacon, Laplace,
and Locke, it is impossible I can do so without ex-
pressing the very high veneration in which I hold their
transcendant talents, —whose views in philosophy appear
to take a middle course between the two more unequi-

vocal advocates for universal materiality or immateri-
ality. The lofty talents of these individuals have enabled
them to establish their tenets, and to put forth their
claims upon public belief on so wide a basis of physical

and mathematical induction, their views have become
so popular, and they are so bound up in the exposition
of natural science, that it seems almost an arrogance on

my part to venture to disturb such gigantic and cumu-
lative labour, wrought out as it has been with so much
care and experiment.
Much of this laborious work, however, is to be
explained upon a plan of mental operation that partakes
of the character of a mechanism which, though in all
its relations it may be mechanically correct, disturbs
not the fact of the manner in which that mechanism
is applied. The universal and immutable method by
which the phenomena of creation are governed,
gives to the astronomer and mathematician a power
of accurate computation, which strikes the mind
;
instantly with the idea that if any knowledge is
certain it is that which conforms itself to the most

rigorous application of geometrical and scientific rules,
which, by resting on a sure induction, can never be
refuted. All this is, after all, but the elaborate mental
machinery by which the fabric of science is put in
motion ; and it is in one sense independent of the
substances employed, or the manner in which those

substances are brought to bear upon each other. It is
not disputed there can be error in this machinery

the probability is, it is complete, and not subject to
variance, for it is established upon the unfailing uni-
formity and the invariable laws of nature, stamped

with the signet of the King of kings — the unchangeable
Creator ; and in surveying this machinery the mind of
a master is surely needed to unfold so great and so
divine a work. But it is the supposed material sub-
mitted to the mind for investigation, which does not
bear to be so regarded ; and there is reason to think it
has been mistaken for what it is not. Sufficient
argument may be adduced from nature to show that

this supposed material will not bear, however etherial
a substance it might be thought to be, that test it
ought to stand as a proof that it is created matter.
Some of these writers, in speaking of light, heat, or
electricity, as agents or efficient causes in \h.Q hands of

the Supreme Cause, appear to offer a doubtful argu-
ment, not as to the modus operandi, but as to the
character of these supposed causes ; for they have not

failed, in the course of that argument, to show that they
;
believe such agents to partake of the nature of material
bodies entirely, although they call them at the same

time imponderable.
To say that light, heat, and electricity, are impon-
derable bodies, is not only negative and indefinite, but,
strictly speaking, it is not sense, if material bodies are
intended to be expressed by this term ; and we know
of no other to which the term can be applied. There
is no material body that is actually imponderable ; and
when any such matter can be shown to be deficient in
this quality, it is no longer material to common sense,
neither is it so in a true philosophical sense : for the
weight of a body is the amount of attraction the im-
material spirit of electricity exercises on that particular

body as a created body ; and this must be more or less
existing, or the body could not be retained on the sur-

face or in the atmosphere of our earth. For this cause
it is that spirit cannot be retained or confined to the
earth, or to any particular part of space ; and therefore

all material substance, whether uncombined or united
with spirit, as in the visible creation, has this quality
of ponderosity given to it. Those that are uncombined

—such as oxygen, hydrogen, &c. —have less weight, as
they possess fewer qualities than combined created ma-

terial substances, which are, as a consequence, more
ponderous. We can, however, detect no such quality
as this in identifying spiritual substances. It is by no
means satisfactory or conclusive to say the weight of a
body is too small to be detected by the finest balance
for this might be urged in the case of material matter
that is too small to be collected in sufficient quantity,

but of light and heat, any reasonable amount of which,
whether natural or artificially condensed, may be sub-
mitted to this test ;
yet it yields no weight. The same
weight of iron, made red or white-hot, is no heavier
than the same weight of cold iron. The same weight
of ice is no heavier when converted to water. The
focus of light, when brought to bear upon the finest
balance, will have no more effect upon it, in a ponder-
able sense, than the light that surrounds it.
That circumstance that appears to have contributed

most towards the maintenance of errors the most irre-
concilable in philosophy, is the confounding of those
qualities and phenomena which are truly the result of
the union of material with immaterial substances, with

ideas and arguments to prove their exclusive material
entity. Thus the materialist contends for the mate-
riality of the phenomena of light, heat, and electricity,
&c. : and it is thought very generally by philosophers

that light, for example, is in its nature material, because,
when given out by luminous bodies, a certain measure
of time, however short, is required for its transit. It
is, however, to be determined whether this apparent

fact is not capable of receiving an interpretation that
does not disturb the immateriality of the efficient cause
of light. It has been already stated that light is the
result or mode of action of immaterial spirit upon

material created matter ; and its manifestation is only
to be detected when these two opposite kinds of sub-
stances are intact, and even then it may — and, judging

;
from experiment, we may say it does — require the com-
bined aid of the immaterial cause of electricity, as well
as heat, as it does the combination of two or more

material elements, in order to its development. Of
these unions of the spiritual entities in the production
of the visible phenomenon of light, heat, &c, I shall
speak more fully in the next chapter. To say that
light, therefore, is material, because it requires time for
its transit, only proves that the palpable effect of its
immaterial cause is governed by the material substance

to which it is related. And nothing is so delusive to
our senses as the action of the immaterial substances,

causing light, as they operate upon different bodies we
call luminous.
We have this most remarkably exemplified in our
firmament upon a clear night. The unscientific ob-
server, in viewing the heavens with his naked eye, is
inclined to think that, if it were possible for him to
count the multitude of visible stars before him, they

would number millions ;
yet, it is well known, two
thousand, at the outside, is the number he could count,
under such circumstances, over the entire circle of the
heavens. Not that I have, by stating this well-known

fact, any desire to limit the number of created orbs
for, in one hour, by means of a telescope, almost count-
less thousands may be seen to pass through the field of
vision. I am only anxious to prove that, however
desirous we may be to bring the created universe within
the brackets of time and space, we must fail, from our
total inability to measure the more distant objects of
creation by the same rule we measure those which
stand in a more proximate relation to our own globe.
Allied to this optical illusion of the visible stars to

the naked eye, is that of beholding two, three, four, and
even seven suns, which, it is well known, is occasioned
by the refraction and reflection of light during a very

condensed state of the atmosphere. And this latter
circumstance is one, amongst others, which explains the

varieties in the size of objects under different states of
the atmosphere. It is well known that this refractive
power of the atmosphere, as it is thought, prevents any
distant object being seen in its true position. And

whether that refraction depends upon the true atmo-
spheric materials being altered by pressure, according
to their proximity or distance from the earth, or upon

those materials composing water, which are there ele-
vated and expanded by the operation of the spirits of
heat and electricity, remains to be proved. But it has
been shown that refraction varies at the same distances
from the zenith, in proportion to the height of the
barometer : which is as much as to say, according to
the quantity and quality of the materials involved, by

the spirits of heat and electricity, in the atmosphere.
It is said that the humidity of the air produces no
sensible effect upon its refractive power. This is doubt-
less proved by accurate experiment, and may be ex-
plained to mean that the refractive power of the atmo-

spheric constituents nearest to the earth's surface are
exactly equal to the refraction caused by humidity in
the atmosphere, when the water and the atmosphere

are placed side by side, in virtue of their equal specific

gravity. But we must take our experiments from the
higher regions of the atmosphere, before we can tell the
truth whether water, in a still more gaseous form, does
not there alter the action of light in its refracting power.
And when we add to this the difference of latitude, the
difficulty does not seem to be lessened in making cal-

culations of distances through this medium.
The consecutive Operation of the Immaterial Spirits

in the Works of Creation.
It is most strikingly remarkable that, at the very
opening of revelation, it should be stated that in the

beginning, when God created the earth, it was " with-
out form and void, and darkness was upon the face of
the deep," till the spirit of God moved upon the
waters. After this event, God said, "Let there be
light." He divided the waters from above, and from
under the firmament, gathering the latter together to
form the solid ground. All this he did by his Spirit

causing the great immaterial causes of heat and light,
electricity and magnetism, to act upon material sub-
stance which previously was void and shapeless, un-
combined, and probably in a gaseous state, but which
he had created distinct from the immaterial substances.
We must not lose sight of the fact I have already
stated, of these great immaterial substances having been
in the first instance, like the material elements, brought
into existence at some previous time before they were

employed by the Creator in the original formation of
the earth, when it received its first shape, order, and

beauty at His hands. And, I would add, is it possible
that mere- bodies, alike in nature to the chaos that was

acted upon, were the only instruments of this wonderful
creation ? And when the living bodies were created,
it was not before God had, by the agency of the imma-
terial substances, prepared the way, when, by their
instrumentality, to which he added others possessed of
a still superior and controlling power, he made, first
the vegetable, and, through this, lastly the animal

world.
The phenomena of life could no more be carried on
independently of the spiritual substances causing light,
heat, electricity, and magnetism, than they could with-

out food or air. M. Pouilla satisfactorily showed that
electricity was developed during the vegetation of
plants ; and this was confirmed by the experiments of

Mr. Pine, of Maidstone. In M. Pouilla's experiments
the electricity manifested itself the moment the germ
was above the ground. And Bellingeri's experiments
show, that while positive electricity is clearly present in
many fluids of the living body, it was yet in more

abundance in the blood. It is by no means improbable,
as I shall presently show, that the round appearance of
the blood-globules owes itself to the fact of their being
surrounded by this spirit. The manner in which the
spirit of heat acts upon living bodies is too well known
to need any detailed proofs in this place that its opera-
tion is indispensable to the building up and sustaining

of the organic structures.
IN RELATION TO MATTER,. 57
And if we argue from analogy drawn from the more

highly organized living bodies, we can no more regard
these spiritual substances of the immaterial world as
identical either in character or in power, than we can the
proximate principles of ulterior matter. They are
doubtless possessed of varied and graduated degrees of

power, and all bear a remarkably distinct relation, ac-
cording to the highest known mathematical laws, to the
different substances of materiality ; but it is a relation

sui generis. There is also the greatest reason to be-
lieve that these immaterial substances themselves are

subservient to each other under particular circum-
stances ; and hence we observe their effects, when
united to materiality, are apparently graduated, so that
we find, under particular circumstances, gravity yield-
ing to chemical attraction, chemical attraction yielding
to heat, heat yielding to light, light to electricity, elec-
tricity to magnetism, magnetism to life, and so on, till
we may trace all power up to its Divine source. Some

of these phenomena are doubtless the result of what I
have termed simple causes, while others partake of a

more compounded and complicated character. All of
them, nevertheless, may thus be in subjection to each

other, either in the order I have given, or in some
other ; and under particular circumstances they doubt-
less are possessed of graduated degrees of power, bear-
ing a relation to each other in a restricted and definite
sense. And it is certain one or two of them may be
produced by one and the same spirit, though modified
in their action by the kind of materiality with which
they come in contact.
Difficulty of reconciling Natural Phenomena by the

Old Theories, and the Reasonableness of the Doc-
trine of Distinct Spirits.
The more science advances, the more embarrassed

does it become in the attempt to reconcile it to the
doctrine of imponderable materiality. How much

difficulty meets us in our endeavours to expound either
of the prevailing theories of light, whether corpuscular
or undulatory ! We cannot rationally believe that a
material body, however infinitesimally attenuate it may
be, can travel through a space of many millions of
miles within a compass of time too small to be detected

by our finest chronometers. Herschel computes that
light is upwards of two millions of years travelling from
the nebulous stars to the eye of the observer on our
planet. Such ideas as these are inconsistent with, and
quite unworthy of, natural philosophy ; for they cannot
be subjected to reason, and there is certainly no autho-
rity for them in the philosophy of revelation ; so that,
even if mathematically deduced, they are altogether

adventitious and conjectural.
But why should they be entertained ? The idea that
every created orb in the celestial universe is governed

by time and space, and is, in obedience to these, sub-
ject not only to general laws, but also to laws that par-
ticularly relate to them as individual or even as sys-
temic spheres, is not warranted, unless we can prove
the collocations of materiality throughout the universe
are identical ; and this we cannot do. Whereas, sup-
posing these spirits to be present everywhere, if not in
some sort of combined or visible form, certainly in an

uncombined state, we have no further occasion for such
calculations. Doubtless the whole expanse of the uni-
verse is unbounded by any time or limits ; and this
seems thrust upon our minds by every telescopic disco-

very the ingenuity of man has produced up to the
latest period. The further we can carry our artificial
vision into the depth of space, the more wonderful and
incalculable does the universe appear to present itself to
us ; and, therefore, no instruments and no machinery

which calculate the relative distances that separate, or
the time that is necessary to revolve the bodies con-

tained in it, can be considered to bear any correct re-
lation to the truth. " We sink," says an able writer,
" under the labour of endeavouring to conceive an im-
mensity so astonishing. We shrink from the result of

our calculations as if they were inaccurate. But, ad-
mitting the existence of inaccuracy in its greatest pos-
sible scope, how little does it rescind from the infinity
that remains ! We are lost in our own nothingness
amidst the splendour that envelopes us." Nor can the
intellectual mind supply us with any physical or mathe-
matical conception or calculation of that universe which
contains all God's created worlds, together with their
furniture and living denizens. It is only by the help
of our moral faculties, aided by an express revelation
from the infinite Being by whom these worlds were
made, that we can in thought form some general but
faint idea of what infinity must be in relation to time
and space. We are condescendingly permitted to mark

the glorious galaxy of created things that are within

reach of our finite senses. But in the higher and
more eternal manifestations of God's glory these must
be removed before we are able " to see even as we are
seen." It would not enlarge my ideas of the infinite

Being who created this earth, were I to be assured,
hypothetically speaking, that every moment of time up
to the present from that event had been employed in
creating one of similar or of larger dimensions ; for all
this would be still the exercise of miraculous power

within the brackets of time, and my ideas of infinity
obtained from revelation must still reach beyond this.
How gratuitous, therefore, must it be to draw an argu-

ment of grandeur in the Divine architecture of the
heavens, by multiplying worlds in the depths of un-
fathomable space we cannot prove to exist, and which,
even if we could, bring us short of the estimate we re-
ceive from revelation !
I can conceive nothing grander than that the whole

creation, inorganic as well as organic, subject to the
overruling power of the Creator, owes its existence,
support, characters, and phenomena, to the operation of

these immaterial spirits, the intimate connection, mutual
dependence, and universal application of which identify
them as the subordinate agents of the One Great
First Cause, and as emanations of the same triune
Jehovah, by whom " all things were created that are
in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities
or powers," who, when He said " Let there be light,"

— ;
said also " Let the earth bring forth the herb yielding
seed, and the living creature after his kind," and " let
us make man." The agency employed by this Al-
mighty Being that sustains inorganic bodies, therefore,

that gives them characters, and qualities, and powers of
their own, — is the same which we trace up into the deli-
cate and sensitive organization of vegetable life, the

more exquisite perfection of animal bodies, and the
most elaborate concentration of Divine skill in the forma-
tion of man.
The same immaterial substances are identified as
alike engaged in the production of the qualities as well
as the phenomena displayed in every visible thing ; and

that circumstance which would appear to mark the dis-
tinction of one class of bodies from another, such as the
animate from the inanimate, gives the superiority to those
bodies which manifest a capacity to receive or treat with
the greater number of these spirits : hence we have
inorganic bodies treating with those spirits which cause
light, heat, electricity, &c, and that in different degrees
and we have organic bodies treating not only with

these, but with still higher spirits —
viz. those of life, of
man, and of angels, which produce the phenomena and
powers of those beings they animate.
CHAPTER III.
THE RATIONAL AND PHYSICAL PROOF OF THE REAL

EXISTENCE OF MATERIAL AND IMMATERIAL SUB-
STANCES RENDERED CERTAIN BY THE INVESTIGATION
OF THE QUALITIES THESE UNITED SUBSTANCES PRO-
DUCE, AND THE GENERAL PHENOMENA CONSEQUENT
UPON THEM.
It has already been stated and proved that there is no

positive means of ascertaining the real nature of the
primary material elements of matter; and the same

observation is applicable to the primary immaterial ele-
ments of matter. We know nothing of the abstract

nature of either ; so that we are totally ignorant of the
primary cause, either of the one or of the other, beyond
what we learn from revelation, that they both proceed
out from God, who is their Great First Cause. We
are nevertheless most certainly assured of their exist-
ence, both from this source and also from certain known
effects that may be clearly traced to them. We are
assured, also, that a wide difference characterizes these
two kinds of entity, —a difference we deduce from the

very wonderful qualities and phenomena their com-
bined influence produces. It is not difficult to detect
these qualities, for they are distinguishable from the

uncombined spirits and material substances, as well as
from the union these two kinds of entity form in the

natural creation.
The different Qualities defined and distinguished from

31odes of Action, by which a new Theory of Light
is given.
The qualities of uncombined materiality are specific
ponderosity and indivisibility. This ponderosity is in-
dependent of the magnetic influence.

The qualities of uncombined immateriality are in-
divisibility and omnipresence, as far as regards the

created universe.
These two entities blend their powers in created
union, in order to produce those qualities we observe
in the natural bodies around us; and, thus formed,
they present a surface for the operation of the same
spirits again upon them in their new form. These
operations I term phenomena or modes of action ; and
such are light, heat, and electricity. When these phe-
nomena take place, it is then implied that, first of all,
the two entities are united, as in creation ; and, when so

united, the uncombined spirits are brought to bear
upon their different surfaces.
The shape, colour, consistence, divisibility, &c. of

created bodies are permanent, and may be called the
passive results, or qualities resulting from the simple

union of the two entities ; while light, heat, elec-
tricity, &c. may be called the active results, or phe-
nomena proceeding out of the operation of the uncom-

bined spirits upon created matter.
To illustrate this more fully by an example : What

I would define to be the active results of the applica-
tion of the uncombined spirits to created matter, is that
state of things which is present to the senses so long as

the causes producing them are operating or are intact.
Thus, combustion is the result of the spirit of heat

when applied to created matter in which are embodied
the primary elements of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen, as we see them united in the vegetable and
animal structures ; so that these created bodies are re-
solved into their primary elements. Light is a pheno-
menon similarly explained, but differing in the degree
of uncombined spirits on the one hand, and the nature

of the created matter on the other. These active re-
sults, which pass away with the removal of the cause

producing them, should not be confounded with those
durable qualities of all bodies, colour, shape, &c, I have
termed passive, and which continue to manifest these
qualities under all circumstances, where the particles of

the body are not relatively altered either by mechanical
or chemical agency. Thus, if I put the leaves and
flower of the nymphma alba (fvhite water-lily) and the
tradescantia virginica {common spider-wort), both
together under the air-pump in vacuo, by which I re-
move them from the temporary contact of the uncom-
bined entities, no alteration will take place in the
colour or shape of the several leaves and flowers ; but
the blue will continue blue, the white white, and the
green green, because these colours are here formed per-
manently by the bringing together of the two entities in
constituting them created bodies : and until those

created bodies, whether organic or inorganic, are broken
up by decomposition, their colours will remain inde-
pendently of the un combined entity, whether material
or immaterial, with which they may or may not be in
contact : but the active phenomena have need that
these uncombined entities be present, to clevelope
them ; and, therefore, when they are withdrawn, they

cease. Of such a character is light. The efficient
causes of light do not produce a luminous appearance

till they come in contact with material created matter.
Those efficient causes, we clearly know, have a distinct
entity of existence, by the identical effects produced by

them upon created matter. They should therefore be
distinguished from light, or their combined effect, by a
suitable name, as caloric has been partly separated by
chemists from heat, which is the result of the union of
the spirit of heat with material substance. Chemists
acknowledge this caloric to be latent or imperceptible
under certain conditions of matter, but they do not
appear to have regarded it even in this position as a
spiritual substance. Dr. Henry speaks of non-lumi-
nous caloric, as it has been called, or, as I call it, the
immaterial spirit of heat. There can be no meaning in
the term invisible light or latent heat ; for light is not
light unless it is visible, nor is heat heat unless it can

be felt by the senses, and that implies the application of
the two different entities in the first instance. Neither
the qualities nor the phenomena, then, which belong to
material or to spiritual entities, or to the two in con-
F
;;
junction, are capable of detection without the assist-
ance of each other : and this serves in a remarkable
manner to show, without disturbing the nature of the
entities, that such qualities as colour, shape, size,
consistence, &c, and such phenomena as light, heat,
electricity, and life, are compound in their character,
and indebted to both entities for their manifestation.

And I would particularly point out the mixed and
composite character of those qualities we observe in
created bodies. Let us take for example that of
divisibility. This is a quality that is thought to owe
itself entirely to material matter. But it is not so
for, as I have before remarked, true divisibility is not
a quality of either entity in their separate state, but is
a compound effect of the two entities, material and im-

material. This is clear from the fact that the power
to be divided could not exist if the original coming
together of the material part, which is quite indepen-
dent of its special weight, had not been effected by
the agency of the spirit of electricity causing an attrac-

tion of the particles. We know that oxygen, for instance,
like any other uncombined material substance, can
be divided into any number of parts or molecules
and this may appear to argue its true divisibility. Yet
in every molecule thus divided we observe the same
qualities which characterise the whole mass are re-
tained. This property of retaining all the qualities of

the entire mass in every individual separated molecule
owes itself to the indivisibility of both kinds of entity
in their separate state, while unitedly they form created
matter which is divisible. Material as well as imma-
terial substances, therefore, in their primordial state,

strictly speaking admit of no divisibility ; and however
natural bodies may appear to be separated by disjunc-
tion of their parts, yet this quality is truly a quality of
the created matter, as it were, first united by God.

When the spirits are brought to act alone upon
created matter, as in the production of natural phe-
nomena, the quality of indivisibility is very clearly to
be detected as marking the presence of uncombined

spirit in the accomplishment of the phenomenon.
This is familiarly shewn in the phenomena of what
is called magnetic electricity. Iron has, as a natural
created body, a great affinity for the spirit of elec-
tricity ; so that, being charged with this immaterial
substance, by means of the natural leading stone,
or by being placed in a particular position in relation
to the magnetic axis, it possesses a north and a south

pole, which exhibit qualities known as polar attraction.
If now this loadstone is broken into halves or thirds,
or any number of portions, each part will be found to
possess the same qualities entire which the iron had

collectively before it was divided.
We may thus trace in the qualities as well as the
phenomena of natural bodies, a mixture of effects ap-
parently resulting from very different causes opposed

to each other ;
yet, when united, they form the mixed
qualities and modes of action of sensible bodies, of
which, divisibility as one quality, and magnetism as one

mode of action, may be instanced.
But in contemplating the higher immaterial sub-

stances as we behold them in living bodies, we shall
find this power of divisibility becomes gradually more

circumscribed, so that in the case of the higher ani-
mals it becomes impossible. And here it should be

particularly noticed, that it is not the immaterial or
the material entity of these highly wrought organic
structures which interferes with this free division, but
the character of the created bodies themseves, and the

particular circumstances attached to them as indi-
viduals, having each their distinct identities ; a fact first
made known to us in revelation, as I have already

shewn in the introductory chapter. And these indi-
viduals have no power to communicate these qualtities
in divided portions.
Now, the spirit of light has really no property of

divisibility. In its latent state, or, to speak more
plainly, in the state in which it is disconnected with
material substance, there is no proof that it is confined
to space, or capable of division. When placed in con-
nexion with created materiality, it is perceptible in
the appearance of light, which at once shews this to be

a mode of action produced by the operation of spirit
upon created matter. The same rule applies to elec-
tricity and heat. What I term the spirit of electricity
has hitherto been confounded with those phenomena

resulting from the application of this spirit to the sur-
faces of created bodies. Thus electricity has been held
to be a very attenuate kind of material matter, travelling
about the universe almost independent, as it were, of
time and space. If it is really material matter, where

are its common qualities which identify it with other

kinds of material matter ? It has no weight or shape,
colour or size ; it has no taste or smell. If it is ap-
plied to those material substances which have the
greatest affinity for it, it simultaneously possesses the
whole surface of the body, whether that be a stick of
sealing-wax or a hundred miles of iron wire. If we

attempt to divide it, this quality it will be found to
possess only in virtue of the material created and com-
bined matter with which it is contact.
This point is important to bear in mind, that if
divisibility is found to characterize any body supposed

to contain the immaterial spirits of light, heat, or
electricity, it is not the immaterial or the material

entity singly that yields this quality, but it is in the
union of the two entities that divisibility becomes mani-

fest. The electricity, therefore, which we observe by
its effects to pass through our electrical machines, is the
uncombined spirit, while the phenomena of electric
light, phosphorescence, and other visible modes of
action, are in those modes of action divisible ; which at
once proves them to be the product of the two entities

in that particular manner I have shewn takes place in
the production of all other phenomena.
So, likewise, heat, as we perceive it to be a recog-
nizable mode of action of spirit on created matter, by
this very fact proves itself to be neither a material nor
an immaterial entity. Now, these modes of action are
by no means determined to be caused by one par-
ticular kind of spirit, or one particular kind of matter.
And this, again, is conflicting to the notion that such

phenomena are real entities either of matter or spirit.
For as we know light to be the result of the application

of not one only of the spiritual entities I have shewn
to exist to material matter, but is produced alike by
the spirit of heat and of electricity, and by their com-
bined action, it is the less probable that such a mode
of action should have any real existence as an entity.
It clearly owes its phenomena as much to the action of
the spirit of heat upon particular compounds of ma-

terial or created matter, as it does to the action of the
spirit of electricity upon particular compounds of ma-
terial created matter. In this manner it is formed in
the body of the sun, which is another inductive proof
that that body is partly compounded of material mat-
ters, having some of the same qualities that distinguish

the materials of our globe. But whether the light of
the sun is the result of the simple application of the

spirit of heat alone to the highly inflammatory ma-
terials of which it is composed, is very problematical,
seeing there is great reason and evidence to suppose
the spirit of electricity plays an important part in the
production of light as we apprehend it from that
body. While, therefore, I regard light to be a mode of
action compounded of the two spirits of heat and elec-

tricity as they are brought to bear upon material sub-
stance, I am assured that the distinct operation of both
spirits has been undoubtedly manifest in its production,
though these spirits have not been recognized hitherto
by philosophers as spirits. Nothing can more satisfac-
torily show that light is entirely dependent upon these

two spirits for its manifestation, than the fact first
announced by Morichini, that an un magnetized needle

could be rendered magnetic by the action of the purple
rayolet of the sunbeam. This has been subsequently
confirmed by many philosophers, who have shown
clearly the power this rayolet possesses of producing
chemical decomposition. Sir Humphry Davy was
quite satisfied with this, and he also conducted some
experiments to show, not only that the spirit of elec-
tricity entered the ray by the purple rayolet, or, as he

thought, that electricity, whatever it was, was deve-
loped by this rayolet ; but he also ascertained, by the
most satisfactory experiments, that the spirit of heat
entered the ray by the red rayolet, as proved by the
different effects that rayolet had upon the thermometer.
Add to this, the fact made known by Morichini that
the refrangibility of light owes itself to the presence of
the magnetic or electric power, the purple rayolet being
the most refrangible, the violet next, and so on till it is
imperceptible in the green rayolet.

Here, then, we trace the two spirits separately
entering the prism on a true mathematical principle,
exercising their specific influence upon material sub-
stance in a greater degree on those rayolets by which
they enter, that influence being weaker as the square
of the distance in the passage of the spirits to the
centre of the prism, where the two spirits blend their

action in the production of white light, the green
rayolet being there separately formed by the blending
of the yellow with the blue rayolets which there meet.

As all the rayolets conjoin to form white light, and as
the spirits are simultaneous in their action upon the
material substance they come in contact with, we may
infer that every rayolet is more or less acted upon by
both spirits reciprocally, but in graduated and different
degrees, according to the composition of the material
substance engaged in the development of each rayolet.

We see here, then, the necessity there is for the pre-
sence of these two spirits in the structures of plants,

whereby the different colours of the leaves and flowers
are secured according to the most accurate relation
these spirits bear to the particular material they are
brought to act upon.
That light is the offspring of these spirits with matter
is the more undoubtedly proved by the phenomena of
many inorganic bodies which owe their capacity to

receive or retain the spirits both of heat and electricity,
not simply in virtue of -the particular kinds or even

proportions of the materials composing them, but also
of the particular collocations of those materials. - Thus,
the difference between fluid and crystallization in the
elements of the same material is found entirely to
regulate the capacity of those materials to receive,
retain, or transmit the spirits of heat or electricity.
It appears, then, that these phenomena, and perhaps

the qualities also that distinguish the natural bodies
around us, are made and have been made in each par-
ticular instance to be the governing law to determine

the amount of these spirits each substance is capable of
receiving or engaging, whether this be short of its
chemical dissolution or its dissipation, or whether it be

up to that point. Some natural substances, as phos-
phorus, so rapidly break up under the action of these
spirits, that they are never found in nature in their
unmixed state, and when so separated by art from
other created materials to which they are united, burn
away at the common temperature of the atmosphere.
But when united to other matters, the process of de-
struction being retarded, that is to say, the action of
the spirits upon natural bodies being weaker, we have

as a substitute for actual combustion the luminous
phenomena to be observed in mineral bodies whose
elements contain oxygen, carbon, phosphorus, &c. : such

are the diamond, topaz, mica, asbestos, rock crystal, ba-
rytes, and many others, amongst which may be named
that singular species of fluor spar found in the granite
rocks of Siberia, which, in all probability, is identical
with the two stones Sir John Mandeville saw sur-

mounting two columns at the entrance of a town in
Great Tartary, and which shone so brightly in the dark.
It has been found that these and other luminous bodies
give out different degrees of light, both according to
the amount of the spirits of heat and electricity applied,
and the nature of the substances they come in contact
with, some evolving a greater light than others. The

light which the diamond gives out in the dark after it
has been exposed to the sun's heat, or to the electric

spark, is the same phenomenon, only differing in degree
from that which resolved the diamond into its primary
elements under the fiercer application of the sun's heat

through the great lens in the cabinet of Natural History
at Florence by Sir Humphry Davy. The materials,
phosphorus and carbon, are made to take a very con-

spicuous part in the organic tissues of the animal body,
doubtless that the spirits of electricity and heat may
the more readily effect those wonderful changes so
abundantly developed in animal chemistry. And in a
high degree we see those substances are made to com-

pose the nervous tissues of animals, which are the
organic parts specifically appropriated, not only to re-
cognize the phenomena produced in all other bodies
around us, but the junction of these spirits with matter,
and to test, and in some cases to regulate, their union
as subject to the dictates and operations of the mind.

The phenomena of vision, as well as of mind, as I shall
presently show, owe themselves to the presence of phos-
phorus among other material substances in the brain,

and it is certain the phenomena of those organs which
cause sight and sound in the organic world could no
more take place in the absence of the materials carbon
and phosphorus, than the luminous appearance in phos-
phorescent stones could take place in the inorganic

world without the presence of the material substances.
It may be the consequence of the union of the two
spirits of heat and electricity in the body of the sun
that the phenomena of daylight take place. And this
idea is strengthened by the investigation of what com-

poses a sun-beam. It is divisible into three or four
great rays. It has been found that the central ray, as

—
shown in the prism, is composed of seven rayolets of
different colours. At the margin of the ray where the

vermilion rayolet appears, the spirit of heat, as has
been stated, is clearly acting a part, while on the oppo-
site side, where the purple rayolet is seen, the spirit of
electricity has been shown to be present from the ob-

vious fact of its producing chemical decomposition
the oxidation of silver.
If the spirits of heat and electricity are, therefore,
present in the sun to produce white light, they are

present also in the prism, which favours the idea that
these spirits are everywhere in the created universe pro-
ducing, when applied to created matter, different effects
according to the material composition of that matter.
Neither of these spirits can, then, be strictly said to pro-
ceed from that body, for, as spirits alone, they must

pervade every space ; and though, when disunited from
created compound materiality, as in the atmosphere
which is free from moisture they are invisible, yet that
they are present everywhere is evidenced by the facility
with which they can be obtained, and, when united to

material matter, produce the phenomena of light and
heat, and that independently of the sun; but they
appear to require to be at a certain degree of tension
before light can take place.
The sun would seem, therefore, to cause light as long
as the atmosphere is presented to it, by which means

the spirits appear to act in that order which produces
light.
Light, then, is a product of the union of the entities,

as I have already shown, and so likewise is heat.
The intimate concurrence of the two spirits producing

these phenomena is strongly portrayed in some experi-
ments : thus, the heat produced by the voltaic battery
seems to be quite equal, if not to exceed in intensity,

that produced by the sun's rays. The hardest mineral
substances under such heat melt down and disappear
as if by evaporation. Such experiments all help to
strengthen the idea that sensible heat, like light, is a
mode of action that cannot be effected short of the co-
operation of the two spirits.
But if light and heat are really modes of action
caused by the operation of these spirits upon created

matter, they must needs be neither matter nor spirit,
and therefore, to speak of light as an imponderable

substance, is unphilosophical, and must help only to keep
up the conflicting doubts which have ever surrounded
the only two theories of light that have hitherto been
propounded.
There has always been an apparent inconsistency in
regarding light as a material body, simply because its
rays, as they are called, have the appearance as though

they passed out from the luminous body in a similar
manner that material matter would be projected, viz.,
in straight lines. But these rays are partly the ma-

terial matter of the atmosphere, as they have been
illumined or made manifest by the immaterial spirits
which, as spirits, are omnipresent, and have no need to
be assisted by space or time, that they may reach our
earth as if proceeding out of the sun, in the same
manner as created matter would be required to move.
I imagine it is hardly necessary I should attempt to

prove that those kind of substances I call immaterial
have not a material origin ; for if we argue that light,
heat, and electricity, are really material substances, we
must adjudge the same property to mind ; but if we
regard them only as modes of action resulting from the
unions of the entities and the subsequent application
of the spirits to those created unions in the manner I
have pointed out, we shall find no difficulty in showing

that mind is a similar mode of action, and the same
immaterial substances which are used to effect the
order, beauty, colour, and shape in the supposed binary
compounds of the inorganic world, will be shown to be
engaged by organic bodies to which are added a
higher spirit for the accomplishment of higher ternary
and quaternary unions, upon which being completed,
the phenomena of life and mind are developed. By
this means the qualities of inorganic bodies become
identified by the mind.
As a compounded result of the application of the
material and immaterial substances so united and

brought to bear upon each other, as we see they are
in the structure and phenomena of our own world, we
can speak of the reflection and refraction of light, and
draw up geometrical tables and arithmetical calcula-
tions with great precision, without involving the ques-
tion of its true nature ; and we may shape our tele-
scopes and draw undoubted inferences according to

true scientific and inductive methods: but all this
supposes the undeviating accuracy and the unalterable

operation of those laws first given to this earth by its
Creator. No one can dispute their accuracy after
having had the slightest insight into the discoveries of

natural philosophy, neither do I suppose any one can
seriously dispute their true cause, after a faithful and
disinterested appeal has been made to the oracles of
God. But before these instruments and calculations
can with so much mathematical certainty be brought
to bear upon the architecture of the heavens, we must

be satisfied, in the first instance, that all the heavenly
bodies are composed and compounded of the same
essential material and immaterial elements. Other-
wise, the phenomena resulting from the combination of
such elements in our own world can bear no relation
to a different one in the sense of those phenomena that
follow.
And after we have ascertained what will be pre-

sently seen very strongly inclines to the idea that the
elements of all created worlds are essentially and
materially the same, we have in the next place to be
assured that those elements in the construction of
other worlds are put together in the same manner

with our own, with a like disposition and proportion of
the material as of the immaterial parts ; otherwise our
astronomical conclusions may be premature and illusive.
Of the phenomena resulting from the investigation
of our solar system we can speak more clearly; yet if it
should be proved that light is not composed of in-

finitely small particles of some material substance, but
only the omnipresent effect of one or two spirits upon

the atmospheric material constituents, communicating
with its great source in the centre of the system, we
do away at once with much that is numerically ab-
surd in the science of astronomy. Unless it can be

shown that these spirits operate upon the boreal and
anstral poles of other planets in the same most re-
markable way that they do upon our own globe, we

have just reason to infer that both the reflected and
refracted light they give out is greatly modified in its
appearance.
But there is also much reason to infer that the poles
of other planets, or the solar system, are acted upon

by the spirits of electricity and heat ; and this may be
sufficient to account for their conformity to the same
general laws that govern their movements in relation
to the earth.
The concurrence of the immaterial spirits we have

been considering seems to be indispensable in the pro-
duction of many of the phenomena of the universe.
And arguing from analogy drawn from the action of

these spirits upon the materialty of our globe, it is
reasonable to suppose that as heat and fire are no-
where sensibly to be felt without the concurrence of

some material substance, so we could not be conscious
of the sun's heat unless that body was a compound of
both material and immaterial substance ; for it could
not be a reservoir for the display of the calorific and
luminous phenomena, unless the elements of materi-
ality entered into its composition. For we have no
evidence to show, and no reason to believe, that any of

the immaterial substances can accumulate in any place
without the presence of material matter.
It is therefore most probable that the sun is the
great emporium of these spirits, and may supply the
planets and orbs within its sphere, in a similar manner
as the suns of other systems may be the source and
centre of these powerful immaterial substances in the
production of the phenomena which govern the planets
that surround them.
Undoubtedly these spirits have a greater tendency
to accumulate in one body than another, and the
materiality of the sun may be largely composed of
those metallic substances, iron, nickel, or titanium, or
some others unknown to us. For we find these
spiritual substances have the power of contraction, and
even of causing some modification in particular mate-
rial bodies. Thus the combination of protoxide and
peroxide of iron, silex, and alumina, is that most fa-
vourable to the development in a natural state of that
magnetic power, so far as has been discovered. And
so small a quantity of this compound as may be ob-
tained by briskly rubbing iron against it, will charge
other portions of iron with the same power. And the

wonderful affinity this kind of material substance has
for the magnetic spirit, led some philosophers to ima-
gine that iron, in its most minute proportions, must

enter into the composition of all bodies that are acted
upon magnetically.
By electric immateriality it is that the earth receives
the power we term centre of gravity, and that of re-

volving on its own axis, so that, as if it really turned a
material axle, it holds the globe in obedience to certain
and unalterable movements. These movements are
as much the sensible effect and evidence of its real ex-
istence in the boreal and austral poles of the magnetic
axis, as colour in material bodies is a sensible evidence

that the spirits of heat and electricity have been
brought to bear upon them.
The effect of the spirit of electricity upon all bodies
containing iron is to produce what is called the mag-
netic power in those bodies when placed in a particular
position. This power is not conveyed to them in the

same manner as the spirit of heat would be, but when
those bodies are placed at right angles to the line of
direction of the electric spirit. And this fact, first dis-
covered by Oersted, puts us in possession of the funda-

mental rectangular force, a force unlike any hitherto
discovered, by which the earth is made to revolve upon
its own axle, while an extension of the same power
would give the heavenly bodies a rotatory movement
in their own orbits. Thus a stream of the electric
spirit passing through the centre of a circle whose

plane is perpendicular to the current, the direction of
the electric spirit will always be in the tangent of the
circle, or at right angles to its radius.
And while these spirits help to draw the heavenly

bodies in their orbits round the centre of attraction,
they also serve to maintain all material substances in
tact upon the earth ; the relative weight of those mate-
G
rial substances being determined by the special mate-

riality and varied attractive powers of different bodies.
But the different relative degrees and the particular
relative proportions in which these spirits are brought

to bear upon different kinds and combinations of
material matter, the degree of pressure to which that
matter has been subjected, as well as the methods of
combining, although regulated by the operation of the
spirits of heat and electricity in some way upon them,
and obedient to fixed laws, are in the present state of
knowledge inscrutable points not only in the first
divine synthesis of matter, but also in the subsequent

operation of those spirits in the formation of the moving-
phenomena around us.
Common sense points to the fallacy of supposing

our globe, for example, or any other world, to rest
upon nothing. And although both poets and philoso-
phers have contributed to keep up this impression, it is
not necessarily on that account the more true. Reve-

lation most certainly does not favour such an idea ; and
when the Almighty discoursed with the patriarch of
Uz on these matters, he distinctly asked him, " Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ?
Who hath laid the measures thereof, or who hath
stretched the line upon it ? Whereupon are the foun-
dations (or sockets) thereof fastened (or made to sink),
or who laid the corner-stone thereof?"

If the earth is simply poised in the atmosphere, as
it is so generally thought to be, why were these ques-
tions put to Job ? for in this case there would be no

—
foundation. Whereas the object of this discourse was

certainly to convince Job that the foundation of the
earth was very different in nature to the material
foundations he was in the habit of beholding around
him. But did the Almighty intend by this to infer
that the foundation of the earth had no real existence,
that, in other words, it rested upon nothing ? This

would be advancing beyond the limits of the highest
consistent poetical imagination. For it would be ad-
vancing beyond the bounds of reason or rational possi-
bility to suppose the world rests upon nothing, as we
have no conception how in this case it could be sup-
ported upon its axle. This foundation I hesitate not
to say is the spirit of magnetic electricity acting upon
the terrestrial poles of the earth. If the earth were
really and only poised in the atmosphere, it would be
impossible to carry out this idea upon the supposition
that it is specifically lighter than the medium in which
it is placed. But it would be unreasonable to suppose
the earth can be supported in this way. Moreover,
that its support and motion are dependent upon the
spirit of electricity, the recent experiments of Faraday,
who was the first philosopher that succeeded in making
the pole of a magnet to rotate about a vertical con-
ducting wire, would seem to prove. And the effect of

electro-magnetic power upon a bar of iron in causing
it to be suspended in the air in opposition to the force
of gravity, seems at once to show us that the invisible

foundation used by the Creator for sustaining the earth,
was really the spirit of electricity modified by the ma-
terials it is brought to bear upon, in order to the pro-
duction of the magnetic action. This spirit is certainly
confined in its magnetic characters to the terrestrial
poles, and does not pass through the centre of the earth.
Mr. Henwood, it is true, did not find any apparent diffe-
rence in the intensity of terrestrial magnetism in his

experiments in the Cornish mines, where it was found
to be the same at a depth of 1200 feet, or 900 feet
beneath the level of the sea, as it was on the surface ;
but nevertheless, it has been sufficiently clearly shown

that all the magnetic strength is in the poles of the earth's
axis, and not in the centre of that axis or in the mag-
netic poles.
Professor Hansteen's " Observations on the Position

and Revolution of the Magnetic Poles of the Earth,"
show that there is some cause in operation upon the
terrestrial poles which is subject to variation. To meet
this, the two magnetic poles on the north hemisphere
and the two on the south have been made to possess
different degrees of strength -.
and without constituting
the true axis, these two magnetic poles, which are really
not poles but centres for attracting the electric spirit,
may both be required to insure the true rotation on the

terrestrial poles. If the spirits of electricity and heat
conveyed in the sun-beams is the true moving cause,
the variation in the passage of these spirits from the

sun, or, to speak more correctly, in the operation of these
spirits upon matter, and the different positions of that
body in relation to our earth, will account for the varia-
tion in the positions of the magnetic poles, and also
for the dip of the needle.

CHAPTER IV.
THE RATIONAL EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT ALL CREATED

WORLDS HAVE BEEN MADE, ARE SUSTAINED, AND WILL
BE DESTROYED, THROUGH THE AGENCY OF THE SAME
MATERIAL AND IMMATERIAL ENTITIES.
Created Worlds have a relative connection with each

other by means of these Entities.
The important and intimate connection between the

spirits we have been considering, and other planetary
bodies that perform their various orbits, together with
our own earth, around the sun, naturally leads to
inquiries of the deepest and the most interesting
nature, closely bearing upon the subject before us.
The assurances we receive from the pages of revela-

tion, of the universal dependence of every created
thing, whether it be in heaven or on earth, upon the
same all-wise and all-powerful Creator, urges on the
reflective mind to contemplate the work of this awfully
stupendous Being, with every power it possesses, and

to long for that time when it can realise these dimly
seen grandeurs, through those glorious bodies whose
eyes will behold no limits in the sight of His infinite
greatness, piercing even into eternity.
I have said I think it may be very strongly inferred

that the two entities which enter into the construction
of the materials of our globe, and which are made to
perform the various phenomena that are attached to it,
have been made to enter into the construction, and to
cause the phenomena, of other worlds besides our own.

And this may be deduced from the uniformity that
pervades and characterises the whole of the phenomena
of the solar system. In this case it will be necessary
to bear in mind the argument that has been used to
show that the sun in the centre of our system is a
composite body made up of the two kinds of entities
I have already stated there is so much reason to believe

exist.
The fact is placed almost beyond a doubt, that,

besides our own firmament, or that part of the created
universe constituting the entire mass of stars, of which
those we see on a clear night are only the nearest
portion, there are numerous other firmaments, great
and glorious as our own, separated from each other by
space that is beyond measure, yet doubtless all con-
nected by a bond of union that refers them alike to be

dependent upon the Great Cause of all. The bodies
moving in these different firmaments, remote and almost
imperceptible as the entire systems appear to us, have,
nevertheless, many characters in common, to identify
them as parts of a great chain linked together with the

same Almighty Hand. It is by these common charac-
ters that the mind recognises so much unity of purpose,
as to be assured that the efficient causes employed
both to compose and regulate the whole of the celestial
universe are to be identified as forming an integral

part of each division, though their separation is marked
by incalculable and boundless space.
There is some evidence confirmative of the idea that

both the spirits and the material substances which may
be supposed to enter into the mass of other planetary
bodies partake in their elementary characters of the
same entities as those composing our own. And it is
not unreasonable to infer that the elements of uncom-

bined materiality were synchronous with the first crea-
tion of immateriality; and that these two kinds of

elements were first united to form our world at the
period in the Genesis of Moses though the same
. elements, if they constitute the bases of other worlds,
might, in the sense of their natural union as we view
them in this visible world, have preceded in actual
existence the time when the Creator brought them to
act upon each other in the beginning when He made

the body of our globe.
But while I can rationally believe that all created

worlds are composed of the two distinct and opposite
kinds of substance we are considering, I am anxious to
adduce such physical evidence of the fact as we may
possess ; and certainly this idea, that the primary ele-
ments of matter composing our earth are not limited to

this globe, but are the same which, by variations in
their relative quantities, as in then collocations, enter
into the composition of other orbs, is greatly strength-
ened by the history and chemical composition of those

bodies we call aerolites or meteorolites. Coming, as

there is the greater reason to suppose they do, from
other planetary bodies floating in the same system,
they must be regarded as, and placed amongst, the
rational proofs to be brought forward of the identity
that exists in the primary and uncombined elements of
our own with other created worlds : for, without deter-
ming these bodies to be absolutely luno-volcanic, we
have in their vast numbers, relative sizes, and magni-
tudes, both real and conjectural, an amount of evidence
that denies them an origin from the moon ; and as to
their being projected from the earth, there are great

difficulties opposed to such an idea. For it is unrea-
sonable to suppose that so many thousand tons of
matter could be projected from the moon without im-
plicating the size, and consequently the regularity in
the movements of that body ; and as to their coming

from the earth, both the laws which govern the move-
ments of such masses, as well as the particular chemical
composition they observe, are opposed to such a belief.
There seems, therefore, more reason in the idea that

these bodies form parts of those nebulous masses which
we know encircle the sun, both singly and in groups,
and which may have been original accumulations or
formations of matter ; or they may be, as has been

suggested by Dr. Lardner, the wreck of matter of a
ruined world. may be, in their material
However this
components we can trace no new substance which is

not to be found in our own earth, while their mode of
collocation is certainly different.
I am thus led to believe, with considerable rational

and physical certainty, that the immaterial as well as
the material elements of other worlds, though alike in

entity, are nevertheless in their construction differently
balanced and differently united to what they are in our

own globe.
By this rule we can suppose that the immaterial
agent employed to support our earth and regulate its
motion is the same as that which acts upon the planets

Mercury or Saturn. Yet the collocations and chemical
unions of the material substance of the planet Mercury
must certainly be very different from those of the
planet Saturn ; for if the unions of the materials in
these two planets or any others are held together upon
similar terms as those on which they are united in our
own globe, the relative proximity of these different orbs
to the sun would lead to the chemical destruction of

the one by ignition, while that of Saturn, on account of
the distance, would be impenetrably bound together so
as to admit of no separation of its particles.
It is from the great difference in the visible ap-

pearance of the heavenly bodies that I am led to sup-
pose the immaterial substances have not only different
qualities, and also relative degrees of power, but that
they possess also a power of occupying all space, while
they at the same time are capable of being concentrated

in a more condensed manner in the entire materiality
of some orbs, or in particular substances upon those
orbs ; and, if this is true, our calculations of the phe-
nomena of light cannot be reckoned with that degree of
accuracy by which we measure terrestrial magnitudes :
for light, which I have shown to be the product of the

spirits of heat and electricity, as they are applied to the
materials put together in our earth and atmosphere,
must be of a different character, perhaps neither re-
flected nor refracted exactly in the same way as that
produced by the operation of the spirits of light upon

the materials composing the planet Mercury or that of
Saturn ; and the difference in the colours of these and
many other stars in the heavens favours this idea.
Hence the Apostle says, " One star differeth from ano-
ther star in glory." The word Sofa here means
splendour or brightness, simply a radiation of light, and
that, not according to its degree of distance from us,
bet to its intrinsic composition. The difference in the
colour and brightness in different stars can only be

accounted for on the supposition that they are not all
composed of the same collocated matters. Thus?

among the stars of the first magnitude, Sirius, Vega,
Altair, and Spica, are white; Aldebaran, Betelguex,
and Arcturus, are red ; and Capella and Procyon are
yellow. Mrs. Somerville observes that the double stars
most frequently exhibit the contrasted colours. The
large star is generally red, orange, or yellow, and the
small stars blue, purple, or green. Sometimes a white
star is combined with a blue or purple, or more rarely
a red and white are united.

In viewing these stars from our earth at different
parts of its surface, as, for example, in oriental coun-
tries, where the atmosphere is less humid, one star

—
shines like an emerald, another like a ruby, and the

whole heavens seem, in the language of Dr. Nichol,
"to sparkle with various gems."
In occidental countries, on the other hand, Dr.
Scoresby has noticed not only the distinct colours and
the brilliancy of different stars, but also the remarkable
difference in their shapes, some of them resembling
the most beautiful pendant lamps, hanging, as it were,
by silver cords of brightness.
Moreover, these stars change their separate colours

in the course of long periods of time. Thus Syrius, a
white star, was celebrated by the ancients as red,
which fact forcibly reminds us of the progressive
changes the heavenly bodies* are probably destined

to undergo from time to time; while the sudden
appearance of some stars for a short season, followed
by their final disappearance, and the total disappear-
ance of other well-known stars, such as the star 42

Virginis, from the position they formerly took up, is an
assurance to my mind that the dissolution of systems
as well as worlds may form part of the gigantic scheme
designed to bring about the final perfection of all things.
* "In 1572 a star was discovered in Cassiopeia, which rapidly

increased in brightness till it even surpassed that of Jupiter ; it
then gradually diminished in splendour, and having exhibited all
the variety of tints that indicate the changes of combustion,

vanished sixteen months after its discovery, without altering its
position. It is impossible to imagine anything more tremendous

than a conflagration that could be visible at such a distance."
Somervilles Connexion of the Physical Sciences, p. 395.
These various and opposite colours in the celestial
orbs must surely result from the different effects pro-

duced by the immaterial spirits causing light upon
bodies of very differently combined elementary mate-
rial : that the varieties iu the arrangements and pro-
portions of the material part are sufficient to cause this
difference in the colour of light. This is more surely
proved by experiments made with photometers upon
the light given out by many kinds of bodies around
us. Neither Leslie's nor Count Uumford's were found
capable of yielding accurate results when the lights
tested yielded different colours. Sir Humphry Davy
passed an electric spark through a vacuum over mer-
cury, and by admitting graduated quantities of air it
became successively sea-green, blue, and purple. He

therefore concluded that the electric light depended
upon the properties of ponderable matter with which it
was in contact. The colour of the light truly is influ-
enced by the material parts, as this experiment plainly

showed ; but the light itself depended upon the union
of the spirit of electricity with those material parts.
There is little doubt the sea-green, blue, and purple
colours given to the atmospheric air in Davy's experi-
ment, owe their particular colours to the exclusive

operation of the spirit of electricity in that experiment.
Had the spirit of heat been introduced to a sufficient
degree, these colours would have been joined by the
yellow, orange, and red, the effect of that spirit upon
the atmospheric materials; and this would seem to
imply that the colours of celestial bodies owe them-

selves to the varied degrees of the two kinds of entity
operating in their formation and phenomena. So that

not only is it probable that the mode of arrangement
in the elementary materials of the planets Mercury and

Saturn differ from our own, but also that arrangement
differs in other worlds according to the relation they
all bear to the central sources of immateriality, by

which they are governed and held together. And in
bringing them into subjection to the great First Cause

and centre of all, it is powerfully consistent with
reason, and strongly to be inferred, that, regardless of
their modes of combination and relative quantity, the
immaterial agents He made use of in the general con-

formation of the universe should possess a common
character, by which the whole series of created worlds
should be knit together and held unitedly by one and
the self-same Almighty God.
So, likewise, the primary elements of material
matter, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and if
there be any others, may not be confined to this earth

or its atmosphere, but may form the bases of the
material constructions of all other worlds throughout
the universe.
Taking this view, both materiality and immateriality
would be fundamentally, universally, and, in the sense
of their nature, unchangeably the same ;

yet varying
not only according to degrees of difference in their

own modes of combination, but also in the different
effects they mutually produce upon each other.

Created worlds will be destroyed by the same

Entities.
In making these remarks I am not unmindful of

the many controversial discussions the history of our
globe, in particular, has received at the hands of
geologists upon the great question of its antiquity.
It does not enter into the plan of this work either

to revive or to attempt to refute these doctrines.
It will be sufficient for the purpose, here only to

observe in passing the subject, that I have fully satis-
fied my mind that the two spirits of electricity and

heat have been the .appointed agents under God, not
only for the carrying out of the first catastrophic change
foretold and recorded in revelation, which this globe was

once subjected to, but for the final dissolution of the
same globe at that great event we are there told is yet
future. The geological phenomena everywhere dis-
covered to have taken place upon the surface and in

the interior of the earth, all speak a language identical
in meaning to that employed by the sacred historian.*
These phenomena are extended over so wide a surface,
and many of them were brought about, if we judge

from the effects they produced on the bodies upon
which they acted, in so instantaneous a manner, that
we cannot disguise the fact that some agent whose
operation was quicker than thought must have been
* Gen. vii. 19, 20, 21, 22.

employed. I cannot resist the mention of two ex-

amples to confirm the truth of these two points.
To give an instance of the extensive character of one
of these phenomena, and which shews that the spirit
employed was influenced much by the material body

with which it came in contact, I would mention the
remarkable state in which the shell of the Tnoceramus
cuvieri is formed in the chalk formations, everywhere
where those formations are seen. While the most
'
delicate shells of the echinus, cidaris, ananchytes, spa-
tangus, &c, are found entire, the shell of the inocera-
mus is seen broken up and disseminated in the minute

fragments throughout the chalk in those parts where
the animal was when the electric spirit caught it. This
effect marks the appearance of the shell over moun-
tainous masses of chalk in the chalk districts.
And to give an instance of the instantaneous character
of that shock which no language implying the lapse of
the shortest time can faithfully describe, I now mention
the very remarkable position in which the ink-bags of
the cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, are found in the lias
formations. These bags are found in the matrix with

the ink unscathed, so that it would be impossible for
the stroke of death to have been preceded even by the

warning of one instant, or the animal in that time, as
it is so accustomed to do, would have scattered its ink
in its own defence.
With such ample power as is furnished by the spirit
of electricity when in the hands of an avenging God,
I can believe not only in the possibility or the proba-

bility that all the known geological indications of former

ruin in the strata of our earth are to be referred to the
diluvial catastrophe, and that alone ; but I can fully
satisfy my mind that the same spirit will, when in

union with that of heat, finally effect that great de-
struction by fire spoken of by the Apostle Peter. The
displacement consequent on the alteration in the rela-
tive position and consistence of the constituent atoms
of one drop of water through the agency of the spirits
of heat and of electricity, and the powerful nature of the
force that resists any attempt to confine the particles of
the smallest quantity of any material matter, when about

to undergo a change from a denser to a rarer state,
will help to convey to the mind but a faint idea of what

is the power of such a force when it comes to be ap-
plied, whether for their preservation or destruction, to
the immeasurable masses that compose the material part

of the universe, and part of the bases of unknown worlds.
The knowledge we have attained to in exploring the
wonders of the celestial universe, amidst the most un-
doubted proofs of design and omnipotence, all points
to the fact equally sure and indubitable, made known
to us likewise through the page of inspiration, and
uttered by Him who made and who will destroy. There
we read that the heavens or atmosphere, and the earth
on which we live, shall pass away. " The idea of the
ultimate dissolution of the solar system has usually
been felt as painful, and forcibly resisted by philo-
sophers. When Newton saw no end to the deranging
effect of the common planetary perturbations, he called

for the special interference of the Almighty to avert the

catastrophe ; and great was the rejoicing when the
recent analyst descried a memorable power of conserva-
tion in our system's constituent phenomena ; but, after
all, why should it be painful ? Absolute permanence
is visible nowhere around us ; and the fact of change
merely intimates that, in the exhaustless womb of the
future, unenveloped wonders are in store. The pheno-
menon referred to would simply point to the close of
one mighty cycle in the history of the solar orb ; the

passing away of arrangements which have fulfilled their
objects that they might be transformed into new. Thus
is the periodic death of a plant perhaps the essential to
its prolonged life ; and when the individual dies and
disappears, fresh and vigorous forms spring from the
elements which composed it. Mark the chrysalis !
It is the grave of the worm, but the cradle of the sun-

born insect. The broken bowl shall yet be healed and
beautified by the potter, and a voice of joyful note shall
awaken one day even the silence of the urn."*

We are thus permitted to reach another test in con-
firmation of that faith by which we believe that " the
worlds were made by the word of God ;" and by the

same power also we are assured, "the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall

melt with fervent heat," when " the earth also and the
things that are therein shall be burned up." And in
* Views of the Architecture of the Heavens, by J. P. Nichol,
LL.D., p. 197.
H
the accomplishment of this prophecy how readily is the

mind led to believe, that the spirits now employed and
wielded by the great Artificer of the created universe
shall one day, when He may be pleased to withdraw His
control from them, be made the engines of this fierce
destruction, and in extension of the same power by

which we have seen both the synthesis and the analysis
of created matter has been effected, the great connect-
ing forces will be severed, and the primary elements of

both entities shall return to God, who made them.
CHAPTER V.
THE SPIRIT OE LIFE, AND THE PHENOMENA DEPENDING

UPON ITS UNION WITH THE SPIRITS OF HEAT AND
ELECTRICITY, IN LIVINC BODIES.
In elucidation of the truths I have been considering in

relation to the supposed existence of the two spirits of
heat and electricity,— the subordinate twin-agency of

the inorganic world, — I have been guided more by a
desire to point out those circumstances and phenomena
which I thought best calculated to prove their exist-
ence, than to give any lengthened or connected view of
the laws which govern inorganic matter generally.

For this would have obliged me to go far more exten-
sively into the theory of inductive science than would
either have been possible in a work like this, or even
than would have been useful.
I have said enough to bring conviction to the mind,
that the spirits of heat and electricity are playing an

important part in the natural phenomena of the in-
organic matter that surrounds us, and I shall in a
future chapter endeavour to show the distinguishing
characteristics of these and still higher spirits, so as to
lead to the conviction that they are in their creation
distinct kinds of the same class of entity.
Before, however, this can be done, some notice must

be taken of these higher spirits, and the influence they

exert over the spirits that are subservient to them.
That they do exercise a superior and controlling power

over those that are below them, and that they are
endued with more superior and remarkable qualities to
accomplish this, cannot be doubted or overlooked.

The created substances we are now about to con-
sider are usually called organic, in contradistinction to
those that are inorganic. Their organization, their

construction, and their phenomena, are so strikingly
remarkable, so delicate, so elaborately contrived and

so rapidly destroyed, that the mind is naturally struck
with the contrast they afford when placed side by side
or in comparison with the structure and phenomena of
inorganic bodies.
It will be seen that the spirit of life in its simplest
manifestation in the structures and functions of plants,

is a spirit that has the power of putting together the
primary elements, and particularly the gaseous elements
of materiality, in such a manner and in such unions as
are no where to be traced in bodies that are without

this spirit. And the manner in which it treats with
the subordinate spirits of heat and electricity, causing
them to bring down their powerful but necessary
agency in such a manner as to be made instrumental
in carrying out some of the most delicate and elaborate
changes which animal chemistry can effect, is truly won-
derful. The subordinate spirits in organic bodies have
the power to produce chemical changes in those bodies

which, without the controlling operation of the spirit
of life, would rapidly destroy these living structures.
Indeed, their power to produce flame and combustion

in the organic world seems entirely to depend upon the
presence there of some of the residual constituents of
those bodies that have previously been endued with the
spirit of life, and whose ultimate material elements are
chiefly carbon, hydrogen, or oxygen. Thus wood and
coke, bitumen, flax, wool, cotton, oil, and numerous
other products of vegetable and animal bodies, yield
their structures rapidly to the action of these spiritual
entities when deprived of the conserving power of the

spirit of life.
As we have seen the spirits of heat and electricity

have been so universally engaged in effecting the unions
and chemical changes so constantly required to carry
on the phenomena of the inorganic world as of the
universe at large, it was wisely ordered that two or

three of the primary elements of materiality, which
were to occupy so wide and so important a sphere, and
to enter so largely and so minutely into all bodies,
should have greater affinities for these spirits than other

primary elements of matter. We therefore find oxy-
gen, hydrogen, and carbon, but more especially the
first, have a particular power of attracting the spirits of
heat ; and as vegetable and animal structures are almost

wholly composed of these material elements, we must
not be surprised these structures in particular are so
easily broken up, when left to the unrestrained action
of these spirits upon them after the spirit of life has
been withdrawn.
It is with these immaterial substances, which have

their boundaries, as regards the present world, confined
within certain limits to bodies more highly and pecu-

liarly organized to receive them, that I have now to
draw particular attention, as these spiritual substances
here operating do not differ from those we have been

considering, in the sense of their being the same class
of entity which partakes of the nature of spirit, what-

ever that may be, but only in the sense of their different
kinds. I shall have to show that what is termed life
and mind are modes of action resulting from the appli-
cation of immaterial substances of a higher order to
inorganic matter, by which means new combinations

are formed, which constitute the material bases of living
bodies.
It is therefore incorrect to speak of life as exclusively
of an immaterial nature or even character, because that
term is made use of to express phenomena the result of
the mixed application of spiritual to material substances,

in like manner as we have shown light and heat to be
results from the application of the spirits of heat and
electricity to particular material matters. Life, therefore,
is not a material nor an immaterial entity, but, like

light and heat, mode of action produced in
it is only a
the manner I have stated, and mind is a similar kind
of term applied to a particular mode of action. Life
and mind, then, like light and heat, are modes of
action resulting from the concurrence of the two grand

classes of entity we have been considering. But as in
the phenomenon of light both the spirits of heat and

electricity are required to give their aid, so in the phe-

nomena of life the spirit of life is required to be super-
added to those of heat and electricity before that mode

of combined action we term life can be produced ; and
the addition of this spirit is the cause of the more com-
plex material unions we see formed in bodies so en-
dued.
Material modes of Union of Bodies formed by the

Spirit of Life.
It is necessary to investigate the means employed in
a material point of view for effecting those phenomena

which characterise living bodies ; and this will leave no
doubt in the mind that what are termed sensations,
perceptions, and ideas, in common language, have really
no entity of existence in themselves, but are only signs
of particular modes of action, the effect of the combina-
tion of more elaborate unions of the two grand entities
I have pointed out.
It is, then, very palpable that the spirit of life has a

power of controlling those spirits we have shown to
possess so wide a power over inorganic matter. And

the result of this is the bringing together of material
elements in an entirely new method which is more
complicate in character. So that substances which
form the material elements of living bodies are made
to unite by three, four, and even five together, and so
tomake ternary, quaternary, and quinary compounds.
Now, these material bases we may trace up from the
simplest forms of elementary matter. We see them
united in their material parts in binary forms in the

inorganic world. Then, under the power of that added
spirit we have now under consideration, they take, as
in the vegetable compounds, a ternary mode of union.

The union is still more complicated in animal organi-
zation ; so that to unite them in combinations such as
here take place, of three, four, and five of the elements

of the material matter together, it is an indispensable
law of these higher living bodies that the material
elements should first have been united in the ternary
compounds of vegetable structures.
So that in the building up of the material elements
alone, in the structure of living animals, we observe
the highest order of synthetical gradation, beginning
with the primary elements, and ending with the most
highly wi'ought animal tissues.
Spiritual modes of Union in co-operation with the

Spirit of Life.
And as we observe this gradation of power and com-

plexity to distinguish the material combinations of
living bodies, so may we detect a similar gradation of

power in the immaterial combinations which are there
formed and employed. We first observe the inorganic
binary compounds are united by the aid of one or two
spiritual substances. As we advance into vegetable
life we find there isa spirit of immateriality then for

the first time introduced, which controls the others
that are also present. This spirit is indispensable in
effecting the phenomena of vegetable life. And in
the operations of life, as we observe them carried out

in the bodies of animals, there is a still higher degree
of the spirit of life, or else a distinct and yet higher

spirit, which shows itself in the capacity to engage,
combine, and control the other spirits below it. It is
hardly necessary to remark here that the spirit of elec-
tricity in the living animal structures is proved by

many experiments. Pfaff shewed that in a healthy
man positive electricity is evidenced. Sanguine tem-

peraments have more free electricity than phlegmatic,
and alcohol is found to increase the quantity. Women
are found to be more frequently negatively electric
than men. Bodies that are very cold give no evi-
dence of electricity ; but, as warmth is restored, it
becomes more manifest. Certain diseases, such as

rheumatism, shew a reduced amount of electricity to
be present with them. Blood is found to retain the

spirit of electricity long after its removal from the
body.
Tt is not necessary to quote any experiments in
-
proof that the spirit of heat is engaged in the carrying

out of many chemical changes and phenomena of
living bodies.
Now, in the phenomena of perception, so much dis-
puted about by mental philsophers, we cannot help

recognising some confirmation of this graduation in the
power of the spirits, when we behold the shapes, sizes,
colours, and all other properties of the outward and
material world around us. For in being able to re-
cognise and to realize them as the true condition of

things, the composition of the instrument of perception
must not only be resolvable into the same primary

elements of material matter ; but those elements must
also treat with similar immaterial elements which
unitedly help to manifest the outward world to the
mind. And hence the composition of all living
bodies is made up of the same primary elements of
material matter, — oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and

carbon, and the same primary elements of immaterial
substance, — the efficient cause or spirit of heat, elec-
tricity and life, and their results, are, according to the
number, the complexity, and the modes of union in

which these elements are engaged.
Inorganic bodies generally unite their material
parts in what are termed binary or double binary
unions, as the case may be ; to effect which, the spirits
of heat and electricity have most certainly been em-

ployed. Organic bodies in the vegetable creation
require that the material elements should be united by
threes ; to effect which the co-operation of a higher
spiritual entity is necessary to bring their union toge-
ther, and to regulate the degree of power exercised by
the lower immaterial substances employed. And as
we advance to the still higher organization of animals,
a mode of combination, both in the material and im-

material elements, takes place that is truly incompre-
hensible. Here both kinds of entity are brought
together in greater numbers and more elaborate unions,
so as to baffle all our efforts to imitate them, or even
to investigate many of them.

IN RELATION TO MATTER, 107
Thus the analysis of inorganic substances around

us are capable of the most satisfactory confirmation, in
consequence of our being able in some instances to
command synthetical arrangements. So that we have
here the surest proof afforded us of the methods
pursued in their original construction. The composi-
tion and relative proportions of water, sulphuric, nitric,
phosphoric, and carbonic acids, are sufficiently known

to lead to the right application of the spiritual agents
required to put these bodies together, after the manner

supposed to have been adopted in the original creation
of those bodies.
Here, however, our synthetic powers leave us ; and
the putting together of the simplest vegetable elements
united by the spirit of life, so as to produce the ternary
compounds of sugar and starch, have consequently never
been achieved. Many have been the attempts to form
these triple unions by the aid of the spirit of electricity,
but they have signally failed in spite of the perse-

vering efforts of Cross, Weeks, and other experi-
menters.
How much less likely are we to be able to combine
the still more highly complex quaternary and quinary
compounds, does not surprise me, when I am satisfied
they are effected solely by the operation of the spirit of
life, — a spirit which, inasmuch as it is of a higher and

more delicate character, is found to possess a fewer
number of bodies in the creation, and in possessing
these, to be less closely adherent to them, and conse-
quently more readily expelled from them. In animal
;
bodies, three, four, and even five mutual elements are

held together by the conjunctive and graduated powers
of the spirits of electricity, heat and life. And the
effect of this elaborate co-operation is the production
of that microcosm of surpassing wonder — the living
animal body, — the noblest and greatest evidence of
omnipotent power over all created substances, spiritual
and material, that can be advanced.
The Power of the Spirit of Life to build up Organic

Structures.
We come now to another and very important charac-

teristic which marks in organic bodies the operation of
a higher spirit than those of heat and electricity. We

may observe that, in the simple binary compounds of
inorganic matter, the unions generally are those of a
gaseous with an earthy, alkaline, or metallic element
thus, oxygen will unite with potassium, silicon, or iron,
&c. ; and these unions always display an order of
selection, called, in the language of chemistry, elective

affinity, which, if it did not observe the very fixed and
unalterable rules in these unions, which never vary, we
might be disposed to think they resulted from the
operation of choice inherent in the substances so
united. ' These affinities may, however, be equally

well explained, by supposing the attractive power of
these different bodies to be governed by their relative
capacity to receive a greater or less amount of the spirit
of electricity. But from the very commencement

of that scale of bodies in which the spirit of life is
reposed, we not only have the primary bringing toge-

ther of the material structure most remarkably altered,
but in addition to this, we must be struck with the fact,
that now, for the first time, an apparent sensation is
manifested which leads to the selection of particular

inorganic matters, which, when secured, are conveyed
through certain organic textures to that part of the or-

ganism they are destined to fill up. How wonderful is
the power that gives to the corn of wheat this sensitive

selection, by which means it builds up, first the blade,
then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. In carrying
out this process, the spirit of life would, like the lower
spirits it here engages, seem to give a particular degree
of power according to the nature of the particular
material part of the organization. The gaseous ele-
ments are carried up from the roots in combination

with the earthy and other bases ; and they are conveyed
also through the leaves ; so that it has been shewn

that many plants — such as the ficus elastica — have
been for many years supported in the air without com-
munication with the ground by roots ; and experiments
have shewn that in this state many saline and earthy
matters have been introduced into the structure of
plants, which proves that our atmosphere is capable of
conveying inorganic matter through the leaves into the

vessels and internal organization of plants, when aided
by the spirit of life. The power to select the binary
compounds of inorganic matter, — potash, soda, phos-
phoric acid, silica, magnesia, and the like, and to carry
one to the stem, another to the leaf, and a third to the

fruit, is, however, more forcibly shewn in plants natu-

rally deriving nourishment directly from the earth.
No power could be given by the spirits of electricity or
of heat, so that the vessels of a plant could be able to

select amongst a variety of mineral matters, silex, potash,
phosphorus, and the like, and convey them, with the

ternary compounds of starch and gluten, into one par-
ticular structure or part of the plant, and not to another.
This seems to be an office and power over and above,

and independent of those phenomena in vegetable and
animal structures we observe to be accomplished in the
operation of light and other products of the spirits of
heat and electricity. This combined power in the pro-
duction of the phenomena of sensation and volition,
and the extraordinary connexion and adaptation of
these exalted properties to the power to recognise and
contemplate all created things, strongly and unfailingly
points to the identity of elements that have been em-
barked, and the intimate relation the whole of those
elements bear to each other, and to the Supreme Being
that made them.
The superior and delicate nature of the spirit of life
is strongly contrasted with that of electricity, which it
has so often been thought, not only to resemble, but

really to be. And there is the one distinctive evidence
I have pointed out in this chapter which clearly claims
for it a separate kind, and this is that we never find

ternary and quaternary compounds occupying a position
in the material world which would lead us to suppose

that they have not been brought into existence and
IN RELATION TO MATTER. Ill
acted upon by the immateriality of life. To this must

be added the power of sensation by which certain
material substances may be selected.
The distinguishing difference between vegetable and

animal bodies, both which are alike constructed ac-
cording to some organic arrangement, supported by air
and food, are endowed with the spirit of life, and con-
sequently subject to be decomposed in their material
parts when that spirit is withdrawn, is most chiefly to
be recognised in these two particulars ; first, the ele-

mentary material unions are higher, and secondly, to
accomplish this it is indispensable that the unions of
three material parts should first take place in vegetable
bodies to furnish the bases of animal structures, these
latter not being able to subsist upon binary compounds.
Whether these latter phenomena are the result of the
operation, of a different kind of spirit to that which

animates the brutes, or whether they are not considered
to be of a sufficiently diagnostic character, I am not
able to determine.
In animal life, ideas and thoughts, the result of mixed
sensations, or more varied displays of the abstract
power of sensation, are superadded by means of a cere-
bral apparatus to simple sensation which alone takes

place in vegetable life. In connexion with this ad-
ditional organic part, I shall proceed to consider some
of the operations of the spirit of life. Before, how-
ever, I do this, it will be right to take a view of the
three spirits I have been pointing out in their more
conjunctive operations.
CHAPTER VI.
THE COMBINED ACTION OF THE TWO SPIRITS OF HEAT

AND OF ELECTRICITY IN THE PHENOMENA OF IN-
ORGANIC BODIES ; AND OF THE THREE SPIRITS OF

HEAT, ELECTRICITY, AND LIFE, IN THE PHENOMENA
OF ORGANIC BODIES ; REVIEWED, AND THEIR SEPA-
RATE IDENTITIES SHOWN.
The arguments authorizing a belief that material and

immaterial substances have a separate and a real exist-
ence having been adduced, and some of the qualities
and phenomena resulting from the two different ways
in which these two great entities are found to unite in
the formation and the carrying on of the created
universe having been pointed out, I shall now go on
to notice some of the more complex operations of the
two spirits of heat and of electricity as they blend
their powers in the production of the higher forces and
more intricate movements of the inorganic world.
These movements and operations, when joined by the
spirit of life, partake of the highest and most obscure
complications, as they are displayed in the structure of
living bodies. Afterwards I shall consider the several
more decided proofs of the separate existence or indi-
viduality of these three spirits.

The Union of the Spirits in the production of the higher

phenomena of Natural Bodies.
The distinction between the qualities stamped upon
created bodies at their original creation by the aid of
these spirits, of heat and electricity, and the phenomena

they are observed to cause in the movement and dis-
placement that is constantly going on in the natural

operations of the universe, may, however, be made
clearer by tracing the connexion those qualities and
phenomena bear to each other as the effect of the
combined action of the two spirits with matter under
particular circumstances. We will take for example
the quality of globularity, and view it in connexion
with the phenomena of motion.

Even the permanent qualities of natural bodies I
have endeavoured to show could not have been given

to created substances, as they are found united in
nature, without the concurrence of these spirits with
uncombined material substance. The form, therefore,
of natural bodies must have been regulated by these
spirits. And we shall presently see all the moving or
active phenomena of the universe are remarkable for
being associated with one particular form, which they

invariably assume.
The division of all natural bodies into liquid and
solid is that
-
which we now observe to mark the two
very different states in which these bodies are found.
But there is the greatest evidence, by the investigation
of the various structures of solid bodies, to lead us to
i
conclude that in the original process of formation all
the primary material substances were in a liquid or

gaseous state. In such a state, if we judge from the
characteristic form of all liquid bodies, as well as the
solid structures of all those bodies endued with the

spirit of life, we shall have little doubt that the original
form of every created substance was globular. But as
many of those substances would not be required to
enter into the moving phenomena of creation, and
would, moreover, be made use of to form the solid
basis of our planet, it was necessary to bring the par-
ticles or molecules so closely together, as that, by inti-

mate contact, they might form solid matter. This was
accomplished by removing the atmospheres, as the
spirits of heat and electricity that surround the gaseous
particles of all bodies are called, and so depriving those
particles at once both of the power of being globular
and of retaining the fluid character.
Being thus fixed in their different mineral relations,
we notice the most remarkable external characteristic
of these solid masses of inorganic matter is their
external form. Where any regularity of form is to
be observed in them, as in crystallization, the form is
confined to flat surfaces and right angles, varying their
inclination according to fixed laws that govern them.
All those substances which are not so fixed and

solidified, but that are required to sustain certain ope-
rations connected with the motion, whether of the celes-
tial orbs that revolve in the universe, or of bodies upon

the surface of our globe to which has been attached
the spirit of life, have also a form which remarkably

distinguishes them. This is more or less round or oval.
Such a shape has many advantages attached to it to
render it indispensable. The two spirits of heat and

electricity could thus surround it ; and as in the case
of the grander and more stupendous celestial bodies,
so in that of the most minute and invisible molecules
that float in the atmosphere, these spirits are brought
to bear upon such bodies in the production of the

natural movements and forces peculiar to each. The
globular form, then, of natural bodies, thought, from
its universal prevalence in organic structures and sub-
stances, to be characteristic of these alone, is a quality
imparted to all matter, the atoms of which, for the
most obvious purposes, are required to be in a liquid
or a gaseous state, — in other words, whose molecules

are so far separated from each other by the spirit of
heat, as to admit of the action of the spirit of electricity
upon the surface of every individual molecule, whether
at our temperature or at one higher. The minerals

mercury, pitch, and naphtha, are in their atoms globular,
because, like water, they are liquid; and we observe
the same form in those mineral bodies found in the
igneous rocks, which were doubtless at some former
period in a liquid state, called, from their resem-
blance to small almonds, amygdaloidal; and in oolitic
limestone, which was doubtless originally in a fluid
state, the particles observe the same shape. The same

form is assumed by the heavenly bodies around us, as
well as by our earth, which was at the creation, in all

probability, raised to that degree of heat so as to
admit of all its particles being separated and kept in a

liquid state previous to the several operations it under-
went at that event. And that the spirit of electricity
is chiefly instrumental in causing matter to assume

this globular form, is shown by the experiments of
Treviranus, and of Prevost and Dumas. Treviranus

observed, that as liquids passed into a solid state to
form the animal tissues, globules were distinctly per-

ceptible. Thus, in the artificial coagulation of the
white of an egg, he observed this form was taken. And

Prevost and Dumas submitted the albumen of egg to
the action of the positive pole of the galvanic pile, when

globules were distinctly formed.*
It has been shewn how, in the original formation of
water, the spirits of electricity and of heat may be de-

tected (p. 40). And the further conversion of this
fluid into vapour is undoubtedly the effect of the
subsequent application of the spirits of heat and elec-
tricity to every separate molecule. Without the con-

currence of these spirits in their operation upon the
water on the surface of our globe, the phenomena of
clouds and rain, lightning and thunder, could not take
place. When the moisture of the atmosphere is con-
densed, by being converted from vapour into rain, this

is brought about by lessening the number of globular
molecules. To effect this, the spirits of heat and of
electrictiy are withdrawn from the surface of these
* Tiedemann's Comparative Physiology, translated by Gully and
Lime, p. 21.
minute vesicles of vapourous water ; and on this
account the atmosphere always shows strong positive

electricity when condensation is taking place. To
insure the opposite condition to this, by converting water
into steam, the absorption or the engagement of these
spirits is proved from the "fact that the atmosphere,
when this process is going on, is always in a negative
state. If an insulated conductor of the spirit of elec-
tricity is brought in contact with a jet of steam, it
first exhibits what is called negative electricity ; in
other words, all the spirit of electricity conveyed

through the conductor is taken up to augment the
vapour. When this vapour is again condensed, the
electricity being disengaged, it becomes positive
in the atmosphere around. If the conductor is re-
moved further off from the orifice where the steam

escapes, the electricity becomes more and more positive,
which shews, the spirit of heat being absent or too

feeble here, that the phenomenon of vapourizing the
water has stopped, from the spirit of electricity refusing
to join without the concurrence of a certain degree of
lieat. Water, in its passage into vapour, has, there-

fore, need of not only the electric, but also the calorific
spirit. In the artificial process of boiling water, the

application of the spirit of heat through the fire causes
the bulk of the water to expand, and in this state,

being joined by the electric spirit of the atmosphere,
it becomes converted into minute globules, each being

supported in this position because it is surrounded by
a surface for the action of these spirits. The same
—
phenomenon is produced naturally, when the sun's

heat is brought to bear upon the surface of water.
The water is thus taken up, by the aid of the two
spirits conveyed in the sun-bearn, into the higher
regions of the atmosphere, and there, parting with the
two spirits it received from the sun-beams, becomes
again condensed and converted into rain or hail. And

thus, when suddenly disengaged to a sufficient amount,
the spirit of electricity produces the phenomena of

lightning, which is identical in character with the
electric spark from the prime conductor of an electric
machine.
Every distinct globular molecule we behold, there-
fore, in nature, implies that the spirit of electricity
acting upon its surface produces the globularity ; and

it is possible all these rounded particles constituted
the first and preparatory operation of the spirits of
God upon material matter, before they were cemented

together in the formation of the different material sub-
stances. And so cemented together, these globular
forms no longer presented their individual surfaces for
the operation of the spirits upon them but ; this action*
was transferred to the general surface of the body they,
in the aggregate, went to form.

The globular form, it will be obvious, is a quality
quite different, though not altogether independent, of
that of consistence ; so that in effecting these two
qualities there is the operation of two efficient causes
namely, the spirit of heat joined to that of the spirit
of electricity — evidently to be traced. The shape

could not be effected simply by the action of the spirit

of electricity alone upon it ; but some other spirit is
required to raise the temperature, and so expand the

substance by altering its consistence, so as to admit
the action of the spirit of electricity upon the smallest

part ; and this spirit is that of heat. The two spirits,
instead of being identical, as heat and electricity have

been thought to be, would seem here to have not only
distinct, but rather opposite actions to produce ; for
while the spirit of heat is necessary to expand, and so
to separate and keep separate the individual molecules,

the spirit of electricity is required to surround them,
that their spheres may be kept together.
The use of these two spirits having been thus far

separately and unitedly pointed out, we will go on to
consider the connexion the globular form bears to the
phenomena of motion, before we blend the operation
of the spirit of life with those spirits we have been
speaking of.
Every body, whether it be organic or inorganic, that

possesses the power of motion, assumes either the
spherical or oval form, and the faster it is required to
move the more circular it is. The mind naturally
assures itself of the truth of this, by the comparative

facility with which all bodies that have been deprived
more or less of their sharp angles and edges are made
to move by the artificial application of force. And
in order to carry this law out in the movements re-
quired for the sustaining of life in the vegetable and

animal structures, we find the different substances, the
most simple as well as the most complex, are there

uniformly made to assume the globular or the oval
form. It was, therefore, indispensably necessary that
this quality should first be given to bodies, previous to

the production of the phenomena of motion.
But motion, in whatever form we contemplate it,
while it is quite explicable upon the principle of the
application of the spirit of electricity to the surface of
bodies, cannot possibly be shown to proceed from any

inherent quality or power in the bodies themselves.
Neither shall we be able to prove this by examining
the higher organization and phenomena of living struc-
tures. When Newton discovered the phenomena of
gravitation, immediately he set about to prove they

were as much and entirely material as the substantive
bodies so acted upon. And this contributed to main-

tain an idea, already very prevalent, that material
matter was a mere mass of inactive substance, only
susceptible of the power of motion by the external
application of force, which before had no connexion
with it. For if it had been argued that the true cause
of motion was something of the nature of spirit super-
added to mere material matter, it would have struck at
the doctrine of imponderable agents. But it must be

perfectly obvious, upon deliberate consideration of all
material matter that has been endued with the quality

of globularity, that it is by no means in a state of rest,
or free from some form or kind of motion, and that

from causes independent of the external application of
force ; and whether that motion is attraction or repul-
sion, gravitation, dissolution, conflagration, or any other

action produced by the combined operation of the
spirits of heat and of electricity, it is undoubtedly

motion, and that resulting from the application or the
abstraction of these spirits, which are independent of
the bare material matter. These agents, by being
added to or taken from material matter, are the cause
of certain alterations, dissolution, or re-arrangement of
particles in created matter, that cannot be effected
without their instrumentality ; and thus they are the
exciting cause of motion. This is as clear as that the
efficient cause of life is quite distinct from the organic
structures to which it is attached. The activity and

motion of inorganic matter is not an activity inherent
in the substantive matter itself, neither is it caused by
outward force applied to that matter, but it is the
result of the union of the spirits of heat and electricity
in one form or other with different material matters, to
which they bear specific relations, which produces the

force.
Regarding the phenomena of these two spirits in
the light of a connected chain of forces, without know-

ing to what cause they are rightly to be referred, we
have many most interesting natural phenomena shown
to be mutually dependent upon, or in communication
with, each other, by Mr. Grove,* who has ably ex-
plained the correlation and inseparable connexion which

exists in all these forces or phenomena. Thus, he
* On the Correlation of Physical Forces.

;
attempts to show the production of all the other modes

of action in the following experiment are caused by the
application of light as a force. " A prepared Da-
guerreotype plate is enclosed in a box filled with water,
having a glass front with a shutter over it ; between
this glass and the plate is a gridiron of silver wire
the plate is connected with one extremity of a galva-
nometer coil, and the gridiron of wire with one ex-
tremity of a Breguet's helix ; the other extremities of

the galvanometer and helix are connected by a wire,
and the needles brought to zero. As soon as a beam
of either daylight or the oxyhydrogen light is, by raising
the shutter, permitted to impinge upon the plate, the
needles are deflected : thus, light being the initiating
force, we get chemical attraction on the plate, elec-

tricity circulating through the wires, magnetism in the
coil, heat in the helix, and motion in the needles."
These different and successive modes of action receive,
according to my theory of immaterial spirits, a most

satisfactory explanation by supposing here the two
distinct spirits of heat and of electricity, by raising the
shutter, are brought, through the medium of the beam

of light, to bear upon material matter of different
kinds, characters, and affinities, which cause the several

phenomena spoken of. These phenomena are simul-
taneous, not successive.
And when we behold the operation of these spirits
as they are seen to govern the movements of the
heavenly bodies, we can no longer deny that motion, in

its truest sense, is eminently a phenomenon attached
to matter in its inorganic as well as in its organic

forms; and that, not according to Leibnitz, as con-
sisting of living monads, or, according to others, and
more generally believed, as resulting from some subtile
etherial fluid, which is thought to pervade all matter in

common, but the natural effect of the operation of the
spirits of heat and of electricity upon the surfaces of
those molecules which form the elementary bases of all
moveable matter.
When the philosopher recognizes the same principle
or phenomenon of motion he sees vested in the higher-
wrought living structures is to be traced to many

bodies moving in the inorganic world, he will be more
disposed to refer the phenomena here to the same uni-
versal efficient immaterial cause he sees acting alike
upon both. Nor can he satisfy himself that in bodies

without the spirit of life the motive power has less
claim upon the electric spirit than it has upon those

bodies that have the spirit of life and mind. When
we say in chemistry one body has an affinity for ano-
ther, we in other words say those bodies have the
power of motion, however limited or mechanical it may
be, in which the power of choice is apparently dis-
played. This motion differs from that of voluntary

motion in animals, in that the affinity cannot be said to
be the result of choice, as it is always determined by
fixed laws. But the phenomena which call for motion
in the organization of animals require that much of
that organization should be in a fluid state. The con-

trivance for insuring the safety and integrity of that
organization, so that the fluids may perform their
numerous evolutions without hindrance, is one that

calls for the additional assistance of the spirit of life.
Every part of the structure of animals is charac-
terised by the globular form of its molecules, and as,
in the inorganic world, this form has been shown to

owe itself to the spirits of heat and of electricity which
surround them, so here, doubtless, the same spirits are
called to produce the same effect in the organic world.
Yet it will be remembered that animal tissues are made

up of the most numerous and heterogeneous substances,
which are here united in new forms, and in such a
manner as is not found in any other structures. While,
therefore, the Jluid condition of some animal substances
is maintained in the midst of more solid parts, and the
rounded character of the molecules is that which dis-
tinguishes them, it is easy to suppose the two spirits of
heat and electricity would suffice. But when we come

to account for the ternary and quaternary unions that
take place in the bodies of animals, no spirit short of
the spirit of life will be found to accomplish all these
ends.
It is possible to account, therefore, for the fluidity
and motion of living bodies through the spirits of heat
and of electricity ; but their composition cannot be at-
tained without the spirit of life. While the solid mate-

rials of the blood are kept fluid by the spirit of heat,
their various globular shapes are all surrounded by the
spirit of electricity, which spirit is thus brought in con-
tact with the walls of the heart, and so gives rise to
muscular contraction. Muscles are not the only parts

of animals that move ; for some animals are entirely
composed of cellular or mucous tissue ; and this shows
that the moving power is not vested in any particular
part, but is added to it. But it is the particular unions
of animal compounds brought together by the spirit of
life, being carried, by the subordinate means we have

been considering, into the several viscera of the body,
that lead to the higher operations that characterize
living bodies.
It will thus be seen that the combined operation of

the three spirits of heat, electricity, and life, while sepa-
rately to be detected in the particular phenomena they
produce in living bodies, are nevertheless unitedly re-
quired to blend their powers in the production of the

highly elaborate animal formations.
It is by no means improbable that further scientific
research may reduce many of the phenomena we at
present refer to distinct imponderable agents, as they
are called, to one and the same spirit ; or the operation
of two spirits, as those of heat and of electricity, may
be concurrent in the production of many phenomena.
Thus gravity, chemical attraction, polar attraction,
magnetism, electro-magnetism, and many others, may
hereafter be shown to be different modes of action, or
modified operations of these two spirits, the difference
in all these modes of action being only the result of the
varied proportions, qualities, and collocations of material
matter with which these spirits are found to act. The
experiments made by Dr. Faraday* upon electricity of
late years, strongly go to prove the identity of the five
several varieties of electricity that have been discovered,
viz. the common electricity of tension, the voltaic, the
magnetic, the thermal, and the animal electricities. It
is the wonderful discovery of Oersted, that two of these

kinds unite their peculiar powers to produce new and
more complex forces never before known, which yield
the tangential and rotatory forces, and by which the
earth and the other celestial bodies in all probability
are moved.
We have in these, and many other phenomena where
the spirits blend their power, much that will receive no
other explanation than that which gives a mutual, con-
current, and simultaneous action of two or more spirits
upon matter. But this co-operation must not be con-

founded with the distinct identity of the spirits, to the
consideration of which I am about to pass on. We

must contemplate many of the phenomena of nature
even in a still more blended sense ; for it will be ob-

served that not only clo different spirits unite their
powers to produce these phenomena, but those pheno-

mena are governed by the nature of the material sub-
stance on which they act ; and in this manner it is
possible that different modes of action again unite their
powers in the production of the more highly induced

forces.
* Experimental Researches.
The Characters which mark the separate Spirits.
The great and universal identity which points to God

as the source and centre of all spiritual power, — the
mutual dependence and connection its manifested
varieties appear to exercise upon each other, and parti-
cularly the modifications they seem to undergo in their
higher displays of power when united to organized

bodies, — are so many arguments that at first sight
may appear to favour the idea that the spiritual power

I have recognised, both in inorganic as well as in
organic bodies around us, but especially in the former,

is one and undivided ; that the various characters it
displays in the phenomena of the visible world, and

the various effects it produces upon material matters,
are all to be traced to the degrees of power it possesses,
or the difference in the component elements of material
matter with which it comes in contact, and not to
different kinds of immaterial entities. There are so
many natural phenomena, some of which have been
adduced, that are apparently so closely allied to each
other, and, indeed, seeming to have one common effi-
cient cause for their origin, as to strengthen greatly

this impression that the cause, whatever it may be, is
undivided. We cannot on this account be surprised at

the opinion that has recently been expressed by an
American writer in favour of " the identity of light and
heat, electricity and caloric."* But it must be ad-
* By C. Campbell Cooper, Philadelphia.

mitted there stand opposed to this idea some most

conflicting obstacles. It is true that in revelation we
are led to believe the entire control of the whole phe-
nomena of that wonderful event, the creation of the

world, are clearly preceded by an operation that im-
plies that the spirit of God was the sole moving, creat-
ing, and directing power. " The spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters" before the separation of
the elements and the distinct creation of the several
forms of mineral, vegetable, and animal matter that
took place.
Yet the fact of there being separate gradations and
separate existences of immaterial entity or spirits, need
not disturb the undisputed and controlling power the
Creator is able to exercise over His own work. And
this controlling power speaks for itself in the gradation
as well as in the co-operation of the inferior spirits.
That these gradations do exist is made evident from a

variety of facts and phenomena that cannot be mis-
taken.
The view, also, of the consecutive acts of creation re-
corded in revelation leads to the undoubted inference

that the immaterial entities employed to produce light
were, in their operation upon matter, independent of
those entities subsequently brought to bear upon the
further acts of creation as they are viewed in connec-
tion with organized bodies.
If, therefore, we do not divide immaterial entity into
kinds, we must into degrees, and this leads to the most

confused deductions : indeed, in the case of organic
spirits, it is quite out of the question to attempt to
reconcile the difference according to degrees. They

must either be regarded as not to exist at all, or
they must be looked upon in kind as something
distinct.
Certainly, when we see the action of these imma-

terial causes to be so dependent upon each other for
the evolution of their power, and that the natural
phenomena we behold to be resulting have been shewn
to owe their manifestation to the combined operation
of these causes, there is at least a difficulty in being able
upon all occasions to distinguish them apart. Like the
material matters of the universe, the action of one, two,
or more, upon each other, is productive of the most
unaccountable difference in the outward appearance
of bodies, which the laws of synthesis have not in
our present state of knowledge attempted to explain.
Thus, the manifestation of the phenomena of electri-
city upon all matter, is greatly dependent upon the

presence not only of the spirit of electricity, but also
of that of heat, and there is much to lead to the belief
that in the higher phenomena one spirit does not act
without the other. But this mixed mode of action is
certainly not here incompatible with the separate exist-
ence of the immaterial entities.
It will be noticed that one of the great characteristic

marks of distinction that points to the separate condi-
tion of different kinds of spiritual entity, is the very

different effect they produce upon material matter. On
the proof of this difference the doctrine of distinct
K
spiritual entities can alone philosophically rest. It is,
however, a doctrine undoubtedly to be drawn from

revelation.
Nor can this difference produced upon material

matter be explained alone by the difference existing
in4he chemical unions or proportions of the material
part, for the office of the spirits, though blended toge-
ther in the common qualities and phenomena of matter,
are clearly marked by great discrepance. Nothing
illustrates this so remarkably as the power the spirit of
heat possesses of separating the molecules of created

matter ; while the spirit of electricity as clearly holds
the power of attracting and keeping together those
molecules.
The effect of the spirit of heat, too, upon the ma-
terials that go to form light is most distinctly separate
from that of the spirit of electricity ; and this I have

shewn in the analysis of the sun-beam. It is not
reasonable to suppose the same spirit would enter
opposite ends of the ray, and there meeting with the
homogeneous material that it unites with to form the
light, has the power to produce the red colour at one

end, and the purple at the other. Especially when ex-
periment has so decidedly shewn by the aid of those

instruments used to detect the presence of heat and
electricity, that the one is to be found at the red
margin, and the other at the purple. These are
phenomena so distinctly marked by their effects, that
they seem clearly separated in the power of a
graduated scale they observe in relation to each other,

while they do not disturb the power to act in combi-

nation.
The effect of the spirit of life upon material sub-

stances is again too remarkable to be readily con-
founded with any other efficient spiritual cause ; and
in comparing its phenomena with those that are
associated with it in the complex machinery of life,
we may trace the offices and powers of the spirits it
regulates as of those that control it. We have here

the expansive power of the spirit of heat maintaining
fluidity, and so helping to bring the different substances
of nature fairly under chemical action ; we have the

attracting power of the spirit of electricity causing the
molecules both to assume a globular form, and in that

form to excite motion. We have the uniting or com-
bining power of the spirit of life causing two, three,
and four substances to join in the production of one or
other particular substance that cannot be imitated by
the spirits of either heat or of electricity.
The difficulty there is in entertaining and supporting
the opinion that immateriality has one universal identity,
and is not, therefore, divisible into distinct kinds, will
be found to be increased in speaking of the spirit of
life upon organized matter.

Moreover, we must claim for the immortal spirit of
man a distinct and separate entity, which we gather
exclusively from revelation. And in contemplating
this spirit alone in the case of man as it has been placed
in relation to a future state of things, the Apostle Paul
compares the effects of the several degrees in this
entity alone upon glorified bodies, to the difference of
character in the production of various seeds and ani-

mals, when the Creator will give to this kind of entity
a body '"
as seemeth best to Him." The immortal
spirit of man, therefore, we learn will be capable of
animating, in a glorified state, bodies not only of diffe-
rent degrees of power or spheres of comprehension,
but, if we adhere closely to the analogy, of different
kinds. Thus the presumed division of the spirit of man,

when in a glorified state, into different orders, carries
our minds further away from the idea of the universal

oneness of all immaterial substances manifesting itself
only by variations in degree.

Neither does physiology, so far as it relates to the
manifestation of life and mind in the higher animals,
through the instrumentality of the organic tissues, fur-
nish us with any argument or proof that the spirit of

electricity, for example, has any actual existence in the
great channels of the brain and nerves, — those organs
appropriated for the transmission of the immaterial
entity of life, —though it is clearly to be detected in the

chemical changes incident to the muscular electric cur-
rent. Yet if electricity was the same mode of action as
that of life, — that is, if they emanated from the same
entity, — their immaterial causes being identical, the
distinctive differences between these two spirits could
not be maintained solely by the difference in the ele-
mentary materials which characterize the organization
of the brain and that of the blood ; for the spirit of
electricity is as much required to keep together the

cerebral globules as that of life is to put the materials
together by quaternary unions ; but having been put

together, we have the operation of the spirit of life to be
brought again upon the surface, internal or external, to
the cerebral tissues, before the higher phenomena of
life can take place. This operation would seem to re-

semble those phenomena in the inorganic world pro-
duced by application of the uncombined spirits upon
created bodies that have first been formed by the union
of the two entities (p. 28).
But the spirit of electricity is also to be distinguished

from that of life by this circumstance, viz., that while
the galvanic current may be conducted away from the

nerves, through the medium of the contiguous tissues,
as readily as it is conducted by the nerves themselves,
the spirit of life, on the contrary, is most strictly made
to act through the tissues of the brain and nerves.
And to insure its proper action, even through these
appointed conduits, they must, for this purpose, be
entire and uninterrupted in every part : whereas, a
ligature tied round a nerve, or an intersected portion
of that nerve having been removed, does not prevent
the transmission of the galvanic electricity through this

channel. The statement of Vavasseur and Beraudi,
that needles passed through the nerves of living ani-
mals became magnetic, and that division of the spinal

cord deprives the nerves of the power of communicating
the magnetic property to the needles when so placed, is
no proof that magnetism here comes through the

nerves ; for in this last state the inhalation of oxygen
] 34 THE PHILOSOPHY OP SPIRITS
will restore it, clearly showing that the spirit of elec-
tricity enters the vital fluid with the atmospheric air

taken into the lungs ; also that by this means it is that
the spirit of life is conveyed into the blood in the first
instance. If the wires of the galvanometer are applied

to the nerve only, not the smallest deviation of the
needle would be detected. When I say this, I by no

means think it impossible that the spirit of electricity
may not be one of the subordinate spirits employed to
produce the preliminary steps that lead to nervous
action ; and the effects of electric tension alone upon
secretion and other organic functions favours this idea.
Dr. Golding Bird thinks that the existence of currents

of high tension in the living body not being proved,
the objection that nervous force is stopped by placing
a ligature on the nerve, while electricity is not stopped,
falls to the ground, as he had shown that electric cur-
rents of low tension, when applied to nerves, are

stopped also by a ligature.* This may be quite pos-
sible, and the two spirits may still be very different.
But in dividing a nerve, we invariably produce paralysis
of the part to which that nerve was distributed ; nor

does the connexion of the divided ends of the nerve by
means of any kind of electric conductor succeed in
restoring the power of the part to which the nerve has
been distributed, for neither sensation nor motion can
be restored.
Nor can we compare the difference between the
* Lectures on Electricity and Galvanism.

electric and the vital phenomena to the act of charging

a piece of iron with magnetic powers, by an electric
current conveyed to it by a conductor, while those

powers cannot be conveyed along such a conductor.
The relation electricity bears to magnetism is certainly
a very near one. If the phenomena of the loadstone
are produced solely by electricity, as M. Ampere and

others contend, then the difference in these phenomena
and those of the electricity of tension is one that must

receive an explanation entirely through the difference
in the character and composition of the material matter

so favourable to the development of the magnetic
power. But before we can compare the close relation
the spirit of electricity bears to that of magnetism with

that relation which electricity bears to the spirit of life,
it is right that we should attentively observe the very
remarkable differences I have mentioned, that charac-

terize the spirit of life. It must be acknowledged, if
the spirit of life is only a modification of the spirit of

electricity caused solely by the difference in the charac-
ters of the material substance with which it is in
contact, then the difficulty remains to shew by what

power the compounds of living bodies are put together ?
How are those collocations formed? for neither the
spirit of heat nor that of electricity, whether acting
singly or conjunctively, are able to form starch or

sugar —the simple ternary compounds of vegetable
bodies, still less are they able to form fibrin or albumen,

the more elaborate products of animal life. And it
must be remembered the power of sensation cannot

be given to any other matter but that which is built up

in compounds of three and four substances united
in one. These facts, I think, ought to mark distinctly
the separation between the spirit of electricity and that
of life.
There is another circumstance in connection with the

spirit of life which is very remarkable, as shewing that
this spirit is one mi generis. I would allude now to
the apparently latent state in which the spirit of life is
retained in the seeds of vegetables, whose delicate
structures rapidly perish when this spirit is removed.

A bulbous root taken from the hand of an Egyptian
mummy, where it had been retained above two thousand
years, on being planted in the earth grew rapidly.*
And the celebrated mummy wheat, some of which I
have now before me, having been reared from seed taken
from an Egyptian mummy, must have been even older
than this. There are seeds that have been dug up
from depths of three hundred and sixty feet, that give
the greatest reason to believe they have remained there
since the Deluge, and which, when placed in favourable
circumstances, began to vegetate. f BakewellJ states

that in examining the remains of one of the large
extinct herbivorous animals, from the peat bogs of
America, some of the seeds, still retaining their shape
and character, were found in part of the stomach of
* Journal of Roy. Inst. No. I.
f Jesse's Gleanings in Nat. Hist.
X Elements of Geology.
IN RELATION TO MATTER,. 137
the animal, so as to give the assurance that they were

alive ; and that, moreover, they were the same kind of
seeds as those of the plants growing upon the surface
of the ground. This animal was destroyed by the

Deluge, so that these seeds must have retained their
vitality above four thousand years. It is the union of
this spirit for so long a period of time with the cor-
ruptible and delicate material, the union of carbon,
oxygen, and hydrogen, as we see them joined to form
vegetable structure of the seed, without that structure
yielding to decomposition, which it would more readily
do than any others when the vital spirit is removed
from it, that excites our astonishment that a spirit so
delicate should be so long retained. Yet its specific
and real presence cannot be denied, as, at the expira-
tion of these long periods of time, if placed in a

position favourable to germination, it proceeds to build
up the ternary structures of vegetable bodies, which
the spirit of electricity cannot accomplish.

From these and other facts it is imposible to argue
that all immateriality is identical in kind, although its
several sorts have such a mutual dependence upon,

and connexion with, one another, as to make their
separate existences, their exact number, and their
relative power, questions of great intricacy.

CHAPTER VII.
THE SPIRIT OF LIFE AND THE PHENOMENA DEPENDING

UPON ITS UNION WITH THE SPIRITS OF HEAT AND ELEC-
TRICITY IN LIVING BODIES GENERALLY, AND WITH
THE HIGHER SPIRITS IN MAN MORE PARTICULARLY.
I have been speaking, in the last two chapters, amongst

other points, of the difference that is to be observed in
the unions and combinations of material bodies which
have been exclusively constructed and adapted for the
display of the higher spiritual substances, causing the
phenomena of life and mind. It is necessary, however
that a more extended notice should be taken of the
phenomena resulting from these elaborate unions. For
as we have seen the three spirits in operation subordi-
nate!^ to each other, in the building up of the vegetable
and animal structures, and this subordinate and con-
current action has been marked with an apparent
blending of power that made all necessary to produce
the effect ; so, in the introduction of yet higher spirits,
is the operation of those spirits greatly subject to the
organization through which they are manifested.
In animal life, ideas and thoughts, the result of
mixed sensations, or of a more varied display of the
abstract power of sensation, are superadded by means
of a cerebral apparatus to simple sensation which alone
takes place in vegetable life. So that the distinction

between the sensation of vegetable life and that which
forms the basis of the mental operations of animals is
apparently one of degree. And the slow and gradual

increase of mental power we see always accompanying
a corresponding advancement and development of the
material organic instrument, will hereafter be referred
to as evidence to prove that mind, as we hold it to
be the display of phenomena in connexion with the
organic structure of the brain, is not caused by a spirit
distinct from that which is the cause of life, but is only
a graduated mode of action, resulting from the appli-
cation of the spirit of life to created cerebral matter
after that matter has been first brought together by the

same spirit in the quaternary union of the cerebral
globules. This process, though of a higher order, on
account of the higher spirit embarked, is allied to
those phenomena I have endeavoured to show are
caused by the action of the spirits of heat and electricity
upon created inorganic matter that has first been united
by the aid of these spirits in the original creation.
I shall not hesitate, in conformity with the plan I
have pursued in this work, to draw my deductions, in

endeavouring to unfold so difficult a subject, not merely
from the writings of metaphysical philosophy nor from
physiology only, but also from revelation. For it
cannot be any longer concealed that great errors, toge-

ther with the most irreconcileable inferences, have been
drawn from the presumed idea that the phenomena of
life and mind are attributable to the presence of the

soul ; or, as I designate that immaterial substance or
existence in man, the immortal spirit of man.
In taking this course, I have the opportunity afforded

me of dealing with the subject on a
^
more extended
scale, of placing it in union with that knowledge which
is above reason, and so of examining the subject by the
comparison of facts drawn from three very different
sources.
Laws of the Spirit of Life in its Union with Matter.

Mental philosophy has had its theory of animal
spirits, the doctrine first propounded by Descartes,
and subsequently adopted by the school of Locke. It
has had its " animists," or those who considered the

soul to be the fundamental cause of life, a doctrine put
forth by StahP, and sustained with much argument
and fierce discussion by his followers. It has had its
iatro-mathematicians, Borelli j- and Perrault, who sought

to show that the laws of life were analogous to, or
rather the same as, those manifested in inorganic bodies.
It has had its theory of vibrations suggested by Sir

Isaac Newton, and carried out in the writings of many
able philosophers. It has had its phrenologists, its
material and immaterial advocates. But it is not my

intention to discuss these and many other theories, or
to attempt to controvert them by any direct arguments
* Theoria Medico, Vera, printed in 1708.
f De Molu Animalium, 4to., reprinted in 1686 at Leyden.

separately addressed to them, as many have taken this

course already with more or less success ; for I should
by so doing unavoidably be led into much abstruse

polemical discussion which is avoided by confining
myself to the doctrines I have to propound, and sup-
porting them by arguments and facts that stand or fall
by their own merit. For, as all polemical discussions

are rendered tedious and almost useless by the unphilo-
sophical reflections they cast, in many instances, upon
the capacity of those who happen to differ from the
writer in question, I am most anxious to avoid mixing
up, more than is absolutely necessary, the few observa-
tions I have to make, with the names and opinions of

those who may hold a different impression.
If I mistake not, all the discrepancy of opinion in
different writers on the philosophy and physiology of
life and mind, and the phenomena peculiar to bodies
thus endowed, is to be referred to two great points or

errors, viz., 1st, the supposition that all these pheno-
mena result from the action of the same efficient cause
in all, subject to degrees of difference in the organiza-
tion ; and 2dly, that our perceptions and ideas have

real existences. Whereas the object I have had in
view has been to show that there are different efficient
spiritual causes both in union with and in action upon

the living tissues constituting the organization of vege-
tables of animals and of man : and that all those
phenomena given out by these different organic bodies,
are but modes of action caused by the union or amalga-
mation and the operation of different spiritual sub-
stances upon chiefly the gaseous, but also the alkaline

and mineral elements of materiality.
With the mind so constituted, there is one very

highly important distinction which marks its action in
animals and in man. And this distinction, though
physiologically to be discerned, is yet made im-
measurably great by the assistance and assertion of
revelation. In one sense, all the thoughts of each
perish after they have been formed. The Psalmist,
speaking of the breath of man going forth when he
returns to his dust, says, " in that very day his thoughts
perish*." These thoughts do not perish, in the sense
of the power not to recal them, while the animal body
producing them remains alive, but in the sense of their
finally passing away after the body through which they
are formed and transmitted, again returns to its earth.
But in the case of man, the difference is, that though
the thoughts themselves perish and vanish away like
the ray of light, they having no real entity of existence,

yet this does not take place till the tendency and effect
of those thoughts has been recorded. Eor revelation
tells us, that the result of their combined application
to good or evil is registered according to the dictates of
an instrument or monitor placed for that purpose within
him, the result of which will decide the future happi-
ness or misery of his immortal soul.
The mind, as the collective operative of the intel-
lectual and social faculties and feelings has been gene-
* Psalm cxlvi. 4: Bible translation.

rally called, has always been so much associated with
certain complex operations of the cerebral and nervous

system, the phenomena of which are dependent upon
the same spirit which is productive of simple sensation
and volition as it is of muscular irritability or motion,
that it has been long a question whether that which

has been termed the mind or mental principle is the
same with that which is productive of the signs and
phenomena of mere organic and animal life. The
difficulty has been heightened on account of the general
distribution of the spirit of life over the entire living
creation, in many of the lower departments of which
it seems, at first sight, difficult to realize ideas of what
is commonly regarded as mind. Mind has accordingly
been appropriated, or assigned rather, more exclusively

to man, the ambiguous and conventional term, instinct,
being applied to many similar phenomena we behold

in the higher animals. This confusion has arisen from
the misapprehension that what is termed the mind is
an immaterial existing spirit, or, in other words, the
immortal spirit of man. But this erroneous dogma has

certainly no authority from revelation. If the mind is
the immortal spirit, not only is the immortality of ani-
mals a question no longer problematical, but we must

admit it is an uncombinecl spiritual existence, and this
it cannot be, to be manifest to us. Neither am I aware

that in the Scriptures any allusion is made to the possi-
bility of the spiritual and immortal soul of man being-
capable of manifestation without a material body. It
cannot show its real existence as a spirit without a

body, and when united to the present body, the effect
only of this union is what we call mind. If this mind

were immortal, we must take it to heaven or to hell.
But how unreasonable is it to suppose that the reunion
of man's immortal soul with the resurrection body will
only be to join again the same body it quitted in sepa-
rating itself from its earthy tenement ! for this must be

the case if our present mind is immortal. And this
inconsistency is greatly increased, we examine, as we

if
shall presently, what the present human mind is chiefly

constructed to contemplate.
Whereas the mind is only, as I shall clearly show, a
mode of action dependent for its manifestation upon
the immaterial spirit of life acting upon a particular
organization ; in the case of man, this structure is so
enlarged with powers, and adapted in its organization,
as to be made the instrument and temporary residence

of that immortal spirit which revelation informs us God
placed exclusively in him.
It is necessary, in order to prove the identity of cha-
racter that subsists between the phenomena of life and

those of mind, to take such a view of the subject as
will admit of our recognising the same fundamental
phenomena which distinguish all living bodies in every
individual species. We have two such in the power of

motion and that of sensation. Thus we shall find, in
some form or modification, the power of motion is
vested in the entire scale of the living creation. In the

vegetable world we recognize the rudiments of this
power. In the higher animal organizations it forms a

more conspicuous feature in their physiology. Long

before we see it furnishing the higher animal bodies
with attributes which, according to the particular struc-
ture, give either the power of locomotion or of other
more special movements connected with the circulation
of the blood, or the passage or the conversion of other
fluids in the animal body, we notice a modification of

this mode of action in all living bodies, which we recog-
nize simply by its motive effects. It is not a power
confined to muscular structures, even in living bodies,
for there it is vested more or less in every kind of
tissue, though in some it may scarcely be perceptible.
But it is found to be a power also residing in bodies
that are not organized; and this power is manifested in
them doubtless through the spirit of electricity. As
though it were a power distinguishing all living bodies
from those that were without life, some writers have
made the primary idea of life to consist of motion, and

they thought that the inherent independent power of
motion, accompanied by frequent actual appreciable
motion, constitutes the whole of our notion of life. But
it will be found that even automatic life could not be
carried on by this quality alone ; and we must there-
fore add to this the sentient power, however it may by

so doing oblige us to connect the mental with the vital
phenomena. Indeed, if either of these powers are to

claim the title of primary in the sense of standing first
or alone as a distinguishing mark of life, I should say
sensation would demand precedence upon this ground,

viz., that arguing from analogy and from facts drawn
L
from the inorganic world, we might at first sight be

inclined to infer that the motive power, so far from
being inherent in or peculiar to living bodies, and so
characterising them as distinguished by this quality,
was caused by the same efficient and subordinate

power, the spirit of magnetic electricity, which in the
hands of the Creator moves the bodies of the inorganic

world and the celestial orbs throughout the universe.
But we have no other bodies in the creation which
make known to us that they are sensible of the presence
of other bodies but those possessed by the spirit of life.
That, therefore, which marks the motive power of living

bodies as one of their characteristic distinctions to show
the immaterial spirit in them is superior to the spirits
employed to govern the inorganic world, is not so
clearly made out as the power of sensation, although,

when the will is found connected with the motive
power in animals, it places that power in them above
the more uniform and mechanical power we recognize
as moving the atoms of the inorganic world. But ex-
periments with the electric bath show that even in

living bodies of the vegetable world the movements of
their organic parts are to be referred in some degree to
the spirit of electricity. Noad thinks it is not im-
probable electricity may have something to do with the
rise of the sap, from the fact that it always increases
the velocity of a fluid moving in a capillary tube.* Add
to this, that living vegetables are the most powerful
* Lectures on Electricity, p. 73.

conductors of this spirit with which we are acquainted.
Moreover, we must contend that the movements in
animals are to be referred to this spirit, for the functions
supplied by the sympathetic ganglia have been closely

imitated by galvanic power, as in the experiments of
Wilson Philip ;* and the same nerves we trace into
the structure of the elective apparatus of the rata
torpedo are the same in character with those employed

for the purposes of digestion and secretion ; and these
functions were found by Dr. Davyf to have been
arrested by the frequent discharges artificially excited
in that animal. Now these phenomena are certainly
more allied to the motive power than to the sentient.

And there are physiological and anatomical reasons to
suppose that the ganglionic system is designed, both in

man and animals, for those primary operations, if we
may so call the organic offices of secretion, nutrition,
digestion, circulation, and the like. After they have
contributed their share in the constructon of proper
organic parts, such as a brain and nervous system, we
observe for the first time the phenomena of voluntary
motion and sensation to result from the action of those
additional portions of the living body on which the
spirit of life is brought to bear.
The power of sensation is a mode of action found
exclusively in bodies endued with the spirit of life.
It is, therefore, very rightly presumed that it is a

power pre-eminently marking the presence of a spirit
* Experimental Enquiry into the Laws of the Vital Functions,
f Phil. Transactions, Pt. II. 1832.

—
not to be detected in inorganic bodies. The different
degrees of this mode of action, if we trace it up from

the lowest forms of vegetable life to the highest organi-
zation in man, will be found to be so great, that we

almost lose sight of the fundamental and abstract
character of this mode of action, which every living
body enjoys in common, of being able to detect the
contact of other matter when applied to it, and of
which all the higher properties we notice in man, com-
prehended in the desires, the feelings, the thoughts, and
all the high attributes of the mind, are only the more
elaborate examples of its modifications,
Being immaterial in its nature, this spirit, like those
below it, must come in contact not only with some
kind of body, but with some particular kind of matter,

before that organic structure —
the living animal body
can be built up so as to perform either vital or mental

phenomena.
It was the opinion of Aristotle that anything that
feels and moves voluntarily is endowed with mind.

" As soon as they feel, they must have thoughts and
desires, for where there is sensation there must be pain
and pleasure, and where these exist, desires must exist
likewise." And the proof of the correctness of this

opinion ought to rest not upon that particular degree of
complexity which may be arbitrarily fixed as the limit
or standard of mental endowment, but upon the true

fundamental nature of the power of which the mind
in the higher animals, but more particularly in man,
is the most complex form.
Progressive Development of the Material Structures

as the Vital and Mental Powers increase.
There is much reason to believe, although it is not

actually demonstrable to the eye of sense, that every
living animal substance is possessed of a material

organic structure which we recognise in the higher
animals, as the nervous system, through which they
manifest sensation and motion, appetites, desires, and
will. Tiedemann says :
" The infusoria, polypi, medusas,
various zoophytes, and the majority of entozoa, are the

only animals in which we have not yet succeeded in
shewing the existence of nerves by the anatomical scalpel.
But as we perceive in these animals phenomena which

take place by the medium of nerves, in animals of a
more elevated order, —that is to say, sensibility and

voluntary motion, — it is not improbable that in them the
nervous substance is mixed with their gelatinous and
nervous mass without being demonstrable as a particu-
lar tissue."* However this may be, it is certain that in
man and the higher animals, a particular system or

structure, varied and complex in its character, is formed
expressly for the display and operation of the phe-
nomena of sensation, voluntary motion, and the higher
qualities of mind in them.
When no such system of brain and nerves is to be

discovered there, it is contended there is no manifesta-
tion of those phenomena that constitute mind. And
* Comparative Physiology : translated by Gully and Lane.

the presence of the organizing action alone in plants is

thought to be owing to the deficiency in them of a
nervous system capable of manifesting mind. But even
the unconscious spirit of life, it must be admitted, gives
the theme of the instincts, and though we define mind
to consist chiefly in the distinguishing qualities of con-
sciousness and thought, yet this leaves the question of
the true origin of mind to be determined by the spirit
of life.
The organizing or vital spirit in plants may explain
the reason why the more succulent kinds grow in

marshy places, or why, in desert countries, the power
of transudation is so much slower than that of absorp-
tion. The consciousness of the necessity of these laws
seems to have been antecedently acted upon by the

Creator ; and as there is no organization indicative of
mind in the vegetable kingdom, such phenomena are
accounted purely organic. But what must we say in
the case of some of the lower tribes of the animal
creation ; of those animals without brains, the acepha-
lous mollusca for example, which have mere nervous

ganglia around the stomach? Yet the intellectual
acts, instinctive as they are called, of these animals

show that there is an acting in relation to a particular
position of things which makes it impossible to suppose
they were not in some way sentiently informed of that
position. If it is mere conscious sensation, this is
enough to constitute the basis on which the more

elaborate reasoning mind is formed. It is not likely
that the immaterial substance causing the phenomena
IN RELATION TO MATTEK. 151
of life, among which we observe sensation and motion,

should reside exclusively in the brain or the spinal
chord. There is much to prove it existed in the sym-
pathetic ganglia and the delicate network of nervous

matter connected with them, before the brain and cord
was built up. In this way it probably presides over
the spirits of heat and electricity as they act upon the
different and numerous substances in the blood ; for it
has been shown that the manifestation of thought

through the brain is strictly dependent upon the quan-
tity and quality of the blood supplied to that organ.
So that, although the phenomena of the spirit of life
which form the basis of mind, viz., the different modifi-
cations of sensation and motion, are inseparable from

the brain and the nerves, and the ganglionic system, it
does not therefore follow that the immaterial substance

causing the phenomena are separate and distinct from
that which causes the mental phenomena, or that sen-
sation and voluntary motion, which form the basis of
mind, are any other than the spirit of life acting upon
particular combinations of organized matter. Still less
does the physiological fact, that sensation and motion,

the two fundamental elements of mind, are seated in
the cord, and not in the brain, help us to infer that the
mind has an independent entity of existence, being
manifested through the brain alone. For the pheno-

mena of mind are quite incompatible with any separa-
tion of the spinal cord from the brain. If, therefore,
the mind were the immortal soul, this latter spirit

must reside in the cord as well as in the brain. Thus,
the phenomena of life and mind are, in a material
sense, limited to the organization through which they
are manifested in living bodies : so that the circumstance
that appears to mark the difference between this spirit

of life in man and animals is the limitation in the
organization of every distinct species to a certain fixed
boundary, beyond which it cannot pass. That it has,
as a spirit, power to do more were the organization pre-

pared for it, is forcibly elucidated by the common in-
strument invented to increase the sphere of vision.

That organic part of the body that enables us to behold
objects at a distance is confined to certain bounds,
which vary in every animal according to the magnitude
and perfection of the instrument, beyond which it
cannot extend. Yet if by art we so contrive to imitate

that instrument, as we do in our telescopes, upon a
scale of increased proportions, we are enabled to be-
hold objects at a distance almost immeasurable. And
it is with no more mind, no more additional supply of the
immateriality of life, that the optic nerve is able to trans-
mit as much power as we can find instruments to convey it.
The office of this spirit in every species, which seems
to have been fixed by a Divine and unalterable law at
the beginning of the creation, is to charge the materials
brought together, assimilated and united as they are in

the operations of the chylopoietic viscera, with such
power as that they may continually repair and build up
those parts which otherwise would be destroyed by the
different processes going on of chemical change and
decomposition. It thus furnishes and controls, in every
organ of the body, the several powers of secretion,

formation, and growth, in the accomplishment of which
it engages the spirits of heat and electricity. In the
carrying out of the phenomena of muscular motion, we
also have the most satisfactory evidence that the spirit
of electricity is subordinately engaged, and that inde-

pendently of the nervous system, to produce the mus-
cular electric current.
In this way the particular organization of every
species of animal is built up by the aid of this imma-

terial substance, and in this operation, amongst other
parts, a brain and nervous system is constructed in
each, more or less complicated and enlarged according
to the mental development required. And the building
up of this apparatus for the manifestation of the mental
operations is likewise accomplished in a great measure
through the agency of the spirits of heat and electricity
which are here held bound by the higher spirit of life
to contribute their specific powers.

Physiologists have not failed to notice that the ope-
rations of life were dependent upon the action of ex-
ternal agents, and the theory of John Brown was set
up to try to prove that life was the result of the opera-
tion of external agents upon organization that possessed
peculiar inherent qualities he called irritability. How

confused the mind must have been, as to the distinct
nature of the efficient cause of life being a distinct spi-
ritual entity, is at at once shown by observing how

these physiologists, one and all, have mixed up in the
most unsatisfactory manner the different material and
immaterial substances, comprehending them all under

the same category as external agents; such as heat,
electricity, water, light, oxygen, and the like. It is
impossible to jumble together all these substances, some

of which are simple, others combined material sub-
stances, while others, again, are altogether immaterial
in their nature, without producing the most contra-

dictory and obscure notions of the true efficient cause
of life. For, as I have before remarked, the spirit of
life has the power of holding and connecting all these
inferior agents in such a manner as to convince us it
has power to command them into obedience and order,

making use of them as the circumstances may be up to
a certain point, and under certain conditions, and bind-

ing them down to certain modifications of action to
which they do not submit in inorganic nature.

The organization of the brain being fixed in the
number and size of its various parts, transmits the

mental phenomena accordingly in a more or less elabo-
rate manner. This certainly favours the idea that if
there is any difference in the immaterial cause of the

vital and mental phenomena of animals, it is only a
difference of degree in the organic parts ; for the one
is so intimately mixed up with, and dependent upon
the other, they are so essentially the same in some of
their effects, while they are in operation so inseparable,
that they cannot be said to have two distinct spirits for

their origin. Indeed, if we separate mind from life in
its true efficient cause, we may with as much reason

separate the efficient cause of motion and sensation.
For there is quite as much difference between the

function of digestion and that of motion, as there is
between the function of digestion and that of sensation,

— as sensation, after all, is the basis of mind, and it is
as inseparable from digestion as motion is ; while they

both only cooperate with that power which separates the
materials in digestion, furnished by the spirit of life to
the sympathetic ganglion.

The spirit causing the phenomena we call mind
must be indivisible, because it is not matter. Before
mind can be the result of its operation upon particular
organization, it must unite the elements first in the
binary and quaternary unions, and so build up organic

bodies. In that state it is capable of acting upon, in
particular, structure so built up, and the phenomena of
mind are the consequence of its higher action upon
this particular structure. And as it finds this instru-
ment constructed and adapted so does it act. If there
are capacious cerebral arrangements it can do more

than if those arrangements are upon a smaller and more
contracted scale.
The supporters of the theory of a vital principle, as
it was called, spoke of it merely as an occult quality,

and thus they were unable to account for the great
diversity in the mode of action of living bodies. They

therefore called to their assistance a spiritual power in
addition, which they called the soul, and, by adding
this to the vital principle, they endeavoured to account
for the intellectual phenomena. How, in this way, can
we get over the difficulty in the case of most of the

animal creation, where some degree of intellectual ope-

ration must be allowed ? In animals we notice mental
phenomena which decide without a doubt that they

possess a power of perception, of memory, of judgment,
of will, of attention ; that they have thoughts and

desires and mental operations, allied in character, so far
as they go, to those in man. Moreover, the chemical

analysis of the cerebral matter in animals shows that
the phenomena of mind in all must proceed from the
operation of a similar spirit \ for there is no material
difference in the component material elements.
If, therefore, it is considered that two separate spirits,
in addition to those of heat and electricity, are supplied

to perform the vital and mental operations in man,
physiology and, as I shall presently show, revelation,
require the same spirits in animals. How otherwise
can we account for the many wonderful acts and mental
phenomena in animals, as much indicative of thought
as the most rational acts of man ? We may even say
more than this, for the intellectual acts of some of the
higher animals imply, in many instances, that the
mental process in them is one in some respects much

nearer to what we should call perfection, than the
corresponding operation employed in the case of man.
This is to say nothing of the controlling or directing
effect of a still higher spirit in man which may be con-

nected with his moral condition, and be added to the
mental causes operating in him more exclusively. I
speak merely of the mental phenomena to be observed

in animals.
With all the aid of his increased intellectual power

in the enlarged complexity of his several parts, and the
addition of a corresponding extension of power in the
great attributes of reason, perception, comparison,
memory, and the like, man is unable to reach the same
amount of intelligence upon some mechanical points
that we see animals have arrived at. Who would sup-
pose that many sea-birds, and even fishes, had dis-
covered a mental method of finding the longitude? yet,

however incapable we are of doing the same, by a similar
mental process, it must be admitted this power is as
much a mental operation performed by animals with the

same immaterial spirit which furnishes to them the
formative, the nutritive, or the reproductive powers
they possess.
But we will take another argument to shew that the
spirit of life is that which causes the groundwork, as it
were, of the mental operations throughout the entire

living creation; and this we shall draw from the
notice it receives from the Scriptures, and the general
character of the mental faculties, as they apply to the
whole animal creation.
It is a point of great importance to determine whe-
ther the mind, which includes the whole aggregate of
the intellectual faculties, sentiments, feelings, and pro-
pensities, has any real existence as an entity, or not.
And this importance is increased as we go on, for it
will be for our consideration to determine whether the

mind has not been appointed in man to be the common
machinery on which not only his immortal spirit is
brought to bear, but also the Holy Spirit as well as the

spirits of fallen angels.
The Spirit of Life common to all Creatures proved

from Revelation.
Let us now turn to revelation for further evidence to
show that the spirit of life is one quite independent of

the spirit of man, which will be for our consideration
in a subsequent chapter. There are doubtless many
passages here to prove that one common spirit governs
the entire living creation, in that sense that will not
admit of separating the mental and vital phenomena in
animals.
First, God is represented in some passages as send-
ing forth his Spirit, by which means the whole organic
creation was made to live. " Thou sendest forth thy

Spirit, they are created."* And that this spirit is
created we may infer from Isaiah, f where God says,
that if he were to contend for ever, " the spirits should
fail before Him, and the souls which He had made ;"
thereby implying, not only that the bodily parts, here
rendered souls, were in His power, but also the spirits
which animated them. Again, He says in Job, " if
He gather unto himself His Spirit and His breath, all
flesh shall perish together." § Here the breath and the

spirit are mentioned separately in the same passage,
although in connection, as if to show that the breath,
* Psalm civ. 30. f Lvii. 16. % Job xxxiv. 14, 15.

while it was different from that spirit, was nevertheless

made the vehicle for its conveyance into the body.
And this corresponds with the natural phenomena of
other immaterial substances which everywhere exist in
the atmosphere, and are taken into the lungs for the pur-
poses of the animal economy, together with the proxi-
mate principles of material matter, —oxygen, hydrogen,
&c.
In this way the spirit of electricity is taken into
the body together with the spirit of heat ; for it is not
physiologically correct to say that heat can be generated
by the simple conjunction of the oxygen of the air

with the carbon of the blood, without the co-operation
of any other agent. And this agent is doubtless of a
spiritual nature ; in confirmation of which fact, the
experiments of Matteucci * are very satisfactory. For
in a great number of instances he proved the intensity
of the muscular current, which is purely electric, to be
proportionate to the activity of respiration, as well as
to the rank of the animal in the scale of creation.
That the spirit of life in like manner comes into the
living body, or has free and constant communication

with the organic parts, through the breath, as it is
stated in revelation, is in accordance with the most
reasonable supposition.
In other parts of revelation, God is stated to be the
great Cause of this spirit. Job says, " in whose hand

is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all
* On the Electro-physiological Phenomena of Animals.

mankind."* And, when Moses and Aaron interceded

for the people in the matter of Korah, they begin their
prayer in these words :
" O God, the God of the spirits
of ah flesh,"t &c. And, when Joshua was appointed to

succeed Moses, we find the latter calling the Lord
"the God of the spirits of all flesh." j The Apostle
Paul calls God "the Father of spirits ;"§ and in other
places he is represented as the Lord that formed the

spirits of all.
Here, then, the whole living creation is represented

as having bodies alike animated by the same spirit,
which bodies perish by its withdrawal ; and, when this
takes place, man's body, in common with that of the

brutes, " returns to the earth, and that very day all his
thoughts perish." Now his spiritual and immortal soul

does not perish, though there is no doubt, by this text,
that his thoughts do •

and this ought to be sufficient con-
viction that the thoughts have no real existence as entities
at all, but are only modes of action ; and, as these are
similar to the corresponding phenomena in animals, they

are doubtless the result of the spirit of life. Solomon
says, when the silver cord is loosed or the golden bowl
is broken, " the spirit shall return to God who gave it."
The silver cord and the golden bowl, which are high
poetical expressions, pointing to the nerves or the spinal
cord, and the brain, are so united in this text,
that, if the spirit which returns to God is here meant
* Chap. xii. 10. % Numb, xxvii. 16.
f Numb. xvi. 22. § Heb. xii. 9.

to be the spirit of man exclusively, it must be asso-
ciated with the spirit of life ; for the silver cord is no

other than the nerves, and these do not imply in all
cases the presence of the spirit of man.

In another place he says, " that which befalleth the
sons of men befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth
them as the one dieth, so dieth the other ;

yea they
have all one breath, so that a man hath no pre-emi-
nence above a beast ;" viz. in this respect, —" all go unto
one place ; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust
again." The identity of the spirit of life in man and
animals is here made very obvious ; and, if it is asso-
ciated with the phenomena of mind in them, as we see
it is, there seems no alternative but to admit either

that there are two spirits in animals besides those of
heat and electricity, as we shall presently see there are in
man, or else the mental and the vital spirits are synony-
mous : moreover, that this breath or spirit of life is not
in man different from that of beasts, seems clear ; for,
as a vivifying cause, it is spoken of in the Scriptures as

common to all living creatures. " All flesh in which
is the breath of life, died,"* was the fulfilment of the

sentence passed upon everything that had life at the
period of the Deluge. And the Apostle Paul, in his

address to the Athenian philosophers, says, God " giveth
to all life and breath, and all things. "f
* Gen. vi. 17. t Acts, xv u- 25 -
M
General Characters of the Mental Operations per-

formed by the Spirit of Life in Animals, compared
with the Mental Operations in Man.
If we analyse the different parts or properties of

what is called mind, whether in man or in animals,
we shall find it to be composed of certain powers and
qualities, which, in the aggregate, are comprehended in
the term mind. But that this is neither the spirit of
life, nor the immortal spirit of man, will appear the

more obvious if we take the several mental attributes,
alike in animals as in man, and endeavour to ascertain
their qualities, or the objects to which they relate.
In contemplating what we call the mind, in animals
and in man, we discover it to be composed, first, of a
series or collection of faculties intended to give certain

and distinct information as to the nature and the uses
of objects around us. These faculties relate entirely
to the objects of the physical world around the living
being that beholds them. With the assistance of cer-
tain attributes, presently to be mentioned, these facul-
ties inform the living creature what are the qualities,
characters, shapes, uses, &c, of every material substance

that conies within their ken ; so that they may be
adopted or avoided as they present to the mind quali-
ties or characters that may be either beneficial or
injurious to them. When placed under the influence

of a higher and more discerning spirit, these same
faculties are enabled to embrace the mathematics, and

to discriminate and affix certain signs and particular
sounds, as they are comprehended in artificial lan-
guage.
There are provided in this mental machinery, also,
another set of faculties, or, as they are termed, feelings,

which in animals are made subservient to the conserva-
tion and continuance of the species, so that one species
may bear a proper relation to the others, and fulfil
their destinies as they relate to the order and compati-

bility of the present existence. In man these feelings
are not only made to point to the welfare and continu-
ance of the present state of things, but also they are,
by the agency of a higher and different spirit, made

applicable to what is called the moral world, and the
existence of things yet future, that relate to a higher
state of social and divine perfection, where the acts of
justice, mercy, and truth, will form the essential ele-
ments of a state of perfection.
Over these two very different kinds of faculties of
the mind are set certain qualities, or, as I have termed

them, attributes ; such are, perception, attention, com-
parison, memory, prescience, will, conscience ; and
these attributes are more or less present in different
animals, and are individually strong or weak accord-
ing to the condition or amount of cerebral matter em-
ployed in the carrying out of the different faculties
spoken of above. And they probably all, when present
in the particular mind, are engaged, or capable of being
applied individually and collectively, in the ordinary
exercise of the mind.
This complex machinery is, then, composed of powers

representing the true condition of the material world
which onr outward senses behold, and also of powers
reoresenting in animals the true relation they bear to
each other as denizens of this earth ; while in man it is
composed of powers which relate to an invisible world

and a higher order of things, where justice, benevo-
lence, and all that is comprehended in love to the
Creator, are centred.

All this is the result of a highly complicated mode
of action, which in man we see is made subservient to
the high aspirations of his immortal soul. But the very

fact that these different applications of the same mode
of action, in the operations of the mind, — some dealing
with material and visible substances, while others treat
with a state of existence in no respect resembling the
things that are seen, — are combinations of two very
different effects, arising from the union of causes totally
different in their nature as material and immaterial
causes must be, shows that the mind is no other than

a compound mode of action, the effect of the spirit of
life upon cerebral matter, whereby the sensible cha-

racters and difference of all material objects can be
estimated ; and in man, of the added spirits, of man,

of that of evil, and of the Holy spirit, upon the same
cerebral matter, whereby the existence of an immaterial
world is implied, and the contingent rules to be
observed by him for avoiding certain actions, the ten-
dency of which in him are regarded by the Creator as
sinful, or for following certain actions which on the
other hand, are regarded by the same Being as not
sinful.
The comparison of the faculties as well as the attri-
butes of the mind in animals with that of man will
further instruct us that the difference is not exactly

one of degree, but one arising out of the application of
new and superadded spirits to that of man, to receive
the dictates of which he has clearly attributes we call
conscience, and one that may be termed prescience,

that are not to be traced in the mind of animals.
These attributes take a range over the entire mental

constitution of man, and have, as it were, a voice not
only in the exercise of every desire or feeling, but also
of every faculty which we more exclusively regard as
intellectual.
The bare proof of the existence of faculties and feel-
ings in animals which resemble so closely as they do

the same powers in man ; that they are further guided
and overruled by certain qualities, which I distinguish
by the term attributes, which attributes have, as far as
they go, a similar mode of operation as in man ; and

that, moreover, the instrument in both for carrying out
this machinery is chemically composed of the same
kind of corporeal and elementary molecules, varying
only in size or shape, ought to place the question of
the mind of man being his immortal soul, for ever at
rest, as untenable and contradicted by the most obvious

facts.
The mental operations in animals are necessarily

restricted to the contemplation of circumstances and
things relating only to the physical world ; nevertheless,
for the carrying out of these ends, the faculties and

feelings, alike in them as in man, so far as they go,
are superintended by the same kind of attributes we

behold in man ; and the free interchange of these their
mental operations, are, so far as they go, quite as
unequivocal and easy to be recognized in the one as in

the other.
The confounding of these faculties with their attri-
butes or qualities of action in the writings of mental
philosophers, as they relate more exclusively to man, is
not to be mistaken, although it is to be deplored, seeing

it has led to such confusion in the nomenclature of
psychological science, and such very obscure and un-
satisfactory disputes about words that have no repre-
sentative in the mind as distinct faculties. But when
this observation is extended to the science of deontology,
the confusion to be traced to its result here is most
striking.
It must be also borne in mind that in writing upon

moral science more especially, the definitions of deon-
tology must be in obedience to the use and not the
abuse of that part of the mind which sin has in a more
especial manner stamped with the curse of an offended
God.
It has been shown that mind, whether in man or in
animals, cannot be an entity, and as it is the medium
through which all our ideas, both of visible and invisi-
ble things are formed, — the stage, as it were, on which
all the operations resulting from the action and influ-

ence of the spirits that take up their abode there, are

carried on, — it is necessary that a more detailed descrip-
tion of its phenomena and mode of action should be
given before we go on to speak of those spirits that
exercise control over its functions, — the spirit of man,
the spirit of the devil, and the Holy Spirit of God.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE MIND.
Tlie Intellectual Faculties and Social Feelings.
If there is one part of God's creation more wonder-

striking than another, it is that elaborate operation of
spirit upon matter in the production of the phenomena

of mind.
As light has been shown to result from the applica-
tion of spiritual substance to inorganic created matter,
and is of itself, therefore, only a mode of action, so, also,

is the mind. Nor can it exist as mind in an imma-
terial state alone.
But the difference in the union of spirit with matter
for the production of light is more simple than that

which takes place for the production of mind. Here
both the material and the immaterial substances en-
gaged are each more compounded and mysteriously
wrought, and the effect that might be naturally sup-
posed to follow such an union is consequently more
complex, and in some respects inscrutable.
It will be necessary to take a more detailed notice of
the mental constitution, that we may be able to trace
to their true source in that astonishing piece of divine
IN RELATION TO MATTER. ] 69
mechanism, the different motives or emotions, feelings,
intellectual principles, &c, as well as the powers and

functions or method of action which it displays.
The purpose to be accomplished in the formation of

the mind is fulfilled when the various objects of crea-
tion in the outward and visible world have been so de-
picted to the individual, whether animal or man, as to
assure him of all their qualities, uses, shapes, colours,
and proportions, according to the necessity of the case.
These objects may be divided into two very distinct

and different classes : the inanimate, or those not pos-
sessed of the spirit of life, called also inorganic ; and
the animate or organic, or those in which this spirit
resides. It is, consequently, the office of the mind, not
only to treat with those inanimate objects around in
relation to their use and benefit, or their abuse and
detriment to us, but also to treat with animate objects
which are placed upon the earth to fill up their several
social positions there, and to estimate the several rela-
tions all these bear to each other, and to act in con-

formity to the intelligence this furnishes to the indivi-
dual. It was accordingly necessary that the mind
should be appointed to treat both with the inorganic
materials of the globe, to ascertain their nature and
uses, and to apply them to the purposes for which they
are required ; and that it should also be so arranged
as to be able to comprehend the relative position, value,
use, and end, the different creatures fulfil towards each

other, as well as the support, defence, and regard, they
owe to themselves. This calls for a very wide display
of instrumental arrangement in the general conforma-

tion of the mental constitution, which may, in treating
with subjects and objects so different, be able to bring
the whole or any part within the compass of one con-
nected view.
It is certain that, to deal with objects so very diffe-
rent as are those we distinguish by animate and inani-
mate, a very opposite and independent kind of mental

faculty is necessary; and that the value and relation,
qualities and uses, of inorganic matter, would be ascer-
tained by a mental process very different from that re-

quired to treat with living beings. By these they are
enabled to exercise those social and reciprocal feelings
which permit them to dwell compatibly together in

their respective spheres, so that they are drawn toge-
ther in a community of interests, and enabled to judge
of the advantage or the disadvantage to be derived from
the exercise of those feelings which delight the senses,
or lead to actions either beneficial or injurious to them-
selves or others.
If any thing can prove that the mind, though an

immaterial phenomenon, is not really the spirit of
animals or of man, it must be the fact that both its in-
tellectual as well as its social or its moral phenomena

are all made to treat with and contemplate bodies,
whether inanimate or animate, whose material or or-
ganic parts, as the case may be, are put together for
the purpose of fulfilling those ends which relate to the
conservation of this physical world, and the creatures
that dwell here. And, whatever the event may be in
the case of man, as he stands related to an eternal

world, it is certain that the scene and exercise, or trial,
of his bodily and mental powers is laid in this present
state of things, to which his mind bears in every part

the closest temporary relation.
To be capable, feelingly and undoubtedly, of recog-
nising many outward forms of existing things, it was
necessary that some general power of sensation should
form part of the elementary fabric of the mind. To

this was required to be added, the aid of some other
fundamental property which should be able to excite
to action, and so give motion, as it were, to the ma-
chinery ; and, upon these bases, as I endeavoured to
show in the last chapter, are constructed all the various
and modified kinds of sensation and motive intelligence

we observe in the formation of the different faculties
and feelings.
That which may be regarded as the most distinguish-

ing characteristic of the intellectual faculties, is the
power they possess to treat with objects we can either
see, hear, smell, taste, or feel. They are the true
internal sensible pictures by which the realities of the

outward world are recognised by the mind, the out-
ward senses being the instruments of conveyance.
And the feelings, desires, and sentiments, have a

like fundamental origin in the common sensation,
modified in such a manner as to adapt them to pur-
poses which, in animals, relate to their social position
and comfort; and in man to a future condition of
things, in connexion with which he is placed by the

Creator under peculiar conditions. Thus constituted,
we have an intellectual mind, so adapted as to be able

to comprehend all natural knowledge relating to the
characters, forms, colours, sizes, uses, adaptations, and

properties, of all matter. And we have a social mind
so adapted as to be able to comprehend all natural
knowledge relating to the interests of ourselves as living
beings, or of others, so far as concerns their enjoyment

and preservation, or their misery and destruction.
In speaking, in a former chapter, of the power
the spirit of electricity possessed of regulating the
form, size, colour, shape, &c, of bodies in the inorganic
world, I was anxious to show that these were qualities
resulting from the union of this spirit with simple

material substances. In the operation of the mind,
these several qualities are required to be identified and
made known to the individual ; to do which it was
indispensably necessary that the same immaterial and
material substances should be incorporated into the
material organ before the higher spirit of life can be

brought to bear upon that organization in producing
those recognizing phenomena that constitute our ordi-
nary ideas of things. Hence the importance of engaging

the spirits that are subordinate to that of life, before
the functions of the brain can be brought into ope-

ration.
The social mind, or rather the social portion of the
mind, will presently be shewn to be made up of a

more mixed and elaborate mental operation than that
of the bare intellect. And this is very important to

point out, for when ethical writers talk of this portion
of the mind, which, in animals, supplies the social feel-
ings, and in man the moral sense, they seem to regard
it as a mere modification of intellect ; whereas, while

it is impossible to contemplate it in operation apart from
the intellectual faculties, it is a portion of the mind
in it itself quite distinct. Neither is it necessary, in
calling in the intellectual faculties to explain the true
theory of morals, that we should make that theory, as

some have done, to rest upon merely intellectual
principles.
It is necessary to dwell on this functional division of
the mind more at large, for it has never before been

advocated by writers on mental and moral philosophy *
and there is much argument to prove its correctness.
We have a state of things in the physical world that

points by analogy to this gradation in the phenomena
and operations of the mind. We have, for example,
found that the phenomena of life are mediately carried
out by an organic combination of materials, first
brought together by threes, as we find them by analyses

in the vegetable world. And the bringing together of
similar substances by unions of fours, as we beheld
them in the higher animal structures, is only to be
accomplished through the instrumentality of the ternary
compounds of vegetable life when added to the more
intricate compounds of animal productions. Sugar
and starch have their use as ternary compounds of
oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon ; but they must be
united or associated with gluten, albumen, fibrin, and
the like quaternary substances, which are compounds

of the three elements above named, to which is added
that of nitrogen, before the animal tissues can be formed
even in living bodies. And in like manner the intel-
lectual phenomena of mind, as they are brought to
bear simply upon the uses, forms, colours, and other

qualities of simple unvitalized matter we behold in
the inorganic world, have need of no other power than

that by which such things may be depicted to the
mind aided by the ordinary acting process.

But when we have occasion to regard man and the
living beings that were created with him, whose organi-
zations betray evidences of still higher and more

exalted creative powers, in the several social relations
they bear towards each other as parts or links of one
great and connected chain of reciprocal and dependent
interests ; or when we regard man in the relation he
bears to his fellow-man and to his God, as a moral
and responsible being, having a clear knowledge of
what is good in the more extended sense of the divine
perfection, it must be obvious that to attain to such a
knowledge a far more complex and elevated mental

process must take place, which has not only a know-
ledge of the characters, uses, and relations of the inor-
ganic world, but also of those characters, uses, and
relations which are affixed to the still higher organic
structures possessed with life. The social and the
moral mind, as these higher feelings are displayed in
animals or in man, is, therefore, a more elaborate
process than the mere intellectual ; and to effect its
operation the simple or compounded ideas of inorganic
matter must be brought to the assistance, and added

to the social or the moral part, before the still more
elaborate mental result can furnish us with the true
characters, properties, uses, and relations of the living
world. This is the only true foundation on which a

mental theory of morals can be erected.
Distinction between the Attributes of the Mind and

the Intellectual Faculties and Social Feelings.
We will now suppose the mind to be put together

with that regard to things and persons which will
admit of its most accurate adaptation to the varied

circumstances that surround it. The machinery of
which it may be said to be made up, such as the
faculties and feelings, must be regarded in a distinct
and separate light from the different moving powers or
methods of working which it adopts for the carrying
out its ends, and for the obtaining of right and
permanent impressions of the true state of things and
beings. While, therefore, the faculties and feelings
would appear to proceed from the sentient, the moving
power seems reasonably to be given to it through the
instrumentality I am about to speak of.
The mode in which the intellectual faculties and

social feelings work is obviously different from, and in
some measure independent of, their innate constituent
powers to receive or to picture the form, action, use, or

other qualities of bodies, either organic or inorganic.
I would, therefore, distinguish the different modes of
working or of action, the moving powers of the mind,

by the title of attributes. And such are attention,
perception, memory, comparison, will, <Sfc. To these
attributes, common to all creatures, should be added

in man those of prescience and conscience. By that
of prescience the human mind is able to anticipate and

to comprehend those events yet future which the ordi-
nary physical laws lead him to infer do proceed from

natural causes, as well as those events which revelation
has communicated to him relative to things yet future.
This is an attribute which we shall presently see when
acted on by the spirit of evil, which is a fallen angelic
spirit permitted, for inscrutable reasons, to take pos-
session of this very mind and all its machinery under

certain circumstances, is able to give the person so
acted on a knowledge of the future which does not

bear any connexion with the ordinary physical laws,
and also a power of being present in the thoughts of
others, a power which certainly does not belong to the
spirit of life or the spirit of man to impart.
By the attribute of conscience, the spirit of man

which is in him is enabled to know the right and the
wrong tendency, the good and the bad consequence of
actions, and the ought and the ought not of those
actions as they stand approved or condemned by the

law which is written in his heart.
We cannot fail to notice these attributes in man,
while in animals they are not present. They are
placed in man that he may be able to exercise that
wonderful power of reason which he possesses, and

which enables him to draw inferences from events yet

future. The power of the conscience to discern good
and evil was not given at the creation to man. It was
after the fall that this attribute underwent its present
change, through the power of the spirit of evil.
Prescience stands in the same useful relation to
things and events that are to take place, as memory

does to those that have taken place. They both bring
the subject, the one from the future, the other from
the past, in order to' bear upon the present. The
meaning of this attribute in man is not to be received
in the unlimited sense it bears in relation to the Divine
Being. It is greatly restricted in this sense, and is
provided to instruct him through natural agents, so far

as they are calculated, by their unalterable laws, to do
so, what is to take place in future in connexion with
those natural bodies, and giving him moreover that
power he possesses in the operation of his social or

moral mind that teaches him to comprehend all that
he knows from astronomical and other physical sciences

of the certainty, the greatness, and the wisdom of
Divine power ; and, when aided by revelation, of the
real existence of God, and the unalterable truth of

those events which relate to his immortal state. It is
by the instrumentality and superaddition of this attri-
bute to all the others, when acting upon the faculties

and feelings, that the Holy Spirit produces faith, hope,
and love to God in the believer.
The difference between what is called instinct in ani-
N
mals and reasoning in man depends entirely upon the

fact of the number of these attributes of the mind in
the latter being added to by these attributes of pre-
science and conscience, and so being numerically greater

than they are in the former. The intellectual, as well
as the social faculties in animals, are indeed in some

points even stronger than they are in man, and have
the power in them to perform particular acts which
imply a deeper and larger condition of the fundamental
faculty producing them, although in them the same
number of attributes cannot be brought to bear upon
the subject. The mental faculty employed in particular
cases may in the one be as great as the other, or it may

be even greater in animals. But the mental gestation
or operation in animals is carried on by means more
circumscribed: in other words, their attributes are
fewer. This may be elucidated by showing that in them

there is no we really term prescience
attribute or fore-
thought. The mental process which enables them to
do what would imply in us a knowledge of the future

is in them carried on by the attributes of attention,
perception, memory, comparison, and will. These

attributes may lead to acts that anticipate the future,
but they cannot do so rationally without the aid of the

prescient attribute which they do not possess. Hence
animals act by motives that lead or compel them to do
things that aremade subservient to the ends of their social
condition, but which ends areunknown to them, they hav-
ing no attribute by which they can know them as events
yet future to them. Neither can they know them in the
"
sense of right and wrong, or even in the sense of good

and bad, as those signs are applied to actions essen-
tially connected with their social state, both individually
and collectively. But the mental operation that take s
s
place so that they may act according to circumstance
which lead to their benefit or their injury is an opera -

tion effected simply by the aid of the attributes of atten
tion, memory, and comparison, acting upon stronger

feelings. Thus, an animal will avoid that food that is
noxious, not because it knows the future consequences
of again partaking of it, but simply because its atten-
tion, memory, and judgment, apprize it of the former
effects the noxious food had upon it. Thus, also, a bird
will build a nest by the aid of a strong innate faculty,
which act is made to bear a relation to events yet
future, which the animal has no attribute to inform it
of, although those events bear a correct relation to the

act it is performing. The power to find the longitude
which many sea-birds possess, if it were moved by the

high attributes of man, would be a more wonderful
power than any he possessed. But it acts irrespective
of prescience, and is effected through the agency of

those attributes I have named.
It may, therefore, be affirmed that the presence of
these attributes of prescience and conscience in man*
marks distinctly the strong rational probability which
revelation so unmistakeably affirms, — viz. that in the
operation and working of his mind, a yet higher

spiritual entity, called there the spirit of man, is placed
in him, with aspirations, hopes, responsibilities, and

—
fears, which bear a relation to a still more exalted and

more perfect state.
But having stated my belief that the mind is worked

by the agency of powers or attributes that are inde-
pendent of the faculties and feelings, it will be more
satisfactory to shew on what proofs the existence of
these attributes rest.
Their true distinguishing characteristics are
1st. That they have qualities of action that cannot
be compared to or recognised by any outward bodies
around.
2 dry. That they have a range, or distribution, over
the entire faculties and feelings.
3dly. That while the intellectual mind seems by
the aid of these attributes to be able to act alone, the
social mind or feelings appear to require the intel-
lectual faculties to be added to them before the opera-
tions of the attributes can be brought to bear upon
them.
4thly. While the individual faculties may be engaged
separately, they cannot act without the combined opera-
tion of the attributes.
1st. The qualities of the attributes are incapable of
being compared with any objects of sense in the out-

ward world. All the faculties are named and identi-
fied by the characters they represent in the outward

world. Form, size, number, colour, as they are repre-
sented in the mind, have their synonymes in nature, and

are in strict relation to the natural characters and
adaptations which obtain in the outward world, and are
;
attached to all visible bodies. It is not so with the

attributes, which produce phenomena that admit of
no comparison or similitude. They would, therefore,
seem to resemble more the act of a pure spirit upon

created organized matter, as we see the spirit of elec-
tricity acts upon the surfaces of created bodies in the
inorganic world.
In the case of memory, how remarkable is that
power by which Ave jump back instantaneously to the

events of our childhood, while we call np scenes of
material objects, or thoughts that relate to the acts of
our fellow-creatures in times long past. In this
respect it resembles the phenomena caused by the
spirit of electricity as it acts upon the wire of the elec-
tric telegraph (apparently) regardless of time or space

so does the thought, when aided by the attribute of
memory, jump back to the period of youth, or, when
the attribute of prescience is added, forward to the
imagined future, when thousands of years, if time
should be then, shall have passed away, with the same
synchronous effort with which we contemplate the
events of the last hour.
All the attributes are perfectly unique in their action
and though we can compare them to nothing we see
around us in the matter of the world, yet are they
plainly to be distinguished from each other. And the
manner in which these attributes appear to act, as
it were, independently of time and space, shows plainly

that they are the immediate effect of spirit and not of
matter.
;
2dly. They have a general range or distribution over
the entire faculties and feelings. To prove this, we

have only to assure ourselves that we cannot form a
true idea of a colour, or a figure, or a note in music,
without exercising all these attributes upon it. Neither
can we have a true idea of what is due to ourselves or
to others around us, without making use of these attri-
butes. Before we can make up our minds that a colour
is we must first be able to concentrate the atten-

red,
tion upon it we must remember and judge what it is,

;
and what it is not we must retain it in order to be

;
able to recal it to the mind after the picture is removed

and we must determine and will whether it is good or
bad, beneficial or injurious, under circumstances, to
others. All this shews the attributes to have a general
supervising power over the entire faculties and feelings.
Thirdly. That while the intellectual mind seems by
the aid of the attributes to be able to act alone, the
social mind or feelings appear to require the intellectual
faculties to be added to them before the operations
of the attributes can be brought to bear upon them.
Thus we can form an estimate of the red colour by the
faculty that supplies the idea of colour, aided by attri-
butes which enable us to see, attend to, judge, and
remember, what it is. But in order to judge whether
that colour is good or bad, injurious or beneficial, to
ourselves or others, we must take the intellectual idea

of the colour which has been drawn out by the attri-
butes, and bringing it to bear upon living bodies, and

so comparing their relative difference and circum-
stances, we must, with all this knowledge, decide and

will as to its being good or bad, injurious or beneficial.
We find ourselves, in contemplating the actions of our
fellow men, as they stand related to justice, mercy, and

truth, totally unable to pronounce judgment upon those
actions unless we bring the intellectual mind forward
in the first instance for the purpose of judging the
natural or physical circumstances by which the indi-
viduals are surrounded or to which they are related, or

by which they are controlled.
Fourthly. While the individual intellectual faculties

may be engaged separately from each other and from
the social faculties, yet neither of these are able to act
without the combined operation of the attributes. Thus,
to simplify the subject, if we form the separate idea of
the colour red, we have need of the combined operation
of the attributes ; for in order to perceive it we must
be able to compare it, to retain the idea of it, to judge
how far it is correct, &c. These attributes may be all
co-operating to bear upon the single faculty of colour,

but the faculties of form or number, or any other we
may name, are not necessarily engaged or brought into
a sentient operation, while that of colour is.
It seems, therefore, reasonable to suppose that the

mind separates its action into these two independent
divisions, the sentient and the moving : but as it will
be necessary to go a little into detail in considering the
practical uses likely to proceed from this division, and

the different spiritual causes called into action, I shall
carry the subject into another chapter.
CHAPTER IX.
THE MIND.
Mode of Operation of the Attributes.
Having endeavoured to point out the circumstances

which require us to separate the faculties and feelings
which, on the one hand, have their root in the sentient

power of the nervous system, from the attributes of the
mind, as I term them, which, on the other hand, have

their root in the motive power of that system, it will
be necessary to make a few observations more in detail
upon the power and connexion of these attributes ; for
the contemplation of them as the great moving cause

under the influence of the several spirits that will be
presently shown to have their seat in the mind as cir-
cumstances may be, makes the question of the real
characters and office of these attributes one of high

importance in all the great medico-legal questions that
bear upon the moral and particularly the criminal
responsibility of certain actions. It would, however,
be impossible, in a work like the present, to go into all
the details of a subject of such magnitude. I shall
therefore confine myself as much as possible to the
consideration of the different modes of working of the

mind as an instrument, only availing myself of such
details and examples as seem necessary to elucidate the
point before me.

To determine the exact number of these attributes
of the mind, and show their separate and combined
powers, is very difficult while the present terms in
mental nomenclature are in use. Such terms as thought,
reason, judgment, and the like, evidently imply either
the compounded effect of several kinds of attributes,
which is the most probable ; or, that the great moving

power of the mind manifests its operation by a complex
action, united in one, but capable of manifesting very
different properties. However this may be, thought is
a term implying the combined operation of all the

attributes, and the same may be said of deliberation,
imagination, and many others, which cannot take place

without attention, perception, memory, will, and com-
parison. Believing that there are nevertheless certain
primary and independent attributes in the mind of
animals as of man, I think one of those is memory,
another attention, a third comparison, and a fourth will.
And in the case of man these attributes have added to
them conscience and prescience. One reason for sup-

posing these attributes to be separate is, that it is
nowhere proved, though they have power to act in

unison, that they possess any real power over each
other. On the contrary, they individually are found to
fail in the minds of those whose intellect or feelings
have been injured. And the failing of one does not

imply even the impairment of the others beyond that
injury arising from the want of connexion. The attempt

to explain the authority of conscience over the will in
man has proved abortive, because it is the balance of

these attributes in the mind which constituted the per-
fection of the mind in its operation before the fall, and
before it was injured by the spirit of evil. The loss of
the power of the will is independent of the power of

the conscience, which may yet dictate benefit or injury,
or right or wrong, though the will may have no power

to act. This is shown in cases of old established and
habitual sins. The will, as an attribute of the mind,
must of course be separated from desire, as Locke,
Edwards, and others, have very properly done, and the
necessity, in a medico-legal sense, not only of so doing,
but of marking with true distinction the nature of the

difference between the desire and the attribute, is of
far greater importance in determining many urgent

points relating to the welfare, the happiness, and the
liberty to be enjoyed by every individual, or by a com-
munity of men.
If it can be shown, as most unquestionably it can,
that the power of the will, as an attribute of the mind,
may be lost over one particular desire, while its power
over some other desire in the same individual is re-
tained, there can be little doubt that such a person, as

relates to the particular desire thus affected, is certain,
in the matter of his own interests, to suffer loss of pro-
perty, character, and health, according to the nature of
the desire so implicated, which constitutes, in a true

psychological sense, an unsoundness of mind. And if
this condition is considered in relation to the interests,
character, property, or health of others, it is doubtless,
in this latter sense, a grave neglect or oversight in

jurisprudence not to have recognized such a weakness,
by legislating for the more consistent protection of
those subjects who suffer from its continuance. The

circumstance of the individual knowing the evil conse-
quences in such cases, does not give to the will greater
power or choice, while the object of desire is within
reach. If, therefore, those objects, from their nature or
position, cannot be removed from the individual, rather

than that others should so seriously suffer, the indi-
vidual should be removed from them. By this means
the liberty of the subject is really extended; for it
must be obvious that as in the case of the drunkard

whose family are brought to ruin, or whose parish may
at last have to support him, all those who are thus
implicated by his conduct are tied down by the most
arbitrary and unjust fetters, because they are brought
upon them by the selfish and ungovernable acts of
others. The practical question then comes, should all
persons who manifest a similar infirmity of the will, to

the injury, loss, or suffering of others, be permitted to
have complete control over their affairs and actions? The
right answer to this question would, if acted upon,
lead to the most favourable results. And as in all
cases where the laws are dictated with justice and

judgment, good must follow, so here, the application of
some salutary but legal restraint would doubtless exert
a marked influence upon all so affected. When a man
voluntarily, or rather, having forfeited the healthy
balance of his will in this point, involuntarily deprives

himself of reason by habitual intoxication, he ought
either to be legally regarded of unsound mind, or else
be made criminally responsible by the act of drunken-

ness. But to wait, as the law now does, till the poor
reason-stricken being commits some offence, more or

less heinous, of which he was unconscious, and then to
charge him with crime committed when he was with-
out reason, — this is not wisdom. I do not think the

question of moral responsibility can be doubted in
these cases ; for that responsibility goes much fur-
ther into cases of genuine insanity than is generally
supposed, is now no longer to be denied.

The privation of liberty should not be made to turn
so exclusively upon the conscience as it generally Js, as
in such cases we get the worst consequences, in no re-

spect more hopeful or consolatory, because the indi-
vidual is perfectly conscious of the tendency of his acts.
The will, when weighed down by the spirit of evil, is
like an impetuous torrent that cannot be stayed. And

if the attention or judgment is brought to bear upon
the desire thus affected, these are in like manner
unable to see the evil consequences that must follow,
so that the conscience also suffers, though not in the
same ratio. The terms hardened conscience, acute or
sensitive conscience, blinded conscience, are commonly

used to convey the idea that this attribute is an innate
feeling of the mind, but by regarding it as an attribute
or moving power we are able to see how the conscience
may be acute upon some points and dull on others,

while upon others again it may be almost extinct.
This could not be if it were & faculty of the mind ; so,
likewise, we may have sound attention upon one point,
and little or none upon another. We may be able to

compare some sorts of things together, but not others.
We may remember the different notes of music or the
mathematical signs in geometry, but we may be unable
to retain the difference of one colour from another, or
the features of one country from another, in the
mind.
The attributes, undoubtedly, have more or less
strength, both in different individuals, as well as in
different faculties of the same individual. But whether

this difference corresponds with the degree of power or
strength in the faculties is very doubtful. There is
reason to think both the faculties and attributesmay

be strong in some and weak in others or one set may ;
be strong and the other weak or one faculty may be

;
strong, and the attribute moving it be weak. What a

gigantic memory Magliabechi had for general knowledge
conveyed in books, and for the localities they filled;
yet upon other matters his mind was inactive. A

shepherd boy, who was totally unable to read or write,
and otherwise quite ignorant, could count two hundred
sheep in rapid succession, calling them and identifying
them by name. It was said of the Emperor Adrian
that his memory was so generally good, that he remem-
bered every incident of his life, and knew every soldier
in his army by name.

;;
What is termed a want of memory is not an entire

absence of this attribute from the mind, for in another
form it may, in the same individual, be really strong
but it is the partial application of this attribute to a

few faculties, to the disparagement of others.
The different attributes vary in the same individual
greatly. We find those with a good memory upon
almost all points, where the judgment is very weak.
Or the attention is weak and the memory weak, but
the comparison is strong.
There is another circumstance connected with these

attributes which may be viewed as characteristic. It
has been shown by morbid anatomy that the various

losses on particular points have been accompanied by
more or less extensive lesions of the brain. But morbid
anatomy has hitherto failed to show the relation be-
tween the part injured and the particular species of

memory lost. This shows that as an attribute the
memory cannot be localized, or universally destroyed
by the destruction or injury of a part. Pathology has
also shown that the memory may be obliterated com-
pletely for a time, from the excitement of passion, and
return again in full power. The memory also is lost
over particular faculties and feelings in many cases of
paralysis, and to a certain extent this has been reco-

vered in some.
The same observation that has been made respecting
the connexion we have hitherto failed to discover be-
tween the memory and the disease
loss of of the brain
is also applicable to each other attribute of the mind
for neither attention, perception, memory, comparison,

will, conscience, or prescience, can be localized.
I have said that while the intellectual faculties, by
the aid of the attributes, can act alone, the feelings
and sentiments cannot act without the intellectual
faculties be added to them. But in the case of the
intellect being the only part worked, it will be found

that this cannot be done by the aid of the attributes of
attention, memory, perception, and judgment alone,
but to these must be added will, conscience, and pre-

science. Thus, in contemplating matters purely intel-
lectual, we cannot embrace their entire qualities or
uses, abstractedly as regards the feelings and senti-
ments, without bringing those attributes of conscience

and prescience to bear upon them ; which act consti-
tutes the more expanded intellectual operation we dig-

nify with the title of reason.
But it is when we come to add the intellectual to
the social or the moral part of the mind that, by the

aid of the additional attributes given to man, we are
able to compass all those difficult points relating to
human nature or the animal kingdom ;
points which
bear upon jurisprudence or justice regarding man in
his social and moral relations. To hold correct notions
of justice, it is right that the mind, in the first instance,
should be able to be assured intellectually of the cer-

tainty and the truth of certain qualities and uses of
things in the physical world, which are supplied to him
by the simple operation of the attributes upon the intel-
lectual faculties. And errors in these attributes, as

they are so brought to bear upon the intellectual faculties,

lay the foundation of vices and crimes which afterwards
involve the sentiments and feelings. A man who is
not able to understand the true characters and uses of

things after they have been explained to him intellec-
tually, would, in acting criminally, be irresponsible for

his acts ; nor would his conscience do more than tell
him he had done wrong, without informing him in what

way. It is easy to suppose a person not having a
memory for certain objects, would at the time of con-
templating them be able to determine their relations to
good or evil by means of the other attributes of the
mind ; but forgetting those objects as soon as they

passed from his mind, he would not be responsible
for the acts he subsequently performed in relation to
these objects. The simple relation the intellect bears
to truth is necessary to be held intact before the con-

sequences of separating the intellect from the feelings
in the moral operations of the human mind can be
regarded in the light of responsibility. This is the
great point for the consideration of who legislate in
all
criminal cases. It is possible for the mind to be in a
pathological sense diseased, and yet that mind may be

in justice regarded as responsible that commits crime
under such circumstances, provided the intellectual
faculties can be used. Just as the liver may continue

to perform its office though greatly diseased, provided
there is some kind of circulation through it.
Those, therefore, who know intellectually and morally

what crime is, but who cannot avoid committing it on
account of the loss of the power of the will over that

particular crime, are not only responsible to God for
their acts, but should be treated judicially in every

respect as responsible subjects of the earthly head who
presides over the community of which they form a part.
This may not be the opinion of some mental patho-
logists; but it is, nevertheless, undoubtedly the only
practical view to take of crime ; and the sooner the
judges of our land adopt it, the sooner the public weal
will be disentangled of much partial and necessarily
unjust legislation.
The mind contemplates truth, when the faculties
and feelings are so perfectly adapted, and the attributes
so correctly balanced, as to be able to behold the
qualities and phenomena of all created bodies, inor-
ganic and organic, which were originally made perfect
by the great First Cause of Truth. The more complete
and equalized these faculties are, and the more uni-
formly their attributes act, the more clearly must we
apprehend and delight in truth ; and it is impossible
for virtue to exist where the right apprehension of
truth cannot take place. For, though virtue may dwell
in the uneducated mind, yet that mind must be able to
apprehend truth, however simple, as far as the under-
standing of the individual can go. Virtue is to the moral
part of the mind what truth is to the intellectual, and
it is the bringing up of truth to the moral feelings,
and the application to these of the high attributes of
man, which enable her to follow virtue in the path of
truth. Justice is the transfer of the principles of virtue
from man to his fellow-creatures, and the right appre-

ciation of truth and the application of it to others.
Nevertheless it must be admitted, that jurisprudence

in relation to the moral feelings in man has never
attempted to prove, nor to my knowledge do the
writers on ethics hint at the necessity of so doing, the
very close relation, the intimate and inseparable de-
pendence, that subsists between the intellectual faculties
and the moral feelings. As a responsible being, man
is regarded by the casuist simply as the discerner of
right from wrong ; but this conclusion he cannot arrive
at short of the intellectual as well as the moral soundness
of his mind, and by the aid of all his attributes. Is not
the casuist, however, attaching too universal an import-

ance, and placing too much reliance upon a single attri-
bute, conscience, when we know from experience that

with all the necessary power of the attribute entire, there
are persons who daily commit the highest criminal acts,
knowing their tendency and the consequences to which

they inevitably lead, and who, regardless of this monition,
act so impetuously and so determinately wrong as to as-
sure us that the power by which this action is committed

is one altogether independent of the power that tells the
individual the course he is following is criminal or
wrong? The casuist is correct when he contends that
the power to detect right from wrong is one which fails
in the mind, perhaps later, or at any rate as late, as
any other attribute, and, if so, the criminal is a more

responsible being in the sight of his Maker than he
has generally been considered by his fellow-mortals.
But do we not strangely overlook in these cases the
really morbid condition of the feelings which, beyond

a certain point, carry away the power of the will, de-
stroying its balance, and so, in strict meaning, obliging
the individual so placed to take a certain course which
he cannot resist, even though he sees it is wrong ? The
constitution of our criminal code teaches us to wait for
this unhappy consummation of utter helplessness and

hopelessness under a false idea of extending the liberty
of the subject ; while in so doing we are positively
diminishing that liberty a hundred-fold. Not only is
it not true towards the real delinquent to society, but

unhappily towards everybody else to whom, as a mem-
ber of society, he is in the remotest degree related.
This ought not so to be. It shows most unmistakeably,

it points with an indelible mark to, the great disparity
which still is permitted to continue between English
justice and true justice, between the justice of the most
enlightened and compassionate nation of men and the
justice of God. That benevolent Being has provided
us with an attribute we can use largely when it is to
compass ends of a worldly policy, the attribute of
prescience, or that of power, that permits us, unlike the
brutes around us, to look so far into the future as to

be enabled to avoid or to provide against the effects of
certain events, or of certain conduct, the consequences
of which would be injurious to us whether as indi-
viduals or as a society. Yet our law-makers are almost

the only members of society who despise this high pri-
vilege by failing to avail themselves of its advantages.

;
The power of the legislature would be greatly

strengthened by a more extended application of this
attribute to the conduct of corrupt and criminal men
and we shall have less of those vexed questions to which
the whole of the judicial bench is now and then called
in conclave to resolve, — but alas, in vain, — if we deter-
mine to mark more emphatically the first signs of

weakness or depravity as they relate to the interests or
welfare of others. Men should not only be taught by

writers on ethics, but plainly told by the laws of our
land, that they cannot commit acts injurious to society
in the remotest degree, or even to themselves as form-
ing a part of society, which imply that their feelings

have carried away the balance not only of their
will, but also of other attributes, without forgetting

their privileges whether as citizens or as men. Some
of our best authors have argued criminal acts to
be the offspring of a partially unsound mind. But
if moral and physical remedies are found to restore the
very insane, they must surely, if applied with judgment,
be more applicable as well as valuable to the criminal
who is brought under their influence. When the

criminal pleads before the bar of justice that his mur-
derous acts have resulted from an uncontrollable state
of the mind, and, on that account, with tears in his eyes,
puts in a plea of insanity, he really is, in a patho-
logical sense, unsound in mind, though he knows as

well as the judge does the nature of the crime he has
committed, and the relation such crimes bear to the
society of which he is a member. How, then, is he to
;
be treated ? Surely not altogether as an irresponsible

being, with leniency. The effect of such a course of
proceeding is now well ascertained, and we must hence-

forth take a view of crime as a responsible act in some
other sense. Whatever we do, we must not, and
cannot with impunity, regard such acts as otherwise than
criminal. And the more they are treated in this light
the less frequently will they be presented before the
judge for his decision.
In all those cases where the attributes are brought

to bear unequally or involuntarily upon the feelings so
as to lead to crime, the question of irresponsibility
ought to turn, not upon the loss of balance in the

feelings, to which those attributes alone are applied,
but upon the sound or unsound operation of those
attributes over the intellectual part of the mind
and where this is confused there can be no ground
on which responsibility can rest. Then, and not
till then, the person is legally insane ; and short of
this irresponsibility cannot be made to rest. Crime,
unfortunately, in a human and in a divine sense, are
two different words, or at least are the same terms so

widely construed that it is puzzling to devise a remedy
for that species only that is conflicting merely to the
interests of ambition or avarice. But if our laws were

just, the habitual drunkard, gambler, or debauchee,
would find the fruits of his vicious practices in a po-
sition of society below that which is at present taken
by its lowest members. But the state of our criminal
code at this time marks with a very broad line the

;
downward tendency and gradual decay of our noble
constitution. The fiercest and most diabolical acts of
personal violence are barely marked by the most trifling
punishments. And when, by a slight extension, the same

description of offence has advanced up to the plainest
and the most undeniable murder, the wretched crimi-

nal often escapes upon a plea of insanity. " Shall I
not visit for these things, saith the Lord : shall not my
soul be avenged on such a nation as this ?"
As the faculties and feelings are ever varying, and
become in different individuals more or less ascendant,
so do the attributes become more concentrated upon
those faculties and feelings, producing actions that are
good or bad, useful or injurious, in proportion to the
balance of power which they hold.*

In the moral government of the world, the all-
perfect and benevolent Creator has so ordered, that
man doing right and acting in strict regard to justice,
is really doing good, not to others only, but to himself

also : that is, he is increasing his comfort and happi-
* It should be remembered that all the attributes are required to
be in operation before the machinery of the mind can act soundly.

The injurious or morbid action of one attribute must consequently
constitute, in a pathological sense, either temporary or permanent
unsoundness of mind. But the practical question is, should those
who are thus affected be treated as responsible or irresponsible
beings ? Certainly as responsible beings they should be treated
and if their acts lead to crime they should be treated as criminals,
and as justice cannot overlook crime, neither should these cases be
overlooked by justice. The acts of all criminals are, precisely in
the same pathological sense, the result of unsoundness.

ness more than he could do by acting with injustice
towards others. The feeling of avarice is contrary to
truth and justice. After we have provided for the
demands that are naturally made upon us in the station
in which we are placed, the desire to accumulate

wealth is the act of a mind in which the feelings are
not balanced on that point according to the right inter-

pretation of truth and justice. And hence it may be
inferred that such minds are not likely to hold sound
views on those points that bear upon the value and

distribution of property, or the relation that property
bears to society or to the individual, although it may

be wise in the matter of conserving property ; and this
leads to the establishment of laws that are partial and

oppressive, that deprive the one to give to the other.
All the faculties, sentiments, and feelings, implanted
in man, whether for his continuance, preservation, or
happiness here, were doubtless originally made to pos-
sess that strength or virtue in action which led to the

mutual welfare and happiness of all ; and to that reci-
procity and just balance of thought and feeling which

made each to act, not for the benefit of himself alone,
but for the comfort and advantage of all. The agent
that maintains this power to know truth, to do justice,
and to love mercy, is that spirit of man which revela-
tion affirms God placed in him at the time he was first
created. The same authority informs us that this very
mind in which the spirit of man was placed soon be-

came assaulted by a more powerful spirit, —a fallen
angelic spirit, — the spirit of evil, which soon carried it
away, bearing down the tender instrument in which

man's spirit had been placed, till it had nearly become

vanquished. He, however, who had power even above
the spirit of demons, graciously came to the relief of
fallen man, and, by the promise of his Holy Spirit to
all who asked for it, he revived the hopes of the spirit of
man that it should be again restored to the glory of God.

We have thus authority for believing that the instru-
ment in which the mind is displayed is one acted upon

by three very different spirits, — viz. the Holy Spirit of
God, the Spirit of the Devil,* and man's spirit, the latter
being ever under the influence of the one or the other
of the two former. After the Fall, the mind of man
became so incapable of knowing what was good, holy,
or just, that it became necessary for this purpose to

reveal the law or covenant as a standard of holy obe-
dience : moreover, his mind was now and for ever so
much injured by the spirit of evil that it could never

recover that state of sinless obedience which would
make it fit for the presence of a Holy God. A mediator
was accordingly given in the person of God's only Son,
whose intercession was promised to all who, by the
help of the Holy Spirit, believed in him. It is through
the Satanic spirit, and not the spirit of man, that this
mind, about which I have been speaking, has been so

distorted and diverted into the paths of injustice, un-
faithfulness, cruelty, and vice, that it is ever inclined in
this direction without help from the Spirit of God.

It has thus been shown what is the character of that
* Plato believed (De Legibus, lib. i.) that every person lias
two dsemons (Aat/iwêt), "knowing ones," not necessarily evil
spirits, — one prompting him to evil, the other to good.

TN DELATION TO MATTER. 201
great mental stage, the mind, on which the three spirits

we are about to speak of are permitted, for wise
and glorious ends, to enter and to act their parts.
Before, however, I do so, I shall take a general review
of the three spirits the operations of which I have been

pointing out, and in this recapitulation I shall dwell
upon the marks of their distinct identities. The power,
the influence, and the destiny of the higher spirits, are
subjects of grave importance to man as he stands re-
lated to the past, the present, and the future, calling
for his most thoughtful and deliberate judgment.

Thousands and tens of thousands of the human race
may profit by giving heed to the position these spirits
take, and pondering well the awful power they possess
for weal or for woe, for time and for eternity. Surely,
then, their existence should not only be recognised, but
all that has been revealed concerning them should be

treasured up and dwelt upon with the carefulness, the
discernment, and the diligence they demand. " Believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God,"* was the advice given by the evangelist John to
the first Christians, whose faith had been assailed by the

platonic and pythogorean philosophers, by the infidel
doctrines of the Gnostics, and the subtle and sensual

arguments of Cerinthus.
* 1 John, iv. 1.
CHAPTER X.
THE SPIRIT OP MAN.
Operation of the Spirit of Man in connexion with the

Human Body and Mind — Its Subjugation to the
Spirit of Evil, and the Consequences.
Those phenomena which I have shown in the three

last chapters were to be referred to the spirit of life
and mind, we have seen are in some degree common

to the whole living creation ; and on this account I
have not failed to show it would be inconsistent and
unreasonable to argue that they were indicative of the
presence or the action of the immortal spirit of man.
I have now to speak of the existence of those phe-
nomena which, inasmuch as they are absent in the
mental operations of all other animals, and are there-
fore peculiar to those operations as we behold them in
man, may very properly be referred to the spirit of
man, which is placed, as we are informed in revelation,
temporarily, exclusively, and conditionally in him.
As almost all the proofs of the separate and inde-

pendent existence of the spirit are to be gathered from
revelation, our discussion of this point must be entirely
governed by a right apprehension and interpretation of

that revelation ; while psychology and mental physio-

logy are useful, after the facts have been furnished to
them, in correcting those erroneous views which might
arise were we to exercise no thought or reflection as to
the reasonableness or the consistence which these re-

vealed facts bear to the phenomena naturally deduced
and compared.
The real existence and presence of this spirit in man
we cannot deny ; for it is stated in many passages of
Scripture to have been placed there by the Creator.
But that we could never have arrived at the truth of
this fact, unassisted by revelation, is most clearly evi-
denced by the past history of man as we trace his pro-

gress through the dark and heathen stages of his exist-
ence up to the most highly cultivated state the natural

mind can reach, the light of God's Word being withheld
from him. With all the superadded strength and com-
plexity in the organic instrument which distinguishes
him from the brutes in this uncivilized and degenerate
state of barbarism, as well as in this high state of mental
cultivation, he is equally and clearly incapable of discern-
ing spiritually what is the object and end of his crea-
tion, or what relation he bears to his Divine Creator,
without the assistance of revelation. Though in these
states of the natural mind man is ignorant of the

destiny of his immortal spirit within him, yet the know-
ledge of right and wrong to a sufficient extent to avert
his total destruction by the spirit of evil was mercifully
permitted to lighten the complete darkness into which
he would otherwise fall. " These," says the Apostle,
:
in speaking of the heathens, " not having a law, are a
law unto themselves."

In revelation we read that " the Lord God formed
man, the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of lives ;"* viz. that spirit of life
which animates the body and gives it power to perform

those functions necessary to the formation and continu-
ance of life, or the carrying on of the ordinary phe-
nomena of mind necessary to their existence ; and that
spirit which, in obedience to revelation, I term the
spirit of man, which is to pass out of its present tene-
ment into another state, hereafter to be united to a
glorified body. And Solomon, to distinguish these

two points, immediately after he has stated that all,
both man and beast, go to one place and turn to dust,
of which their bodies were made, asks this question

" Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upwards,
and the spirit of the beast that goeth downwards to
the earth ?"f Job also says, " there is a spirit in man,
and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him under-
standing;"! and this spirit it is that makes him inde-
pendent of and superior to every other creature, that
" teaches him more than the beasts of the earth, and
makes him wiser than the fowls of heaven." § The
Apostle Paul distinguishes these two spirits very
clearly ; first, when he tells the Thessalonians, " I pray
God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be pre-
* Gen. ii. 7 ; Hebrew — life or lives. f Eccl. iii. 21.
% Job. xxxii. 8. § Ibid. xxxv. 11.

served,"* &c. ; and secondly, in describing the power of

the word of God, in addressing the Jews, he says, it is
" quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul

and spirit (ipvyyq re kcu irvevfjiaTog) and of the joints and
marrow, "f
This spirit is called in the word of God, also, " our
spirit,"! and it is generally understood to be the con-
science of every believer, as propounded by the learned

Witsius,§ whereby he may be conscious of what passes
in his own heart. But this spirit is not the conscience,
which I have explained to be only a particular attribute

of the mind by which, after the fall, the right and the
wrong, as those terms relate to the moral world, have been
presented to it. The conscience is one of those means
by which the spirit of man is informed of the true effect
of actions as they relate to the moral world, not in the
believer only, but in every living human being. Indeed,

to know good and evil comes to the human mind
through the operation of a spirit, higher in power than
that of the spirit of man, upon that attribute of his
mind we call conscience. In other parts of Scrip-

ture this spirit is called "the heart of man" con-
demning or acquitting him. ||
But that this con-
science cannot be the spirit of man, or the spirit of
God acting upon the mind of man, is rendered more

certain by that passage
— " their consciences joining to
bear witness^ {avfifiapTvôva^q avrwv tt)q owaSrjo-fwc)
* 1 Thess. v. 23. f Heb. iv. 12. % Rom - viii > 16 -
§ (Economy of the Covenants, lib. iii. cap. 11.
II
1 John iii. 20, 21. % Rom. ii. 15.
and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else
excusing one another." Our spirit, or the spirit of
man, therefore, has the use of the conscience in addition
to other attributes of the mind, by which the law of

God may be written upon the heart, and the nature
and effects of sin brought home to the spirit of
man.
There is, therefore, abundant evidence to shew that
man has an additional spirit placed in him which has
the power of imparting to him, and to him alone of all
created beings, a knowledge of the existence and attri-
butes of his Creator, and of his own existence and

destination. With these superior advantages, and the
exalted privilege of being lord of the creation, and so
constituted as to hold every other creature in subjec-
tion, he has also corresponding responsibilities and con-
ditions revealed to him which are unintelligible to the
brutes, and which will make him answerable to his
Creator for the manner in which he has discharged

those responsibilities and fulfilled those conditions.
These are very remarkable features imprinted upon
man, and serving to place him in such new and diffe-
rent relation to other parts of the living creation, that

having the fact revealed to us, we can most reasonably
believe it to be possible that there is a spirit placed in
him having more exalted and extended powers of

action. And this places him in a position so much
elevated above them, that not only Scripture, but our
reasoning faculties as well as our moral sense, combine
to assure us it bears many relations to a state of future
existence for which it is ultimately intended.

We receive the intelligence, then, through revelation,
that God has placed in man an immortal spirit. That

spirit was not concerned to convey to him a knowledge
of the qualities and uses of the physical world around
him, for this he had in virtue of his common life with
the rest of the creation ; at the withdrawal of which,
like theirs, his body will turn again to dust, of which
material they both alike are made.
But the office of the spirit of man was to reflect the
image and glory of the Divine Creator as He is capable

of being contemplated by man, not only the maker
and disposer of all we behold, but as the great model
and example of perfection in the majestic attributes of
truth, holiness, justice, benevolence, and mercy. These

were most noble and divine impressions first implanted
in man, the influence of which doubtless, had they not
been destroyed by a more powerful spirit than his, would
have extended their influence over the entire range of
the living creation. They would have so uniformly
preserved the true integrity and balance of the origi-
nally perfect mind as to maintain a perpetual harmony
and fidelity of action. In this exalted position the
spirit that God placed in man was truly able to dis-
tinguish him from all other creatures which were sub-

servient to his will. It was a higher spirit than theirs
on many accounts, and indicated this superiority by
the exercise of mental attributes which implied a ra-
tional foreknowledge of circumstances and events relat-
ing to the present world even, to which no other

creatures could attain. But in a more especial manner,
;
its superiority was marked by the manifestation of

those important powers of the mind that brought it
into immediate communion with its Maker.

It is hardly necessary to bring forward any argu-
ment here, to shew that this spirit is, in relation to
those we have hitherto been considering, of a higher

nature. Revelation has marked its rank among the
spirits that animate the material world, in recording its
high-born destiny. When the present condition of

things has passed away, and the body it now dwells
in has returned to its original elements, this spirit
will yet put on an immortal body, through which it
will be enabled to contemplate God as He is. For

the present, its temporary abode is in the bodies of
men.
In this abode, doubtless for reasons all- wise, and just,
and good, the spirit of man was assaulted by a still
higher and more powerful spirit, — the spirit of a fallen

angel. This brings us to contemplate what is com-
monly called the fall of man.
One of the first acts of man after he had been so
highly gifted by the Creator, was to abuse the power
of free-will by turning the high attributes of his mind
away from obedience and truth. That mental balance
of the faculties and feelings which alone was placed at
his disposal, was rapidly lost, and he became a slave to
the abuse of those feelings and attributes of his mind

which God had intended him only to use.
Of the fall man from his first
of estate of purity,
innocence, and happiness, we read in the Pentateuch

and it is to this source alone we are indebted for any

information we possess as to the cause of our present
degenerate state. There we learn, that Satan, whether

through pride, envy, or any other cause, is not re-
corded, got partial possession of the spirit of man by
assaulting his mind with temptation, and that at an
evil moment, when off his guard.
The way in which the spirit of man, before its sub-

jugation to the spirit of evil, manifested itself, was by
so leading the desires, the will, and the affections, and
all other attributes and feelings, as that they had a
perpetual tendency to acts and thoughts which led to
the happiness and the good of all. To the mental
conformation necessary to all the higher animals, are
added such powers in man as would enable the spirit
of man in him readily to contemplate the divine perfec-
tions in all their glorious harmony and beauty. The

thoughts, the will, the memory, the judgment, the con-
science, the perception, the intellectual faculties, moral
sentiments and feelings, were all placed at the disposal
of the spirit of man, and by it engaged in fulfilling
those great and divine purposes, and in the contem-

plation of the joy and peace that was the natural con-
sequence of this exalted perfection of things.
Now, that these attributes and powers of the mind
were not the spirit of man, neither were they exclu-
sively, and, in the ultimate sense of the world, solely
capable of being set to work by that spirit, has been
partly proved by the fact, that many of the same powers
are to be recognised in animals, which powers in them
p
have likewise been perverted to purposes of evil, though

not in the same responsible manner they have in man.
And further, that they could not be synonymous with
the spirit of man, but were only the mental operation
or machinery by which that spirit displayed itself,
is still further confirmed by that which took place

after the Fall. For at that event these very attributes,
faculties, and feelings, were taken possession of by a

more powerful and a more knowing ( Sarj^wv), though
an evil spirit, which would have controlled the spirit of
man there as completely as the spirit of God can

control it. Lest the spirit of man should, on this
account, be everlastingly overpowered by this demonia-

cal spirit, — the spirit of evil, which had now entered
the field of operation, the mind, God graciously and
timely offers to send a yet more powerful spirit than

that of evil, which clearly has the power of restoring
the balance of the mind to its original course of holi-
ness, of faith in and obedience to the divine laws.

I cannot pass over the effect of the fall upon the
whole living creation, for with man " the whole crea-
tion groaneth and travaileth together ;" and as a con-
sequence of this assault upon the spirit of man, all
are made subject to the curse and dominion of death.
As though the spirit of evil aimed at the destruction,
not of man's spirit only, but of the whole harmony

and happiness of the brute creation, we see them drawn
into the vortex, and afflicted, as it were, with the con-
sequences of man's sin. There is much to draw forth
our admiration of the many wonderful faculties, the

many affecting feelings which they display, and which

the Creator has bestowed upon them. And that they
are, though subjected to death for man's transgression,

nevertheless the objects of the Creator's care, and ever
of his commiseration, we have many Scriptures to
attest. " The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou
givest them their meat in due season." " That which
he giveth them they gather." He openeth his hand,

"
and they are filled with good." "When he hideth

his face they are troubled." " He feedeth the fowls of
the air, and not a sparrow falleth to the ground without

him." In the hundred and fourth Psalm he is repre-
sented as caring for all his creatures, and upholding

them by his continual providence. And when he
appeals to the prophet Jonah — " Should not I spare
Nineveh ? that great city," he not only pleads for it on
account of the six-score thousand persons, but also
because it contained " much cattle " and this would
lead us to infer that all the creatures he has made are
alike upheld by the same spirit of life, as they are alike

the objects of the same bountiful and divine care.
It ought, therefore, to be not a little humiliating to

man, in contemplating the degradation and suffering of
the brute creation, to think that they are so situated on
account of his infirmities. But can it be possible that
the wonderful faculties they display in their present
state of existence were intended only to subserve the
purposes of a world disorganized and marred by the
ravages of sin ? Surely they were originally designed
for higher and more durable ends, and there must be a
a
peace and harmony for them yet to be disclosed, —

state of tranquil enjoyment, where sin cannot enter
to disturb the uninterrupted exercise of those faculties
and feelings which a benevolent and bountiful Creator

first bestowed alike upon every living thing, with a
view to their happiness. Surely there will yet be a
time, and revelation has foretold when man, or
it,*
rather the spirit of evil that is in man, will no more be

permitted to exercise an abusive and arbitrary domi-
nion over them, — a power that has been changed from
protection to cruelty, — when they will no longer be

exposed to the fierce and ungovernable passions of their
more powerful enemies, — no longer be a prey to the
devouring appetites of whole races degraded and de-

formed by the effects of man's fall. .
Surely there will
be yet a time, if it is only to carry out the first majestic
and beneficent design of their Creator, when " the wolf
and the lamb shall feed together," and " the wolf shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down
with the kid ; and the wolf and the young lion and the
and a little child shall lead them ;" when
fatling together,
they shall enjoy the free use of those natural and kindly
feelings planted in them by their Maker ; when they
shall be free from pain and death, and that during a
lengthened period of time.
The probability is, that the mental subjection of the
spirit of man to the spirit of evil, and the degradation

to which he fell by this assault, consisted greatly in the
* Rev. xi.
application of the will, the controlling attribute that
had been set over the desires to extreme and abusive

purposes. No longer having faith to believe what God
had told him, but determining to act and judge as if
he were without that guide to truth, he experimented

upon the extent to which his mind would go, and he
thus soon became the involuntary slave to those desires,
without the power to control them or make them sub-
servient to any thing but evil. Like an instrument
that had been strained or violently handled, it failed to
answer with certain sound, — harmony was

all at an
end, — all balance was lost, —and thoughts the of the
mind were only evil continually.
This serious injury to the mind may be put in ano-
ther way. Originally it was adapted for the purposes

and use of the spirit of man ; and (judging from the
long time this instrument lasted in the first ages of the
world, even after it had been marred by Satan) it is
not unreasonable to suppose it would have served the

purposes of man's spirit truly and faithfully during the
six thousand years the world has lasted, without decay,
had it not been violently forced and overcome by
Satanic power.
But it was not to be supposed that, in the first in-
stance, the entire bulk of the mind, — that is, all its
various attributes, faculties, and feelings, —became in-
volved in one universal surrender to the spirit of evil.
Doubtless that spirit was resisted, and its power to

subjugate whole generations of the human family was
gained by artful but untiring perseverance. More pro
bably a single feeling or propensity was first assaulted

and weakened, and the balance of those controlling
attributes of the mind, —judgment, will, memory, con-
science, and the like, over that particular feeling, —was
first endangered and then lost : and thus by inherit-
ance, according to a prophetic announcement, the

abuses and sins resulting from the loss of balance in a
particular feeling or desire descended to the third and
fourth generation of the unguarded or offending parents.
And so, from the very beginning of the fall of man, we
may trace a departure from that sound and equipoised
condition of the mental constitution in the perfection of
health and elasticit}' which he first received at the
hands of his Creator. In this sense the mind has been

injured and weakened more or less in every child of
Adam ; and the history of his immediate descendant,
who first shed the blood of his own brother, shows us
the awful consequences that so rapidly followed the

abuse of that mind which God gave man to use.*
* Against the practice of this horrible crime, which threatened
in its consequences the almost total annihilation of the human

species by their own hand, God has most unmistakeably recorded
His special commands. As that command was given among the
very first to Noah after he quitted the Ark, it is not improbable
that this crime had helped to fill up the iniquity of the antedilu-
vians, and, therefore, required to be thus early singled out as one
to be met by the forfeit of the life of the person committing it.
Accordingly, God repeated the same command when He delivered
the law to that nation that was to honour Him upon earth in the
sight of the heathen nations around, and it has ever been regarded,
till of late years, as a command still to be enforced. But expe-
;
That there are degrees in the abuse which the

mind has undergone by the action of the spirit of
evil upon it, in the different families of man, the
curse pronounced upon Canaan fully proves. The sins
pediency thinks differently ; and it is not improbable that, when

man ceases to disregard the command of his Maker upon this
point, that God will take it in His own hands, when His judgment
will fall alike upon the innocent as the guilty : the one suffering
for the sins of the nation that disregards this great command
the other, by his evil example not being treated as God has or-
dained, contaminating others with the same crime, and so involv-
ing a fearful destruction of life, similar to what we see now going
on in the sister kingdom. It has been urged that Cain's life was
not taken for the crime he committed ; but, setting aside the fact
that the commandment was not when Cain killed his bro-
given
ther, though doubtless his conscience told him what he was doing,
there is much reason to believe, from the total absence of any
account of Cain's death in the Canonical pages of inspiration,
that he did not " die the common death of all men ;" and this is
greatly strengthened by high apocryphal authority. In that

ancient manuscript published under the title of the Book of Jaser
(which has this remarkable circumstance, among others, to sub-
stantiate and recommend it — viz. that there are not more than
seven or eight words in the whole book that, by construction,
can be derived from the Chaldean language), mention is made of
the manner in which Cain came to his end, which explains that
passage in Genesis, " I have slain a man to my wounding, and a
young man to my hurt." — Gen. 23. The narrative the
iv. in
Book of Jaser is as follows :

— " And Lamech was old and advanced
in years, and his eyes were dim that he could not see, and Tubal
Cain his son was leading him ; and it was one day that Lamech
went into the field, and Tubal Cain his son was with him ; and
whilst they were walking in the field, Cain the son of Adam
advanced towards them ; for Lamech was very old, and could not
of one race may thus have been more heinous, and so

have brought clown upon them a more judicial punish-
ment from God than another : in other words, the
spirit of evil may have had a more deadly influence and
exercised a fiercer power upon some than it did upon
others. In this sense the weakness has fallen nation-
ally upon whole races of the human family ; so that at
this time, awful as is the thought, there are hundreds
of millions : and what must be the number, whose

spirits have passed out of the body, who were ignorant
of God and his revealed will, — who know not, and
never knew, the remedy God has provided in the gift
of his Holy Spirit, by which man may be again brought
back to the obedience of faith, in the consecration
afresh of those powers which have been degraded and

distorted by sin !
But this weakness has also fallen individually more

heavily in some directions than in others, as I shall
see much, and Tubal Cain his son was very young. And Tubal
Cain told his father to draw his bow, and with the arrows he
smote Cain, who was yet far off, and he slew him, for he appeared
to them to be an animal. And the arrows entered Cain's body,

although he was distant from them, and he fell to the ground
and died. And the Lord requited Cain's evil according to his
wickedness which he had done to his brother Abel, according to
the word of the Lord which he had spoken. And it came to
pass, when Cain had died, that Lamech and Tubal went to see
the animal which they had slain, and they saw and beheld Cain
their grandfather was fallen dead upon the earth ; and Lamech
was very much grieved at having done this, and in clapping his
hands together he struck his son, and caused his death."
;
have occasion to show in contemplating the power of

the spirit of evil under the head of the spirit of angels
and our compassion is daily implored for the wants and
afflictions of our brothers who are drawn out upon beds
of sickness, pain, and mental anguish, where not only do

we behold their bodily limbs and animal powers diseased
and ready to perish, but also that organic part, the brain,
which was made to give joy and peace, intelligence
and benevolence, through that happy spirit for which

God had formed it, is blasted and disorganized, — being-
converted into a foul receptacle of the spirits of devils,

where they fail not to torment the poor sufferer to
desperation. Of the power of the Holy Spirit over the
mind of man in this humiliating state I shall have to
speak ; but, first, it will be necessary to consider the

other state, in which revelation informs us the spirit of
man will finally take up its position.
Of the Immortality of the Spirit of Man in connection

with the Resurrection Body.
After the spirit of man has passed away from its
earthly tenement, we are instructed from the Word of
God of the final habitation it will take up in a glorified
body.
It has been very generally taught and believed that
the spirit of man, or, as it is more commonly called,
the immortal soul of man, after it quits its earthly
house, will be freed as if from some chain that had

confined it, and so permitted to exert its almost in-
finite powers in a disembodied state. But certainly
this philosophic doctrine is most conflicting to that of
the resurrection of the soul in a body that will be

fitted for it, which we receive first through the pages of
revelation. The immortal soul as a separate, individual,
and uncombined entity, having powers in virtue of its
spiritual existence alone, is an idea not to be found in

Scripture, and it is remarkably at variance with that
great subject, there so much dwelt upon — the resurrec-
tion of the body.
" The hopes of a future state," says Carmichael,*
" rest on a double foundation ; for there are two dis-
tinct and dissimilar means by which it may be realized :
the resurrection of the body, a tenet whose principal

support is to be found in Scripture ; and the imperish-
able nature of the essence of the soul, a more universal
doctrine, transmitted from the remotest antiquity, and
for which we are not indebted to the sacred records of
the Jews, but to Pagan philosophy. Whether oriental
sagacity was really the source of this opinion, or merely

the medium through which it descended from an earlier
era or a higher authority, we are more deeply interested
in pursuing such investigations as may satisfy us of its
truth, than those which consider the validity of our ex-
pectations of the resurrection of the body. Those

expectations repose on evidence to which no argument
can add weight, and whose strength cannot be further

increased by any exertions now to be made by human
* Physical Considerations in connection with Man's Ultimate

Destination, &c.
—
intelligence ; but with this doctrine the other has been

unnecessarily intermixed, and the resurrection of the
body and the immortality of the soul have been strangely
confounded and identified in modern belief, although

they are totally imdependent of each other, and even,
in the opinion of some able and pious philosophers,
altogether incompatible. Yet where is the man who
would not be anxious to establish, as an incontrovertible
truth, that in '

shuffling off this mortal coil,' we do not
cease to exist, to think, and to feel, — that the slumbers
of the grave are no encroachment on our energies,
that the living spirit looks down without concern on the

mouldering dust it has abandoned, and, enjoying its
new liberty, neither regrets their separation nor needs

their re-union ?"
Against this doctrine of the immortality of the soul

as an existing separate entity in a conscious state, we
have the powerful arguments of many great divines,
among which may be named Bishops Jeremy Taylor,
Law, and Shurlock, Archbishop Tillotson, and Dr.
Samuel Clark.
The Pythagoreans held the doctrine that some sort
of body was attached to the immortal spirit, as did also

the Platonists, and afterward Irenseus, Origen, St.
Austin, and many others. This body the Platonists

thought was a sort of luciform body, Avy oh&q Swâ.
Speaking of these philosophers' tenets, and the resem-
blance they bore in some respects to the doctrine of the
resurrection in the sacred Scriptures, Cudworth says,
" But besides this there is yet a further correspondence
2:20 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS
of Christianity with the forementioned philosophic
cabbala, in that the former also supposes the highest
perfection of our human souls not to consist in being
eternally joined with such gross bodies as these we now

have, unchanged and unaltered •
for as the Pytha-
goreans and Platonists have always complained of these
terrestrial bodies as prisons or living sepulchres of the
soul, so does Christianity seem to run much upon the
same strain in these Scripture expressions i

'
In this
we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with

our house, which is from heaven.'* And again, '
We
that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened,
not for that we would be unclothed (that is, stripped
quite naked of all body), but so clothed upon that

mortality might be swallowed up of life ;'f and lastly,
'
Ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption (son-

ship or inheritance), namely the redemption of our
bodies;'! that is, the freedom of them from all those
evils and maladies of theirs which we here lie op-
pressed under. Wherefore we cannot think that the

same heavy load and luggage which the souls of good
men being here burthened with, do so much groan to
be delivered from, shall, at the general resurrection, be
laid upon them again, and bound fast to them to all
eternity. But the same will further appear from that

account whish the Scripture itself giveth us of the
resurrection : and first, in general, when St. Paul, an-
* X Horn. 23.
2 Cor. v. 2. f 2 Cor. v. 4. viii.
swering that query of the philosophic infidel, '

How
are the dead raised, or with what body do they come ?'
replieth in this manner, '
Thou fool' (that is, thou who
thinkest to puzzle or baffle the Christian article of the
resurrection, which thou understandest not), 'that
which thou sowest is not quickened to the production
of anything, except it first die to what it was, and thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain,' as
of wheat, or of barley, or the like ; but God, in the
ordinary course of nature, giveth it a body as it hath
pleased him, that is, a stalk or ear having many grains
with husks in it, and therefore neither in quantity nor
quality the same with that which was sown under
ground; nor does he give to all seeds one and the
same kind of body neither, but to every seed its own
correspondent body, as to wheat one kind of ear, and
to barley another."* It is not until the immortal spirit
of men has been " clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven," that we can be said to have a building
of God, " an house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens." And this union of man's spirit to an
immortal body receives fresh confirmation by the ana-
logy we draw from the union of all other inferior but
created spirits with some kind of matter.
It is obvious it cannot come within the scope of my
argument to prove what will really compose the resur-
rection body : the utmost that can be done in treating
* Intellectual System of the Universe, Vol. iv. p.. 4, Birch's

Edition.
222 THE THILOSOPHT OF SPIRITS
this subject, as well as that of the angelic spirits, is to
keep close to revelation while we make use of our

reasoning faculties to compare what has there been
made known on the subject. Our Saviour told the
Sadducees (who were one of the Jewish sects that had

imbibed some of the Pagan doctrines of Epicurus
denying the doctrine of the resurrection), that they
quite misunderstood even the Jewish records upon this
subject, for in heaven there was not only no marrying

and giving in marriage, as among mortals upon earth,
but those who were partakers of this resurrection " were
as the angels of God •;" and in those records God ex-
pressly says he is the God of Abraham, —
not he was.
" God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."*
We have, therefore, two facts before us, however ob-

scurely or negatively expressed in this Scripture, to
assure us 1st, that the immortal will be very different

from the mortal bodies, and 2dly, that out of one or
other of these bodies the spirit of man cannot exist, in
the sense of being separated from them. First, then,
the immortal bodies of the spirit of man will be as the
angels ; and that the bodies of angels cannot partake of

the same associated materials as those of mortal man,
may be inferred from the very altered position they are
represented as taking as angels. The very light in
which these bodies will dwell would consume bodies

made like unto those of corruptible men, and therefore
we have nothing to lead us to suppose, since " flesh
* Matt. xxii. 30, 31, 32.

and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God," but that

they have a body suited to their highly exalted sphere
of action. The object is, not to show what those
bodies are, but only that they exist in a state different
to that we discriminate as mortal ; and this is to be
implied from the manifest appearance of angelic forms
from time to time, and from the description given of
heaven in the vision of the evangelist John : for it
seems improbable that the beauties of God's celestial
empire should be manifested without the material on

which to display those beauties ; and this material must
be so built up as to be incapable of being destroyed
by those agents we now regard as destructive to our
present bodies.
We have seen how differently, and with what gradu-
ated degrees of power, the several spirits we have had
under consideration are made to act upon material
substances, first uniting them in inorganic bodies by
the more complicated modes of union. In contem-
plating the celestial body which the spirit of man is
finally to take up, the mind seems to carry us forwards
and upwards to the regions of those spiritual powers

still higher and nearer their great source and centre.
How safely and rationally may we argue, if the Great
Cause of all natural and divine synthesis can, by the

aid of the spirit of life, put together in the vegetable
creation the exquisite textures, the inimitable shapes,
the surpassing colours, as we there behold them, each
quality being varied almost to infinity ! If to these he

can add the more elaborate wonders of animal struc-
tures, which instrumentally seem to be brought about

by adding to the number of material elements ; and,
uniting them by a different process, how surpassingly
magnificent must be that body, how immaculately con-
structed, so as, in a glorified state, to be capable of
beholding the face of God in glory !
The very enlarged powers that are given to the

angels of God place the resurrection body in parallel,
if not with the highest, certainly with some of the

angelic hosts. The glorious properties and powers of
these stupendous beings, as they have been shadowed

forth to us in revelation, will be considered under the
head of the Spirit of Angels.
Secondly, that out of one or other of these bodies

the spirit of man cannot exist, in the sense of being
separated from them. Our Saviour said to his disciples

" Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much

fruit." This expression, together with that of the
Apostle Paul, where he tells the Corinthians that which

they sow is bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of
some other plant, are the nearest comparisons we have

left to us of the glorified body. Though differing so
much in appearance and character as the seed does
from the future plant, yet we see even here, with the
same material elements, but differently proportioned
and collocated, what a wonderful change the spirit of
life is able to effect in those materials. How it can

put together the stem, the leaf, the flower, and the seed,
the latter having no kind of resemblance to the three

former. So is it with the resurrection body, which, like

the corn of wheat, may lie in the ground, as the chry-
salis does, in some quiet place of safety, till the ap-

pointed time comes, when it takes up its new position.
During all this time, which, in every seed, and in every

chrysalis, varies according to God's own appointment,
doubtless the spirit of life is retained in contact with
the torpid matter, and, as we have shown to be the
case in the mummy wheat, this torpid condition may
be prolonged to a lengthened period of time. The
bodies of the antediluvian have long since crumbled
into dust, and, like the dead flowers of the past year,
have yielded up their material elements to the dust

again. Not, however, before a portion of those very
elements has been reserved, into which, for a time, the
spirit of life has withdrawn itself. So is it with the
spirit of man, which still lies concealed in its immortal
seedling, waiting for that glorious resurrection which is
yet to take place, when it will again animate bodies of a

material contrivance ; which, nevertheless, we are led to
believe will bear no more resemblance to the former

body of man than the seed does to the new -made flower,
or the chrysalis does to the gaudy and delicate butterfly.
This idea is borne out in several parts of Scripture. When

the great Prophet Elisha was buried, his body mani-
fested the presence of his spirit in a most unexampled
way, for it will be remembered how, when the Moabites
attempted to put one of their dead into the sepulchre
of the Prophet, in consequence of touching the bones
of Elisha the dead body revived and stood upon his

Q
:
feet.* When the Witch of Endor called up the body

of Samuel it had been dead two or three years. The
expression of Samuel to Saul is very remarkable :
" Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up ?" Bring

what up ? The dead body, or the spirit. Further on
he says :
" To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with
me."f Where ? surely not in heaven. When our
blessed Saviour was crucified, St. Matthew tells us
"Many bodies of the saints which slept arose and
came out of the graves after His resurrection."! By
these, and other passages, it seems more probable that
the immortal spirit of man remains in a dormant state
of sleep in some mysterious manner connected with
the seeds of his resurrection body. This state is called
the sleep of death. § When Lazarus was dead, Our

Saviour said to His disciples :
" Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep."
The disciples " thought that He had spoken of taking of

rest in sleep. Then said Jesus plainly unto them,
Lazarus is dead."
These new and glorified bodies will be adapted to
treat with the " perpetual whitenesses," and to behold
the dazzling splendour of light, which must attend

the presence of Jehovah in heaven ; and how trium-
phant is the thought such reasonings as these natu-
ally lead to, in the mind of the Christian philo-
sopher ! when he feels that this immortal body we
* 2 Kings, xiii. 21. f 1 Sam. xxviii. 15 and 19.

% Matt, xxvii. 52, 53.
§ 1 Cor. xv. 6, 20, 51 ; 1 Thess. iv. 14.
are now speaking of, and which we shall one day

put on, will be so fashioned as to be incapable of being
acted upon or affected by the scorching and un-
governable destruction which then shall rage to try
every created thing ; that when " all worldly shapes
shall vanish" away, this bright and glorious body, the
masterpiece of the eternal God, shall remain
" Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds."
It is most true, this immortal body, in which man's

spirit will finally take up its abode, to travel through
the long vista of endless eternity, will never more
be changed or go to decay; but this by no means
implies that the resurrection body in all, whether
believers or unbelievers, will be similarly placed. The
common property of immortality may belong to all,
and the power to endure torment, in the mortal sense

of the word, without destruction, like asbestos in the
fire, may be compatible with the holding together of
the immortal structure, as the power to stand in the
presence of that vast and inconceivable God may also
then be compatible, not only with perpetual existence,

but also with endless and indescribable joy.
It is a very popular, but a very mistaken idea, that the
old mortal body of the spirit of man will rise again to
judgment ; but this, it should be stated, is not actually

affirmed in revelation. " The hour is coming when
all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the
Son of God, and shall come forth"* to receive judg-
ment for things done in the body. These are the

words of our Saviour. St. Paul, in another place,
describes this change to be instantaneous when the
last trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. These two
passages are to be reconciled upon the supposition
above stated, that the spirit of man reposes asleep (or
dormant, as we see the spirit of life rests in the seeds
of vegetables — an analogy actually applied by the

Saviour and St. Paulf) in the grave to which is
attached the immortal seed which is at the sound of

the trump of God to spring up out of the grave. It
will be remembered, St. Paul, in his description of the
resurrection, tells us that God will give to every spirit
of man that body that seemeth best to Him :

" It is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. J

That which we sow in we sow not that
the ground,
body that shall be. According, also, as we sow so
shall we reap ; and this would seem to imply that the
resurrection body is fixed in the immortal seed in
Avhich the spirit of man reposes in the grave. When
this seed bursts forth into the resurrection body,
they that have done good will rise with an im-
mortal and also a glorious body ; they that have
* Johu vii. 28 ; 1 Cor. xv. 52.
f John xii. 24 ; 1 Cor. xv. 37.
% 1 Cor. xv. 44. In this particular quality the spirits of life
and of man may be alike, differing in this repect only in degree.

clone evil will rise also with an immortal body, but

it will be to be consigned to the power of Satan.
In the parable of the talents, the coming of the
Son of Man in his glory, as at the resurrection
clay, is represented as separating the good from the

evil, placing the one on his right hand and the other
on his left ;* and inviting the one to enjoy the kingdom
prepared for them, while the others are cast into the
regions of Satan. According as the prophet Daniel
expresses it, " and many of them that sleep in the dust
of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and

some to shame and everlasting contempt. "f The
resurrection body will therefore take its position ac-
cording to the nature of the seed with which the spirit
of man has been associated. And as it has been sown

so will it rise ; but when once it rises it must be either
to an immortality of happiness or of misery. The im-

mortal bodies of unpardoned sinners are represented as
not standing before the judgment in the same congre-
gation as the righteous.j There is another passage in
Job which, as our English version renders it, inclines
to the belief that the present body will rise to behold

the face of God. " And though, after my skin, worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."§
This verse our margin has better rendered thus :
" After
I shall awake, though this body be destroyed, yet out
* Matt. xxv. 31, 32, 33. Compare this with Ps. i. 5, 1 Kings,
xxii. 19.
t Dan. xii. 2. % Psalm 1. 5. § Job xix. 26.

of my flesh shall I see God." And thus we get rid of
a difficulty that is otherwise most conflicting to such

passages as those that go to prove that the resurrection
body will not be flesh and blood. The Hebrew par-
ticle D, mem, which is translated in our English Bible

" in my flesh," should be more properly rendered out
of or beyond. And this would enable the patriarch to

utter a prophecy more consistent with other portions
of divine revelation upon so important and interesting
a point.
CHAPTER XL
THE SPIRIT OF ANGELS.
We are now about to treat of a class of spirits whose

powers are yet more exalted than those of the spirit of
man. The question of the existence and the agency of

the spirits of angels is one to be resolved solely by
revelation. Reason furnishes no material on which to
ground either a belief or disbelief in this doctrine,
seeing it is one so entirely irrespective of all those pro-

perties of external nature presented to the mind in the
visible world, and of all those intellectual and moral

operations of the mind with which reason has to deal.
Existing, as the angels are supposed to do, beyond

the sphere of human sense, it will at once be obvious
that any facts immediately relating to the nature,
qualities, or offices of such beings, must be derived
from that source which has been given to us that we
may become informed upon such subjects as are above
the reach of our natural faculties to determine. It is
true, the existence of angels having been made known

to us first through the Scriptures, it is not inconsistent,
by a parity of reasoning, to suppose they exist, from
the graduated scale of creation we witness in the

creatures inhabiting our own earth, which leads us to
infer the created powers above us advance by regular

progression up to the great source of all knowledge
and power. " We know, indeed, that beings appear
to exist in an interminable series, descending from our-
selves downward until they reach the verge of nothing.
But the probability arising hence is, that there exists a

corresponding series of beings on the ascending side of
the scale ; and none will deny that between us and the
Deity there is ample room for all the possible orders
and varieties of rational existence. So far, then, the
appearances of nature are in favour of the doctrine of
angels and spirits."* Thus, Plato taught, as there
were gradations in the ranks of men, so were there like
gradations among the angels. Ut enim homo homini

sic daemon daemoni dominatur : and arguing in a de-
scending scale, as some men were inferior to others
both mentally and physically, so among brutes we

observed a similar relation of degree : tanto meliores
hominibus, quant o hi brutis animantibus.f
The knowledge we possess of the angelic hosts, and
the powers they are capable of displaying, are wholly
derived from the pages of inspiration, where we may
gather much to instruct us on those points that relate
to their numbers, their powers of strength, swiftness,
and intelligence, their duration, &c, that must at once
convince us that, as created beings,! originally the
* Notes on Sermons delivered by the Rev. Robert Hall, M.A.,
taken by the Rev. T. Grenfield, M.A.
f Plato in Critias.
X Col. i. 16; Heb. i. 4.
IN RELATION TO MATTER. 23 ft
inhabitants of the highest heavens, they were endued

with qualities and attributes which must have tran-
scended far above those bestowed upon man in his
human capacity.
Scripture informs us these elevated beings were

created by Jesus Christ for the fulfilment of His own
purposes, and as those purposes have not been revealed
to us beyond what is implied in those passages of
Scripture, where the offices and attributes of angels*
accidently transpire, in the particular position in which
we are brought to observe them, it will be obvious

that much that belongs to them as they stand related
to the countless worlds we include under the general

name of heaven, must continue to remain unknown to
us. And this is the more probable, seeing that all we at
present know of such beings is derived from a source

that is above the power of the spirit of man to pene-
trate. Nevertheless, revelation has led us rightly to

infer many facts relating to the angels, which un-
doubtedly prove to us that there are great degrees and
diversities of power in these beings, and that they
are composed of distinct orders. In many parts
of Scripture they are variously called holy angels,

angels of light, angels that excel in strength. And
they are symbolized to us under titles most variable
and difficult of exact interpretation, being described in
* The word AyytAoe, according to Austin, is " a name not of
nature but of office." It simply means a messenger, and in this

capacity it is we have the opportunity afforded us of learning what
are some of the high attributes of these exalted beings.
some instances by their mere abstract qualities, and in
others by terms that shew that both the quality, and

the cause producing that quality, reside in them. Of
such a character are the words thrones, Qpovoi ;* domi-
nions, KvjoiorijTsc ; f principalities, Apyai j ; powers,
Awa/uug;^ authorities, E£«n*u;|| living ones, Zom.%
* This word may, according to the Greek etymologists, come

from the word 5-paw, to sit, and may imply that some orders of
angels display their powers, not as others do by rapidity of move-
ment, but by being stationary.
f An abstract term, being used for a concrete, and implying a

magisterial or civil authority.
% This is also a word often used in the concrete sense for the
persons or beings in whom this particular power is lodged, as well
as the power itself. It is difficult to fix the precise meaning of
this word. Christ himself is called Apxv (Rev. i. 8, xxi. 6, xxii.
13). It may have to do with their relative position.

§ An Attic word, put for Swafxieg, expressive of some great
power that might be termed miraculous, regardless of its applica-
tion to good or evil. In 1 Cor. i. 24, the word ciwajjug is put for
a title of Christ, Xpitrrov Qeov hvvap.iv koX Qeov aoflav. Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God.

||
Possibly an inferior authoritative power, and, as it may be
for good or evil, the latter power may be intended.
^f Occurs in Rev. iv. 6, 7, 8, 9, where it is rendered beasts.

But beasts cannot be in heaven ; the word relates to some exalted
power resembling the phenomena of life, but far higher. The
expression yifiovra dtyBcikpibv epirpoaQev rat oitLoQev, full of eyes
before and behind, is intended to show that these angels have the
most extensive and untiring power of vision. The title of these
kind of angels may be, from the description of their attributes,
like the cherubim and seraphim, while those we have been con-
sidering may be descriptive of their duties or office.
The words seraphim (Hebrew sheraphim)* and che-

rubim, Xepov(5ljLi,j- are, together with that of eloim,%
more difficult to understand.
These are the mighty beings that composed that
vast assembly that the prophet Micaiah beheld
when he " saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and
all the host of heaven standing by him on his right
* Occurs in Isaiah, vi. 2, where it denotes a kind of angels

around the throne of God, each of which had six wings. The
meaning of the word is " burning ones," full of fire, and may
denote their power to resist that destructive agent.
f This word, which occurs once in the New Testament (Heb.

ix. 5), is found often in the Old, and is there not intended to
convey the idea exactly of a created angel, but, some think, of the
Trinity. It represents a power in some senses higher than the
angels. It is, however, a word greatly obscured, and of the most
doubtful meaning.
% The word rendered in Job, i. 6, sons of God, has been by

some thought to mean those men who worshipped or obeyed
the true God, and it is the same Hebrew word, benai haeloim,
which occurs at Genesis, vi. 2. It occurs, however, also in
Job xxxviii. 7, and here it is impossible to believe the word applies
to man, the subject spoken of being the laying of the foundations
of the earth. The time, therefore, must have been before the
creation of man, and the beings spoken of must have been angels.
The word is put for judge, or magistrate, and is very variously

rendered in the English translation. When our Saviour told the
Jews to refer to their own law in proof that they were gods, he
alluded to that passage in Psalm lxxxii. 6, Exodus, xxii. 9.
"When David God standeth in the congregation of the mighty,

says,
he judgeth among the gods, he doubtless intends to show the

exalted power the Creator possesses over the highest angels.
§ 1 Kings, xxii. 19.

hand and on his left."§ These formed the numerous

company of heaven that composed the ten thousand
times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of
angels whose voices the Apostle John heard in praise
of God. Speaking of their numbers, David says,
" The chariots of God are twenty thousand thou-
sands of angels ;"* and in other parts of Scripture they
are represented in great numbers as ministering unto
God.f When the Lord came from Sinai, he was ac-
companied with ten thousands of his j saints. In other

Scriptures their numbers are spoken of as countless. §
The personality of the angels cannot be denied ; for
they are spoken of as having some kind of body at-
tached to them ; and there can be no doubt that in

heaven, when in the presence of the Great Jehovah,
they all have some kind of body to which their spirit is
appended. This fact is sustained by the analogy of

every created thing. As the spirit of man is united to
a material body in the production of the phenomena of
life and mind, and, in the final separation from this
mortal body, will again be reunited to one destined to

carry that spirit through the interminable ages of
eternity, — so doubtless are the spirits of angels united
to some kind of body which is so prepared and endued

as to be able to display the higher attributes, and to
endure the more powerful agents they are appointed to

deal with. That these angelic bodies must be very
* Ps. Ixviii. 17. t Dan. vii. 10.
X Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; see also Jude xiv.
§ Heb. xii. 22.

;
different in character and composition from those we

are in the habit of considering as the corporeal tene-
ments of the spirit of man, needs no argument to prove.
But that there must be some kind of body in which
these higher attributes are to be manifested is obvious
for we cannot suppose those glorious appearances de-
scriptive of the angels and of heaven can have any
meaning in a bare abstract spiritual sense apart from
some kind of material utility. Their faces are said to
shine as the light ; but as mere spirit they could not
shine at all ; they could not be even visible or light,
unless they blended their high spiritual nature with
some bodily nature that is best fitted to entertain it, or
to transmit it. The very glories of heaven must par-
take of this mysterious union, or we must suppose part
of God's creation differs from all the rest; and the
most powerful argument we can use — viz. the uniform,
intimate, and dependent connection of the entire crea-
tion in proof of the existence of God, both material and

spiritual, — is thus shaken to the foundation.
And why should the matter of our globe, whether or-
ganized or not, be thought to be the only matter in the
universe ? and, if so, what forms the material elements
that constitute the bulk of countless worlds that move
in the celestial cycles of the universe ? Whereas, to
say that man or the angels in an immortal state have
bodies, is to say nothing concerning their nature or re-
lative proportions. They cannot be put together as
flesh and blood, for we are distinctly told such gross
material cannot enter the presence of God ; and if

these angelic bodies are put together in a manner

different from any mode of union or collocation we can
recognise in our own world, this fact is implied in the
strongest manner from the very different attributes and
powers with which they are to be distinguished in the
account we receive of them in revelation.
The Spirit of the Holy Angels.
The immediate presence of God is represented in

the Scriptures as being impossible of approach by man
in his mortal state ; and his contemplation of the
stupendous majesty of God is only to be realised
when his mortal body shall have put on immortality,
or, in other words, when he has received a glorious
body according as it seemeth best to God. In this
state he will resemble the holy angels in all those great

qualities necessary to their pre-eminent dignity. The
angel that appeared to Zechariah in the temple said to
him, " I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of
God."* St. John, in a vision, saw the four living

angels round about God's throne " that were full of
eyes before and behind. "f And Isaiah, in the year
that King Huzziah died, in the same manner " saw

Jehovah sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and
his train filled the temple. Above it stood the
seraphim, each one had six wings." {
How vastly and almost infinitely do these seraphic
beings transcend the same qualities in man, will be
* Luke, + Rev.
i. 19. iv. 6. J Isaiah, vi. 1, 2.
gathered fromthe few accounts we have given us of their

powers. How closely do these immediate attendants
upon the most High Gocl resemble, in some of their attri-
butes, the wonderful Being whose commands they exe-

cute, whose honour, glory, and might they constantly
shew forth. But though their rapid movements, their
power, and their intelligence, are so immeasurably above

the same qualities in man, yet when compared with the
great Jehovah these attributes even are limited.* The

attributes of these exalted beings surpass our compre-
hension, even by the use of comparisons we borrow
from the same qualities exhibited by man in so inferior
a degree. We can hardly believe that the slow motion

that marks the progress of man in all that he does, can
be carried out by the holy angels to such an extent as

to make their movements to seem quite independent of
time or space : hence they are metonymically described
as being covered with wings. The appearance of the
angel Gabriel before Daniel, while he was in the act of

prayerf before God, shows that in an incalculably short
space of time this messenger of God, who stands in his
presence, must have left the heaven of heavens, where
God dwelleth, in order to visit the prophet and to give
to him " skill and understanding ;" to accomplish

which he must have travelled infinitely faster than light
is supposed to do in its passage from the fixed stars.
The slightest reflection is sufficient to convince us that
the most gigantic computation of the movements of
* 1 Peter, i. 12; Matt. xxiv. 36. f Dan. ix - 21.

bodies so constituted as those we see around us would

be inadequate, " though favoured by the duration of
eternity," to accomplish so vast a labour as that of
travelling through the immensity of the created uni-

verse. " Oar imagination cannot seize on a celerity
adequate to the task of travelling the space between

the opposite extremities of that portion of the creation
which has come within the cognizance of man. The
velocity of the earth, though rated at sixty-eight thou-
sand miles an hour, would be sluggish and unsuited to

the requisite progress of such a journey. Even the
swiftness of the comet which was calculated by Newton,
though thirteen times as great, would be still insuffi-
cient. Eight hundred and eighty thousand miles an

hour would not enable an inhabitant of the sun to visit
his neighbours, Sirius and Arcturus, in a shorter period
than four or five thousand years, nor the extremity of

the milky way in less than the little eternity comprised
in two millions ; and still there are numerous and

distant nebulas rising on his view, and each of them
estimated as a universe equal to that which surrounds
us. How many of our years must we travel with the
speed of a comet to light upon their confines ? Eorty
millions of years."*
All this inconceivable immensity does but convince

us we shall with glorified bodies have nothing to fetter
our true apprehension of the glory and unity of creation,
when we shall behold it and compass it as it were with
* Carmicliael on the Destiny of Man.

f
a glance. Time and space will then give way, when

we see the majesty, the splendour, the greatness of our
God, as he will then be all in all.
We have some anticipation of what this power will

be, however faintly portrayed, in the instantaneous
operation of thought as it spans synchronously in-
numerable objects even to the utmost limits of
created matter. How strongly does the Psalmist
contrast man's finite powers with the infinite power
of God, even when he would attempt to escape his
presence by rapidly moving from one part of the earth
to the other, or from one boundary of the creation
to the other. In the highest poetical strain, he breaks
out, " Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it
is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go

from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy
presence ? If I go up into heaven, thou art there ; if
I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there also. If
I shall take the wings of the morning and remain in

the utmost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand
lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."*
The power of the angels is almost as incompre-
hensible to us as their rapid movements. They are
represented in Scripture as excelling in strength.
Here we read of one angel destroying seventy thousand
men in three days % ;
and of another angel who in one
night slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand men out
of Sennacherib's army. § And in the execution of God's
* Psa. cxxxix. 6 — 10. f Psa. ciii. 20.
% 2 Sam. xxiv. 15. § 2 Kings, xix. 35.
R
242 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIKJTS
future vengeance upon our earth, they are represented
as having power over the elements of matter, and even

the fierce spirits of devils. In The "Revelation* an angel
is exhibited as binding that powerful of all fallen spirits,
" the prince of the power of the air " as " casting him
into the bottomless pit, and setting a seal upon him."
How astonishing also must be their intelligence J
They are described in Scripture by those comparative
expressions which imply the immensity of their under-
standing and intellectual ardour. Though permitted
to enter into, to behold, and to enjoy the glories of the
vast eternal empire of Jehovah, yet they are never

wearied or exhausted, their youth and vigour is still
and ever the same throughout eternity. Figuratively
speaking, they are " full of eyes within," that is, having
all their knowledge, attention, consciousness, and every
other attribute, so much enlarged as to grasp simulta-
neously and unceasingly the entire range of God's
creation, not only as regards its grandeur, its immen-
sity, or its outward beauty, but also as regards his
manifold wisdom in its creation and government, and

the true comprehension of truth and love.
If it is thought that these and many other high
qualifications descriptive of the angels, imply that

such beings are purely spiritual, and have no kind of
body attached to them, we have not only the argu-
ment already used, in speaking of man's resurrection,

but the evidence of Scripture is also against such a
supposition, for there we find that those angels which

have appeared to man have all had some kind of body
* Rev. xx. 2.
attached to The angels that appeared to

them.
Abraham* not only talked with him, but ate food.
The angel that preserved the three children in the fiery
furnace, whose form was like unto the Son of God,f
must clearly have had a body, or the king could not
have recognised it. The angel that appeared to
Manoah's wife, and afterwards to him in the field with
her, undoubtedly had a body, and that body must have

had some of the characters of the human body, or they
would not have offered him meat, j When Elijah was
under the juniper tree an angel touched him twice, and
talked to him.§ In the matter of David's numbering
the people, when the plague fell upon Jerusalem, David
was by the threshingfloor of Araunah, and " he lifted
up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand

between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn
sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. And
the Lord commanded the angel, and he put up his sword
again into the sheath thereof." ||
So likewise the Angel
of the Lord that appeared to the two women at the
sepulchre is described as " rolling back the stone from
the door, and sitting upon it."^[ And not to mention
other occasions, as when the angel appeared to Zecha-
rias,** to the shepherds, f f to our Saviour in the Mount
of 01ives,j | t° Peter when in prison, &c, we are fully
assured they must have been provided with some kind
of body.
* Gen. xviii. 8.
f Dan. iii. 25. % Judges, xiii.
§ 1 Kings, xix. 5. ||
1 Chron. xxi. 16, 27.
% Mat. xxviii. 2. ** Luke, i. 11, 12.
ft Luke, ii. 9, 10. %% Matt. iv. 11 ; xii. 7, 8.

f
On the other hand, there are angels spoken of in

Scripture that appeared not to the outward senses of
those to whom they were sent.* And that this was
an incomprehensible attribute in them, but not the less
true on that account, is remarkably shown in the case

of Balaam, where the angel of the Lord was seen by
the ass in the first instance, and not by the prophet.
The circumstance, therefore, of the bodies of those
angels we read of in Scripture, who were sent from

God, and who were placed in some sort of communica-
tion with man, though not visible to him, may receive
an explanation that does not disturb the fact of their
having all bodies of some kind. But for moral reasons,

or for reasons connected with the trial of faith, it might
have been necessary that in some instances these angels
should not be visible ; thus the witch of En dor first
saw Samuel when Saul did not. j
This attribute of the angels, of being bodily present

though invisible to the human eye, is a power they
receive from God. Our Saviour made use of it on
several occasions, both before and after his crucifixion,
even to conceal his humanity. § And in his warning

to his disciples, our Saviour, speaking of the importance
and duty of regarding little children with kindness
and humility, says, " For I say unto you that their
angels do behold the face of their father which is in
* Gen. xxii. 11. Here the angel called to Abraham out of

heaven, xxiv. 7 ; 2 Kings, xix. 35 ; Dan. vi. 22.
f Numb. xxii. 22—31. % 1 Sam. xxviii. 12—14.

§ Luke, iv. 30 ; John, viii. 59 ; x. 39 ; Luke, xxiv. 31.
heaven."* The holy Psalmist also tells us, " The angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them."f
And this is an attribute that should not be lightly
touched upon, seeing it is so extensively made use of
by the fallen spirits to the destruction of man's happi-
ness and his hopes. On the power of this attribute, as
it is used by the great adversary of the spirit of man to
entrap him, I shall speak more fully in the next chapter.
Here it is important to dwell more upon the general
qualities of angelic power, with reference to the good
of man ; for their lofty powers and transcendently
happy spirits are revealed to us for encouragement, and
their disinterested love and joy over all the concerns of
men which relate to the prospect of their final happi-
ness j in the presence of God, are truly animating

incentives to resist the power of Satan with those
means which revelation has placed within our reach.
By showing us what must be the superiority, both in

strength and depth, of their intellectual capacities, they
remind us of the awful nature of those capacities, —how
readily they could, if permitted by God,, employ them
for the enlargement of his understanding and the more
deep and glorious comprehension of the divine perfec-
tion. But upon no occasion can we gather in the
sacred records any authority to suppose the astonish-
ing power of the spirit of angels has been permitted to
* Matt, xviiii. 10.
f Psa. xxxiv. 7 ; see also Psa. xci. 11, 12; Matt. iv. 6 ; Heb.
i. 14 ; Dan. vi. 22. % Luke, xv. 7.
exert itself in regulating the affairs of man, or influenc-

ing the destiny of his. spirit.
This point is very important to be borne in mind,

for it is remarkably in keeping with the commands
so implicitly laid down by God in that law which
was to be a guide to his chosen people, in the
midst of a world that had been usurped by a fallen

angel. It had been from the fall of man attempted
to graft the power of this fallen angel upon the spirit
of man ; but God saw the injury it would effect,
in allowing so powerful a spirit to act upon the deli-
cate framework appropriated for that spirit of man

that was designed, at first, only to know God in the
countless wonders of that part of his creation which is
confined within the limits of those faculties it was made

to treat with. Accordingly, God denounced in that
Law all those acts which implied that a higher spiritual
power was acting upon the mind of man, which spiri-
tual power had not been imparted by God. Among

these, the practice of witchcraft, sorcery, charming,*
and all other attempts to exert a supernatural influence
over the mind of man, in that it was an attempt to
usurp those attributes which alone could be wielded
by God in connexion with man, were denounced as in
the highest degree sinful. God knew what would be

the end of such spiritual operations if employed by one
whose deep enmity to the human race had already been
so fearfully displayed. He knew how it would excite
* Exod. xxii. 18 ; Lev. xix. 26. 31 ; and xx. 27 ; Deut. xviii.
10 — 12 ; Isaiah, viii. 19; 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 9.

the spirit of man to envy and discontent, and therefore

he wisely put the heaviest judgment upon those who
acknowledged his own power, while they practised the
arts and trusted in the power of a fallen angel.
While, then, the power of angels cannot be denied,

it is important to bear in mind that whenever such
is produced, as by ordinary means, it is not by any
natural process of the human mind and ; the individual
manifesting this supernatural power is either doing so
by Divine inspiration, or by a power that is acting in

opposition to the spirit of God.
It is not unreasonable to suppose that the exhi-
bition of a power so great as that of angels, when
manifested, as if ordinarily, through that organization
intended for the operation of so different a spirit as
that of man, would be contrary to Divine appointment,
since it must lead to a feigned resemblance of Divine
power, and would thus be calculated to mislead the

human mind into the belief that it was from God. It
was for this cause that the Creator has ever been dis-
tinguished by all His works, as well as by those laws

that he made to govern them, as the unchangeable God.
Nevertheless, that God might be known in the
government of the world, as that Being whose power
transcends, that of angels, He has from time to time
made it known, through his prophets, by supernatural
means, yet always in such a manner as to insure con-
viction to the human mind as to the source whence it
it is derived. It was not a power lightly handled, or
displayed upon ordinary or unimportant occasions ; on

the contrary, it may be almost supposed the power
would never have been made known to man had he

passed though the present dispensation in his original
state of purity and innocence. And therefore it was
in order to counteract the evil effects of the spirit of fallen
angels, that He manifested any supernatural power at

all. By comparing what is said of the great prophets
of God in the Scriptures, and examining the many
wonderful acts they performed, we are able to detect
many superior qualities in the operation of their minds.
These qualities are very distinct, and by their instru-
mentality the prophets were able to speak of past

events beyond the power of tradition or the memory
of man to impart. They would see also into the
future, and that, apparently without the instrumentality
of natural objects to direct them.* They could de-
prive natural bodies of their ordinary qualities,! and
they could command the spirits of life and of men to
return to the dead body they had left, j Such
qualities as these are identical with those that at an
earlier period of the world were manifested by those
angels that were sent from God. In all these opera-
tions we see a power displayed alike in kind, though

not in degree, to that of the fallen angels, and the
same power is recognised in the close resemblance the
magical operations of the sorcerers bore to that which
was placed in Moses. The only difference was in
degree, and hence the magicians failed to do all by

their incantations which Moses did by the spirit that
was in him.
* 2 Kings, viii. 1 ; 1 Kings, xvii. 1.
t 2 Kings, vi. 6, % 2 Kings, iv. 35.

CHAPTER XII.
THE SPIRIT OF ANGELS.
The fallen Angels, and the operation of their Spirit

upon Mortal Bodies.
In speaking of the brain as the organic instrument

through which the spirit of man was designed to com-
municate with God's creation, as far as this globe is
concerned, and so to draw undoubted evidence of the

truthfulness of such further knowledge as it has
pleased Him to reveal to man, I was anxious to prove
that neither the brain, nor its phenomena comprised in
the mind, were really the spirit of man, but only a

mode of action which was designed for the use of the
spirit of man. This exquisite piece of divine me-

chanism was, however, most injuriously assaulted by a
spirit that was far more powerful than the spirit of
man, even before the fall, and this demoniacal spirit so
far succeeded in injuring thehuman mind, that in order

to save the spirit of man from being carried away
captive, the wisdom of God sent His Holy Spirit to
the rescue. As an instrument of perfection to act fault-
lessly, and without any deviation from what God had

made in the first instance to act with strict relation
to truth, its injury was irreparable ; and this fact puts

the office of a mediator between God and man in its
true position.
We have now, then, to contemplate man as a mortal
being, in whom the cause of this injury has been
brought to bear upon his mind, and through this, upon

his body, with a view to its destruction, and so to the
final carrying away of his spirit from the presence and

joy of its Creator.
I shall not stop here to inquire whether this power

to produce death is a mere principle of evil, or whether
it is a real being. There is the most abundant proof
from revelation that the cause of evil and of death is
personated in Satan, or the devil. This is a doctrine
not obscurely hinted at, but one that pervades the

Scriptures in every part. While, therefore, his ex-
istence is disputed by a very small section of the human
race, his ubiquity may be with more reason doubted.
The frequent occurrence of the word devils in Scrip-
ture has misled many into the erroneous supposition

that there are many beings comprehended under this
title. But the word translated devils, is strictly ren-
dered demons (Aen/ioves), * and as such ought not

to be regarded otherwise than as angels, and that not
abstractedly as fallen angels, but only so in reference
to the context. Of these demons or angels of Satan
there must be countless numbers ; but they are always
* This word we probably first obtain from Hesiod. It was by

him used to express an office to which, after death, mortals were
promoted by Jupiter as keepers of mortal men. Plato afterwards
used this word, and applied it to those who attained great honour
distinguished from their prince or leader, who controls

and uses them for the carrying out of his purposes. He is
called "the devil," and they are called "his angels." The
power possessed by Satan over the entire race of man-
kind is undoubted. " We know," says St. John, " that
the whole world lieth under the wicked one." In
other Scripture the devil is recognised as " the prince
of the power of the air j" and this latter expression is
doubtless intended to shew man what is the extent of

Satanic agency when uncontrolled by the still more
powerful Spirit of God. His existence, therefore, i
s
not a question of uncertainty, nor to be denied by
Christians, as it was by the Sadducees,* the peripatetic
philosophers, or by the followers of Epicurus. Among
the Pagan philosophers who believed in the existence
of spirits, may be mentioned Socrates, Pythagoras,
Plato, Plotinus, Porphyrius, Proclus, Zeno, Epictetus,
Seneca, and many others.
One of the immediate effects of this spirit upon

man's mind was to give him the knowledge of good
and evil.f He was, by partaking of the forbidden
fruit, to be admitted to the rank of gods ; and truly did
he attain to this supernatural knowledge, which was
contrary to the wish of his Creator. It was, indeed,
to make him a god, but this god was a fallen angel.
The spirit of evil, as I have termed it, which is a
and dignity. Nor was it a term applied in an evil sense till the
commencement of the Christian era. See Duport on Theo-
phrastus' work on the Moral Character of Men.
* Acts, xxiii. 8.
f Gen. iii. 5.
fallen angelic spirit, has, then, been permitted, doubt-

less for most wise and glorious reasons, though to man
they are in his present state inscrutable, to enter the
field of the human mind. And his chief mode of
attack has been marked by two very different but
characteristic forms or methods, that will be presently
pointed out.
It is not necessary to suppose the operation of this
power is confined to the personal presence of the devil.
Though there is not a scene of wickedness or vice in the
whole world, or a thought of envy, anger, or malice, in
the mind, in which Satan is not the cause ;
yet this is
not to say he is present to the individuals so acting

otherwise than by his agents or emissaries. It is not
necessary for the carrying out of his power, awfully
great as it is, that the devil should be invested with
the " essential incommunicable omniprescence of deity."
Nothing is more common in the use of language than to
attribute to the principal or leader that which is done

by his authority or influence, and thus the operations
of thousands are referred in the Scriptures to a power
not necessarily always present as the true cause.* We
witness this in the government of earthly monarchs,
and it is doubtless caused by the more powerful nature
of the being operating upon the properties of those
bodies that are inferior.

The first form of Satanic attack was necessarily
adopted at the period of the Fall, when the whole race
* See, on this point, Notes on Sermons of Rev. Robert Hall, by-
Rev. T. Grenfield.
of man was involved ; and in this attack doubtless the
mind was in the first instance preliminarily disposed by

the supernatural agency of this power operating in
some more than in others, to that state which is dis-
tinguished by the loss of power over the attributes of

the intellectual faculties and feelings, and which con-
stitutes the mental cause of sin. This was the mode
in which we find the spirit of evil first involved the
human mind; and this state, when deprived of the
power to act correctly or voluntarily, is recognised by
the title of insanity.*
The second method, which is probably, in the order

of time, the last attack that this spirit has hitherto
made upon the human mind, may be recognised in
those poor creatures, the demoniacs mentioned in the
Scriptures. I shall consider each of these in the order
in which I have named them.

First, we notice in revelation the effect the
then,
spirit of evil had generally upon the human race. By
leading the mind away from God and the contemplation
of His perfections, it gradually became doubtful and
unbelieving, envious, selfish, arrogant, self-willed, sen-
sual, and corrupt : so that it quickly gave birth to tenets
and opinions that struck at the power and authority
of God, and carried the mind away into the practice of
idolatry, or a degraded system of polytheism. This
* Although, both in a scriptural as in a pathological sense,

that mind is especially unsound which is habitually under the
power of evil, yet insanity is a term more strictly applied to acts
that are not capable of being distinguished by the individuals

producing them.
was the effect of the first throw of the spirit of evil at
the human mind ; also to lead the mind to seek of
some pretended deity that knowledge of future events

which the evil spirit had excited. And now, by so in-
juring the mind in the employment of its natural fa-
culties and powers to so abusive and unnatural an

extent, it was prepared to be deceived by the power
under which it had been enlisted and enticed ; and, to
insure the continuance of man's subjection to the au-
thority of this spirit of evil, it commenced exercising
its demoniacal, and therefore supernatural, power in

the performance of all those wonder-striking and mira-
culous acts we read recorded of those who were said to
be possessed of a spirit of divination or a spirit of
charming or of necromancy.* This was highly flatter-
* The different kinds of divination which have passed for

sciences admit of ten divisions. But we may now enlarge the
number with safety, and, as I hope presently to show, the science
of mesmerism should undoubtedly be ranked among them. These

are — 1. Aeromancy (divining by the air). 2. Astrology (by the
heavens). 3. Augury (by the flight and singing of birds).
4. Chiromancy (by inspecting the hand). 5. Geomancy (by ob-
serving the cracks or clefts in the earth). 6. Haruspicy (by in-

specting the bowels of animals). 7. Horoscopy (marking the
position of the heavens when a man is born). 8. Hydromancy
(by water). 9. Pyromancy (by fire). 10. Physiognomy (by the
countenance). This last term is not to be understood in the
sense Lavater has attached to it, but simply as a method of
divining by the countenance, which the sorcerers could do.
There are nine different kinds of divination mentioned in
Scripture. These are — 1. Those whom Moses calls Meonen,

from Anan, a cloud, Deut. xviii. 10. 2. Those whom the
ing to the human mind, to think it could, by such a

power, possess an insight into the nature and operation
of things otherwise intended not to be known by man.
"When the woman saw that the tree was good for
food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit,"
&c. This was evidently known to the Prince of Dark-

ness as the most likely and the most attractive motive
for inducing man to join his banners. Accordingly
the after -history of his destructive conquest over the
spirit of man fully satisfies us how much he knew, and
with what skill he applied his infernal knowledge. The
same desire to become wise above that which our na-
tural faculties can make us, or above that which the
Spirit of God has revealed to us, is the secret spring
that is ever at work to draw man from the service of
God to the service of Satan. It gives the true explana-
tion of all those wonder-seeking methods resorted to

by man in every age of his career, through which he
attempts to emulate his Maker, and to exalt himself in
the eyes of his fellow-creatures. That this was a great
prophet calls in the same place Menacheseh, which the Vulgate

and the generality of interpreters render Augur. 3. Those who
in the same place are called Mecasceph, which the Septuagint and
Vulgate translate "a man given to its practices." 4. Those
whom in the same chapter, verse 11, he calls Hhober. 5. Those
who consult the spirits called Python. 6. Witches or magicians,
called Judeoni. 7. Necromancers, who consult the dead. 8. Such
as consult staves (Hos. iv. 12) called by some Rhabdomancy.
9. Hypatoscophy, or the consideration of the liver. See Buck's
Theological Diet., art. Divination.
power in the hands of Satan, and emanating from him,

no one can doubt when they read in Scripture what it
could accomplish : how it imitated in the most asto-

nishing manner even the power of God's spirit while
resting upon Moses in the case of the Egyptian plagues.
Opposed to the argument employed by some, that these

diviners and enchanters were little more than mere for-
tune-tellers or dealers in natural magic, we have the
fact of their being the agents of some extraordinary
power that was put in array against the majesty of
heaven acknowledged in the prohibitions and judg-
ments of the law which related to such practices, as
well as in the marks appointed by Moses for discerning
a false from a true prophet.* The titles there given
to such as pursued these hidden practices are too unmis-

takeable to lead us to suppose the practices followed
by such persons were either marked by immoral acts,
or that they were mere jugglings or sleights of hand ;
for in the Scriptures they are plainly identified and de-

nounced as the work of some great evil power. The term
"familiar spirit" is a very remarkable one, as brand-
ing the power at once with a title that neither marked
the character of God's supernatural dealings with man,
nor of that spirit he had placed in him. To suppose,
also, that this power was one limited to the mere
" trafficking with idols,"f or only displayed in the ad-
ministration of poisonous drugs or noxious vapours, is
* Deut. xiii. 12.
f Scott's Demonology, Letter II. p. 54. This was the belief

of Hippocrates and Avicenna, Wierus, Holbrenna, Ceelius, and
many others.
—
to overlook countless acts spread over very many years in

the eventful history of man, which too plainly declared
they were the operation of some spirit more powerful
than that which ordinarily acts upon the mind of man.
From the time when Joseph stood before Pharaoh,
and probably much earlier, down to that when the
damsel at Philippi cried out to Paul and Silas, " These
men are the servants of the most high God," we have

the highest authority for believing this particular
demoniacal power constituting the first form in which it
manifested itself in the bodies of men, was permitted

to exert its deadening influence.
That it was a power able to see into the operation
of events which bore no connexion with those only to

be deduced by a rational sequence is most certain, while
by this very power the mind of the bystanders, or those

present, was attracted and misled. The girl at Philippi,
that " brought her masters much gain by soothsaying,"

was probably the only person amongst those who fol-
lowed the apostles who knew they were really sent

from God. But how could she come by this know-
ledge, in the midst of her daily drudgery in the service
of Satan ? It could not be by human power. It was

not likely to be by the power of the holy Spirit of God.
There was, then, no other power than that of the
master whom she served by which she could obtain
this knowledge.
It should be also noticed that the apostle used the
same means for expelling the spirit of Pithon in this
damsel as was resorted to by them for expelling the
evil spirits in those said to be possessed by the devil :-
—
" I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come

out of her."
The effect this power had upon the heathen nations
of the world, in sweeping myriads of the human family
down the gulph of pagan idolatry, and the effect it has
upon the moral and physical constitution of man, is
shewn in the many millions of our race who to this day

are under its dominion, and in the vast numbers who
are afflicted with mental and bodily diseases that have
shortened the span of life within the narrowest limits.

The astonishing power of the spirit of evil has, at
different periods of the earth's history, been so awfully
manifest, that it is well to consider such a power in all
its bearings ; comparing its past history with that which

revelation, for our guidance and warning, has made
known to us as its future characteristics.
There are few in the present day who can realize
that wonderful power that enabled the enchanters be-

fore Pharaoh to turn their rods into serpents, and their
river into blood ; but unless the word of God fails,
and our Saviour tells us that heaven and earth shall

pass away sooner than that one iota of that word shall
fail, —we shall yet see a more awful display of this
demoniacal power than it has ever before exhibited.

Such a power as will be able to give life and speech to
a mere image or idol, and to call clown fire from heaven,*

and perform many miracles in the sight of men, is one
* See Rev. xiii. 13, and compare it with chap. xvi. 2 ; 2 Thes.
ii. 9 ; also Rev. xix. 20, and xx. 4. These passages are yet
unfulfilled.
even more dreadful to contemplate than that which

drove so many poor sufferers to demoniacal distraction.
It excites alarm in the mind of the experienced
christian, knowing as he does that the power of Satan
is yet to be more awfully developed, when he sees the
revival of so many deceptive arts practised daily upon

the minds of credulous and unthinking persons.
A more and more correct knowledge of the properties
of matter must, as science advances, help to narrow the
real power of witchcraft ; and to some this particular
form of demoniacal power would seem to be thought

exclusively to be confined to palmistry and the art of
natural magic. But this is not in keeping with the

most indisputable evidence, and that independent of
the authority of revelation, that there is a spiritual
power at work which is above the capability of natural
science to explain. Doubtless there are and have been
many pretended operations of supernatural interposition
which could receive a more rational and consistent in-
terpretation by the laws of nature. These laws may,

man}' of them, particularly as they relate to individual
substances, be quite unknown, or if known at all,
known only to a few. Ars vera est, sed pauci artifices

reperiuntur. We know many plants, and
the virtue of
mineral and animal substances have been made known
to us only very recently, and every year we add to
the number of natural agents whose virtues we have

discovered. It was said of Solomon, that he cured
all diseases of the mind that were brought before
him ;* and if this was true, he doubtless did so in virtue

of his great natural knowledge, which enabled him to
speak " of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Leba-

non even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the
wall/'f
In seeking to discriminate between the power of the
spirit of man and that of the spirit of angels, we may
be sure that all knowledge that does not come by the
investigation of the laws of nature or through the super-
natural power of revelation, is to be referred to angelic,

or as we more commonly term it, demoniacal power.
Of such a nature is the power to foretel events, under
the present dispensation, that cannot possibly have any
connexion with the past or the present state of things.
But however difficult may be the task of drawing the
line between the dexterous display of the natural pro-
perties of matter and the distinct effect of the spirit of
evil upon the mind, there is unquestionably a point

beyond which the operation of natural laws will not
carry us. Does this point turn upon the mental object
of the individual, so that the deceptive handling even
of natural properties is the sign for the operation of the
spirit of divination to commence ? That it cannot be
an easy matter to detect in all cases where this
spirit first begins to display its supernatural power,

must be evident, or it would have been pointed out
long since. But that it exists in operation as a super-
* Marcellus Donatus de Hist. Mir. lib. i. cap. ii.
t 1 Kings, iv. 33.

natural power is as certain as that there are signs by

which we may detect the nature and uses of natural
bodies. It was not part of the scheme of the spirit of
evil to mark with clear delineation the true boundaries

of that power. " In vain the net is spread in the sight
of any bird." It was, therefore, an object to be borne
out, that those natural properties of matter which, from
peculiar circumstances, carried with them the aspect
of being supernatural, should be those on which the
demoniacal' spirit might be displayed with less
chance of being detected. This point is remarkably

well elucidated by investigating the practice of charm-
ing.
One of the natural powers given to serpents in orien-

tal countries, where birds and other small animals
increase their numbers so rapidly, is that of being able,
by instilling fear, or by some other means, to cause the
bird to fall into the power of the serpent. This was a

power, though perfectly natural, that was calculated to
excite the wonder and the ingenuity of man. And lest
these venomous reptiles should exercise too destructive

an influence over the family of man, the Creator wisely
placed the means for disarming them in certain natural
productions of the vegetable world.* These alexiphar-
mics were, doubtless, known to many oriental nations,
* It was from the arts practised upon that particular serpent

called in the Scriptures Pethen (occurs at Psa. lviii. 4 ; xci. 13 ;
Deut. xxxii. 33 ; Job, xx. 14, 16 ; Isaiah, xi. 8), that those who
were supposed to be possessed with a spirit of divination were
styled 7ru0wj'££.
;
and though kept comparatively secret, many plants*
were employed in diverse ways, either by chewing their

roots or smearing their juices over the body, in such a
manner as to convey to the bystanders, who were igno-
rant of the virtue of such plants, the idea that the indi-
viduals so acting were possessed of a supernatural
power over those very creatures that were supposed to
hold in themselves some power which entitled them to
be worshipped.
Besides the knowledge of alexipharmics, man was
able, by the close study of the habits of these animals,
to ascertain the natural signs which indicated they

were to be approached or not with impunity. Among
these signs is that mentioned by Davy,f when the
cobra de capello dilates the crest upon its neck, which
is a large flexible membrane, having on the upper sur-
face two black circular spots like a pair of spectacles,
and waves its head to and fro, making a loud hissing
noise, the eyes sparkling, it is dangerous of approach

and when this hood is closed, the snake never bites ;
neither is it known to bite even when the hood is
* Such as the Ophiorhyza munyos and the Cornus or dog-tree,

mentioned by Owen, and the wild pennyroyal, Mentha puieyium,
the bastard dittany, Dictamnus albus, the rattle-snake milkwort,
Polygala senega, &c. Niebuhr states that the perfume of plants
had a specific effect upon serpents : and in certain idolatrous pro-
cessions, the virgin who carried the serpent wore on ber head a
garland of flowers, supposed to have some effect upon the animal.
—Notes in ForskaVs Nat. Hist.
f Account of the Interior of Ceylon.
— —
spread, if the creature continues silent. This is a re-

markable fact when placed by that practice of the
charmers which enables them, by the aid of those loud
and discordant sounds they produce from their pipes
and tomtoms, to appease the rage of this animal,

though in the most excited state of exasperation. The
animal, by this artificial noise, would seem to be de-
prived of the power to produce its own natural sound,
and in the inability to do this it cannot bite. It is
also a fact well known that most of the larger serpents

are very averse to use the deadly poison given to them
by the Creator. This discovery of the effect of artificial
sounds upon the poisonous serpents must have been

very early known, for David makes mention of it in the
fifty-eighth psalm, where he says the wicked are like
the deaf adder which will not hearken to the voice or

sound of charmers, be the charmer never so cunning.
Austin* states that the Marsians, a people that in-
habited Italy before the Romans, possessed the secret

of enchanting serpents. Ovid confirms the expression
in Job, where it is asked if " the enchanter can cause
the leviathan to burst, "f evidently in allusion to his
power to make them burst

"Viperas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces. "%
And Virgil alludes to the power the charmers pos-

sessed over serpents :
" Spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat."§
* De Genesi ad litter, lib. ix. 28. f.

Job, xli. 25.
% Metamorph. Fab. 2, de Medea. § iEneid, vii.

—
The same practice is alluded to by Pindar, Homer,

Cato, and a multitude of ancients.
This practice of incantation must have been in use from
the earliest period, and was alluded to also by Solomon*
and Jeremiah ;f and the frightful and extensive prac-
tice of serpent- worship | that spread so widely over the
great continent of India was mainly attributable to the

natural properties of the animals in the first instance
having been artfully concealed by the enemy of man-

kind, in order that the power they possessed might
bear the appearance of something above nature. It is
not possible to suppose this power was so extensively

propagated from one nation to another by mere natural
magic, or human art, nor does revelation require us to
believe so. In giving power to his disciples to work
miracles, Christ represents the power of the enemy as
* " Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment."

Eccles. x. 2, 11. See also Job, xl. 25, and Eccles. xii. 13.
f
" I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, that will
not be charmed ; and they shall bite you, saith the Lord."
Jer. viii. 17.
% The Egyptians worshipped the serpent in many ways, ac-

cording to Herodotus, iElian, Macrobius. So also did the Baby-
lonians, the Phenicians, and the Arabians, the inhabitants of Asia
Minor, and the Romans. The nations of the North of Europe
Poland, Norway, Prussia, — besides those of the vast continent of
Asia, were all involved at one period in the worship of this crea-
ture. In the primitive church there was a sect called Ophites,
and at one period no higher honour could be given to men than
that title given to Alexander the Great and Scipio Africanus — viz.
that they were born of serpents ; or, in other words, of a power
superior to mortals.
—
being mixed up with that of serpents and scorpions.

Luke x. 19.
That the art of witchcraft was mixed up with the

use, or rather the abuse, of many herbs* and natural
productions of the earth, is as certain as in the practice
of charming. One who dealt in sorcery or witchcraft
* The properties of many herbs and animal productions are

capable of acting upon different parts of the animal body, and so
upon the mind and feelings. Thus there are medicines that are
capable of exciting the physical passions, — such as Helleborus
officinalis, Cantharis vesicatoria, and the Juniperus sabina. Joy

and delight are the result of taking the Papaver somniferum and
the Cannabis indica. Fear, anger, and rage, follow the exhibition
of the Laurus camphora and the Atropa belladonna ; and loss of
memory can be produced by means of the Digitalis purpurea.

The inhalation of certain odours or vapours produced similar
effects. The celebrated Pythia at Delphi was said to owe her

oracular powers to the position of the temple upon a rock, through
a crevice of which a vapour rose that was supposed to be impreg-
nated with prophetic virtue. The Pythia, before she performed
her office, chewed the leaf of the Laurus camphora. She was
then seated on a tripod and fumigated with some powerful vapour,
which produced convulsions and insensibility, and in many cases
death. The inhalation of the fumes of the protoxide of nitrogen
were found by Sir H. Davy to produce great laughter, and a rapid

flow of vivid ideas. The effect of the inhalation of sulphuric
ether and of chloroform is to produce temporary insensibility to
pain, and unconsciousness of what is passing, and a loss of the
power of motion. Other affections of the nervous system, as

palsy, are caused by carbonic acid gas, carburetted hydrogen gas,
sulphuretted hydrogen, chloroform, monkshood, Aconilum

napellus, darnel, Lolium tremulentum, poisonous mushrooms,
ergot of rye, &c. Copland saw hemiplegia produced by the root
of monkshood {On Palsy and Apoplexy, p. 101).
—
was synonymous with one who used poisonous drugs.

Horace, in his ode to Canidia, describes the various
means resorted to by the sorceress for accomplishing
her purposes. She has a magic ointment, which she

uses as a charm. She prepares a poison, in which she
steeps the dress of her victim. No herb or root of any
virtue escaped her vigilance.
" Atqui nee herba nee latens in asperis

Radix fefellit, me locis."
She uses the most potent plants brought from Iolcos

and Iberia, and from Media.
Daniel* speaks of four kinds of witchcraft char-
lumim, or magicians ; asphim, or astrologers ; mecas-
phim, or sorcerers ; and casdim, or chaldeans ; — as
practising the art at Babylon at the time of the cap-,

tivity. Before this, in Egypt, three different classes
are spoken of as appearing before Moses. f These
several classes pursued their different methods, and it
is easy to suppose the mecasphim would deal more

commonly with herbs and other natural products than
the casdim, who were of higher esteem among the
great men, probably on account of their practising an

apparently higher and more deeply calculating system.
The only detailed account in Scripture of the power of

divination to effect that which no human power could
do, is contained in 1 Sam. xxviii., where Saul requests
* Dan. ii. 2. f Exod. vii. 11.

a woman that had a familiar spirit at Endor to bring
up the body of Samuel from the dead. Saul having

lately destroyed many wizards in Israel, the witch of
Endor would not at first put forth her powers till he
sware to her by the Lord that no punishment should
happen to her. She then, by Saul's wish, calls up the
body of Samuel, and appears much frightened at the
power she has put forth. When asked what she saw,
she replied to Saul, " I saw a prophet or great* person
(improperly rendered gods) ascending out of the
earth." He said to her, what form is he of ? And

she said, " An old man cometh up, and he is covered
with a mantle." Then Saul perceived that it was
Samuel, and entered into converse with him about his
kingdom, and received the final intelligence of his
death.
This account of the miraculous power of the witch of
Endor has been variously received and interpreted.
But it is impossible to believe in the integrity of the

Scriptures, whether in the Hebrew text or not, and to
disbelieve the fact that Samuel was brought up from

the grave. The object of recording this event was
doubtless to show that there was a power above mere
human skill, though not of God, by which, upon great
emergencies, even the dead could be raised to life.
This power was not greater, or more striking, than that

which made the magicians convert a piece of stick into
* Shophetim is in other places, as Deut. xvi. 18, and xvii. 9,
rendered judges, or a judge.

a serpent ; neither is it greater than that which will yet

cause a graven image to have life, and to speak. When,
therefore, we seek intelligence upon matters that are
beyond the ken of human power, or the spirit of life
to foretel, it should not be contended that the informa-

tion we receive is the product of natural agents, neither
should it be affirmed that the information is incorrect,
because it comes to us by the power of a forbidden

angelic spirit. On both these points we have erred,
and the record of Saul's unhappy dealings with sorcery
will not have been made otherwise than the instrument
of conveying the most important truth to our mind if
it only serves to bring no longer a doubtful impression

that the power to tell future events is a real power,
though it proceeds neither from God nor man. Saul's
end was truly brought about, although the intelligence

he sought by unlawful means had previously informed
him of it.
But the effect of this demoniacal spirit upon the

mind of man was, by such attractive and enticing means
as those we have been considering, made more particu-
larly and universally to consist in the abuse of every-
thing around him that was originally made for his use.
By the abuse of food, the foundation of many diseases
was laid. By the abuse of many natural productions

wisely intended to serve some useful purpose, the num-
ber of human maladies was increased. By these and
all other available means has this evil power assaulted
the citadel of the spirit of man, if haply he may be
captured. As disease advances, or the machinery is
rendered more and more incapable of acting with cer-

tainty or fidelity, so does man's poor spirit become more
and more closely besieged till it is finally taken captive.
As part of this machinery through which the operations
of the mind are manifested, the brain becomes in-
volved ; and in some this injury is so great as to con-
stitute the arbitrary distinction of insanity. Not that

this term, which is purely conventional, and used in
different senses to suit the convenience of different
nations, is intended to distinguish those that are morally

responsible from those that are not so ; for doubtless
the Satanic power has succeeded in fast binding the

minds of countless multitudes who, like Balaam and
Judas, unhappily know too well what they are about,
though they cannot help themselves. They may cut
themselves with knives till the blood gushes out, and
cry to their gods from morning until evening, but he
whom they serve is essentially a cruel god, he will not
hear them. Like Balaam, too, they know that they
shall see their Creator, but not nigh ; they shall behold
him, but not near. " What is that to us, see thou to
that !" is all the consolation they can get from fallen
angels, when they have been enticed into the service of
sin by their attractive powers.
CHAPTER XIII.
the spirit of angels (continued.)
The Operation of the Spirit of Fallen Angels upon

Mortal Bodies, viewed in relation to Mesmerism.
In investigating those pathological changes in the

human body we designate by the title of disease, we
find them to be distinguished or detected by certain
symptoms. And we notice in those which more par-
ticularly involve the nervous system a class of diseases
such as catalepsy, ecstacy, somnambulism, and the
various forms of nervous affection comprehended under
the term hysteria, that, inasmuch as they manifest
themselves without any direct or apparent interposition
of man, are accounted to be the result of the seeds of
disease planted there by the spirit of Satan. The cha-

racters of some of these affections are very clearly
marked, and hence their nosological distinction.
But the very unaccountable nature of the symptoms,

and their deviation from general principles, usually de-
duced from the investigation of the psychological laws of

nature, have given rise to much discussion, some doubt-
ing the possibility of their existence, while in others
the greatest wonder and even credulity is created. To
dispute the existence of such cases, and the remarkable

symptoms they have displayed, whether those symp-
toms are produced by any supposed natural causes, or
by those of a more supervenient nature, is to throw a
doubt over the statements of many of the most eminent
men in Europe spread over some half dozen centuries,
whose veracity ought no more to be doubted than we
should doubt our own senses. To the nature of these

symptoms the mind of the least observant or intelligent
cannot fail to be drawn. To suppose it possible, with-
out the assistance of such an organ as the eye, so
exquisitely and peculiarly adapted as that organ is to
the particular class of sensations it communicates to us,
to receive the impression of external objects as clearly,
and even more clearly, than through the medium of

that organ, is, to speak for the great masses who witness
such wonders, a very incomprehensible phenomenon.
It is one that is calculated to effect quite as much mis-
chief in the mind of the beholders as probably it was
intended to do. It should be remembered that this
extraordinary action of the nervous system, when in
that state we call somnambulism, is one essentially of

disease. Moreover, it is remarkable that the same kind
of disease, viz. the transfer of the power of one organ
to another, is one that has been recognised as being
able to be induced by the application of natural sub-
stances we commonly regard as poisonous to the living

body. It is stated to have been induced in a young
girl in consequence of the bite of a tarantula.* The
* See the account of this case in the Lond. Med. and Phys.
Journ. for 1808, by Dr. Comstock, of South Carolina.
2? 2 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS
eyes in this case being constantly closed when she was

under the influence of the fit, she distinguished all
objects and their colours by means of her fingers.
When she recovered from the fit, all these magical

symptoms disappeared, she returned to her natural
feelings, and remembered nothing that had passed
during the paroxysm. We have here a case to show
that the train of symptoms capable of being elicited in
the course of ordinary disease can be induced by the ab-

sorption of some particular poisons into the animal sys-
tem. And the resemblance in the symptoms of this

case with those that have commonly marked the natural
or idio-somnambulism, assures us that the same morbid
effects may follow the application of very different causes.
The mind is thus led to infer that as different causes
may induce the same morbid chain of symptoms, so
the application of strong poisonous vapours to the blood
through the lungs, as in the use of ether and chloro-
form, is really productive of the same kind of morbid
phenomena, though not in every form. It is singular,
too, what a close resemblance all these different morbid

phenomena bear to the operations of the old wizards,
for both divination and mesmerism undertook to dis-
cover the thoughts of persons placed en rapport with

the operator. Both undertook to read or expound
through the epigastrium, and both could transfer the
outward senses of taste and smell to this part. Both
either did or pretended to enter into the real suffer-
ings of others. Both possessed a strong memory, and

both foretold to a certain degree future events.
So that we have the analogy or connexion between
the effects of natural poisons and the operations of

witchcraft, and we have the same analogy or connexion
between the effects of natural vaporous poisons and the
operations of mesmerism. In both cases, the operation
of poison upon the nervous system, and the operation
of sin upon the nervous system, are identical in their
effects, and diseased action is the consequence. Who

ever saw a clairvoyant that was in perfect health ?
Generally they are the subjects of scrofula in some of

its forms. Indeed, I may say without any reserve,
that it is impossible to cause clairvoyance in a body

that is not diseased. The very circumstance of behold-
ing a person, whose ordinary outward senses are closed

both mechanically as well as morbidly, able to con-
centrate those outward senses into one " common
sense," as it is called, transferring them en masse to
the region of the pit of the stomach, is so very asto-
nishing, that many people refuse to believe what they

see, and deny the possibility that such phenomena
really take place. They say they are not natural phe-
nomena, and in one sense they are not, for they are
morbid phenomena. But they can be produced both
in the course of disease, as well as by some other
power. If this power is animal magnetism, then
animal magnetism is not animal magnetism. All
sound philosophers and physiologists know what ani-
mal magnetism is, and happily its phenomena are
pretty well to be defined. These phenomena do not rise

above the power of the spirit of electricity. But the
power that produces clairvoyance is above the power
of the spirit of life, or even that of the spirit of man.

But because it is a power of such awful capacities, is it
well to deny it ? I am convinced the cause of truth is not

served by taking this course, and from ample experience
am assured by so doing we give the enemies of truth
an occasion of triumph. Their argument is, that
which our senses see and believe must be true ; there-
fore, if you refuse to believe the evidence of sense, you

must be either most doggedly perverse and sceptical,
or else there must be some mental incapacity to account

for it. The phenomena of clairvoyance most indis-
putably, as phenomena, are real, and it would be wrong

to repose any confidence in the statement of the most
learned or intelligent person who denied them.
And if the phenomena are real, it is high time that
we not only believed them, but that we also identified
them. The last of these courses may be the most
difficult one of the two to take. At present the wooden

horse is not suspected, and the armed men are being
courteously conveyed into the citadel unobserved. After
so long a war with the human race, Satan, finding the
ordinary manoeuvres to be unavailing, seeks to conquer

them by a stratagem. The way to prevent this is for
the person exposed to these phenomena to make a few

searching inquiries, and by so doing he will be amply
remunerated for the trouble he may take. The first
conclusion he will arrive at, after he has recognised

the reality of the power that produces these pheno-
mena, will be, that that power is stronger than
man and; as it cannot be the power of God, for God
cannot be the cause of disease, there is, then, little left
for the imagination to determine.
In all the great cardinal points the human mind is
precisely the same that it was when Satan tried to palm

his spirit of divination upon it in years gone by. The
method pursued, deception, is mixed up now with the
same appeals to the natural properties of matter, as it
was then ; and many in our days are as much charmed

and fascinated by the attractive, wonder-working
powers of mesmerism, as those in ancient days were by
the " voice of the charmer." Now, however, we are
to be certain all these wonders are only the result of

the skilful adaptation of some natural agents, never
hitherto dreamed of. Science advances, and we think
we recognise in some new force, or some very etherial
matter, a cause that will account for these marvellous

phenomena. But if electricity cannot produce animal
life, — no, not even the material structure with which the
spirit of life is found to be accompanied, — how can it pro-
duce mental phenomena that are of a more surprising

and inexplicable nature than those of the ordinary psy-
chological description ? This mode of reasoning will con-
vince us, that mesmerism, and its dependent chain of
diseased and demoniacal phenomena, have no more to
do with magnetism than they have with any other

natural mode of action. The very circumstance of
trying to prove that the phenomena of clairvoyance are
referable to a sort of metastasis of the outward senses

from the brain to the great ganglionic centre beneath
the stomach, is sufficient to bring conviction that such
a transfer of the natural action is no other than a dis-
eased action, only produced by the great primary cause

of disease under new circumstances. And wherever
we behold a similar modification, it is impossible to
dignify it with the title of physiological or psychological
action without making those terms embrace a patho-

logical meaning.
I have not the smallest doubt that many most
able and highly honourable men have been mis-
guided by these morbid phenomena in consequence of
neglecting to regard them as such ; and without wish-
ing to imply in the remotest degree that they have any
objects that are not entitled to be regarded as strictly
scientific, I am certain they will sooner or later discover
they have been taking up that which is as unworthy

of their high attainments as it is of their confidence or
patronage.
It would be useless, in a work like the present, to
dwell at any length upon the remarkable transposition

of function which the brain undergoes in such cases,
or the development of such phenomena as we may wit-
ness abundantly displayed in those affected with sleep-

walking and catalepsy. My object in mentioning such
symptoms is to draw attention to the intimate resem-
blance these symptoms, as those of a diseased action,

bear to that class of phenomena we recognise under
the title of mesmerism. As the effects under both
circumstances are precisely similar, it is not unphilo-
sophical to infer their causes may be identical, and as
no one will dispute the primary cause of all disease,

so we may imply the true cause of those particular
symptoms we term mesmerism is equally a matter of
certainty. And it is well to remember, that only
within the last century (if we except a similar class of

diseases caused by the administration or application of
poisonous substances to the body) has the same spirit
that in the first instance produced these symptoms

directly upon the human frame, been employed through
the agency of man to bring about these forms of
nervous affection, so that they do not appear spon-

taneously and without his instrumentality. The all-
important question is —Can Satan produce at the will
of any human being the same set of morbid phenomena

we know he has power to do under ordinary disease ?
This is a new mode of attack to us, and, like the old
Satanic practices we have been considering, can recom-
mend itself upon the plea of extending the power and
the usefulness of man. If, by placing the body in a
state of insensibility, say the mesmerisers, we can

perform operations without pain, and cure diseases that
would not yield to remedies under the old presence-of-
mind system, the practice is both justifiable and bene-
ficent. It may be admitted that an apparent, or even
a real but temporary good, has been done by such a
practice. But is that really a good, that is obtained at
such a cost ? If it can be shown that disease is one of
the heaviest evils ever brought upon the human family
by Satanic agency, does it seem wise or reasonable to
appeal to the same power for its removal ? and is it
likely, in the removal of such disease by such a power,

that no other of a worse kind will be planted ?* This
would be as inconsistent as to suppose with the Scribes
that came from Jerusalem, that Christ cast out devils
through Beelzebub, the prince of devils. If we could

picture the crowds who flocked to consult those who
practised the arts of sorcery and divination, in every
city and country where idolatry abounded, we should

doubtless see them relieved of many of the diseases
they sought to get rid of. I cannot see how else the
enchanter could retain his reputation. Those who

attended to such persons as sorcerers in olden times,
were moreover not willing to submit to any uncertainty.
They went to be cured, and so in all probability they
many of them were. How different was this to the
conduct of St. Paul, who, when he had received a

<c
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
him," instead of consulting Satan through the wizards
and pithonesses of his day — in which case he might, for
aught we know, have removed the thorn by the same

power that brought it —meekly besought the Lord
thrice that it might depart from him. He was not
* It is mentioned by Dr. Teste, in his Manuel Pratique de

Magnetisme Animal, that a young man, Calliste, who was mag-
netized, as they call it, five years previously, had continued clau>
voyant during the whole of that time without a single day's inter-
ruption. If this is not a spirit of divination, I don't know what
is. He may bring his master much gain, but who knows the
end? There is no Saviour or apostle on earth that can expel
demons now, and who can tell whether the last state of this poor
man will not be worse than the first ?
rebellious at the answer he received, and which, as it
so happened, was not in keeping with his desire.
The use of all natural means failing, in appealing to

mesmerism we are making application to a power that
will fix us more securely than the malady he removes.
The poor woman whom the Saviour, on the Sabbath-
day, released from the spirit of infirmity, is stated to
have been bound by Satan for eighteen years ; so that
we have the highest authority for believing that disease
is as much the result of Satanic power as the cases of
more unequivocal demoniacal possession. But we pass
on to the consideration of the other grand form in
which Satanic agency has manifested itself in the world,
which is recognised by the title of demoniacal pos-
session.
The Spirit of Evil in relation to Demoniacal

Possession.
It was not until " He who came to seek and to save
them that were lost" was born into our world, that we
hear of this form of Satanic power being developed.
The long reign of this diabolical spirit in the hearts
of man was attended with the widest expanse of evil
consistent with the conservation of the world. That

people who, from among all the families of the earth,
had been selected by God as the honoured instruments
to receive his oracles and to declare his ways, had now
so corrupted and contaminated themselves with the
idols of the nations, that the Mosaic law, by means of

interpolations and human interpretations, had become
little better than the open idolatry it was opposed to.
Jt was the anxious wish, the ceaseless object, the
highest art of Satan, to bring the whole world under

his dominion ; and this he had well nigh accomplished
when " the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in
his wings."
It is instructive to observe the very diverse, gigantic,
and extensive power Satan appears at this time to have

put forth for the carrying out of his grand purpose.
Spread over four thousand years of the world's history,
this evil spirit had ample time to mature his scheme,
and to fasten its roots into every form of religious
worship, every system of philosophy, and every variety
of the human race. While its seeds were quickly
spreading over the oriental world, in the eastern doc-
trine of two independent beings, or Good and Evil Prin-
ciples, that exercised entire influence over the world and
its inhabitants, these doctrines were most craftily
grafted into others of an equally pernicious character,
and in the form of Gnosticism were propounded to all
who were not already buried in a deeper and more cor-

rupt form of idolatry. But the art was to get God's
ancient people under the spell of this deadly sway, and
this was accomplished through the enticing powers of
philosophy. The power of the written word was
gradually weakened and silently undermined, till the
commonest unwritten tradition was advanced to the
;
level of the written law.* The Jews had now imbibed

so many doctrines from the heathens, and incorporated
them into their cabbala, that there was, as far as. the
object of Satan was concerned, little or no difference in
the end, though he had managed to diversify so much

the means. What surprise could there be, under such
circumstances, that when the Saviour was born into the
world he was not recognised by his own people, for " he
came to his own and his own received him not."

The primary object with Satan was to mystify that
revelation God had expressly given to the Jews, and this
was most fully accomplished in the cabbalists, who,

"after the rudiments of the world," had been ship-
wrecked through the vain deception of philosophy.
And now did Satan make that great effort to
secure his victims. He let loose his demons that
fastened upon the poor Jews in every direction
so that, when the Saviour came into the world, he

had not only the whole army of heathen supersti-
tion and heathen philosophy to withstand in every

form, but he had, as well by his own power as by
imparting it to his apostles, to expel the evil demons
from the bodies of his own people, on whom they had
fastened in vast numbers ;f though not exclusively on
them, as one was expelled from the daughter of the
Syro-Phenician woman ; f as if Satan sought to convince
* See Burton's Lectures on the Heresies of the Apostolic Age.
f Acts, viii. 5, 6, 7. % Mark, vii. 26.

2S2 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS
the world the Jews were in a more especial manner in
the hands of the master whom they had been serving.

In this deplorable condition, the pity and commise-
ration of the Saviour for those who were thus placed is
strikingly set forth in his making the very first acts of
his ministry to consist in expelling these demons.*

We must not suppose that this attack of the evil one
upon God's ancient people was intended to imply that
these poor souls were therefore irreclaimable sinners
more than all the rest. Rather may we gather from
the Scriptures that many who were so affected were
afterwards specially brought into covenant with God.

But while it cannot be denied that demoniacal pos-
session was a Satanic mode of assault of a peculiar
kind, that could only be expelled by the power of the
Spirit of God, and that was remarkably to be distin-
guished from that natural disease we term insanity,

still, as an eminent proof of the unmistakeable power of
Satan over the mind, it would seem to be of the highest
practical use. And that the devil has ever had, and
still continues to hold this very mind in subjection to
him in a multitude of instances, is amply proved, not
only from the Word of God, where numerous instances
are recorded of his demoniacal power over the bodies
as well as the minds of men, but also by the history
* Mark, i. 34, iii. 11 ; Luke, iv. 41 ; in all which passages the

power of the spirit that was in Christ over the spirit of demons is
strongly shown and contrasted.

of man as it is brought down to us through human

instrumentality, as well as by our own actual ex-
perience. Saul's mind was clearly in his hands, though

ofttimes it was in this state soothed by the harmonious
strains of David's lyre.* The patriarch Job, as we are
expressly told, was for a time put under his power.

" And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold he is in thy
hand, save only his life." Yet, though subject to the

more direful bodily pain and mental anguish, this emi-
nent servant of God " feared God and eschewed evil."
Job's case clearly shews us that this evil spirit is per-
mitted to exercise his most diabolical power over the

property, the children, and even the bodies of God's
people, though not over that spirit in them which God

has undertaken to defend and preserve. Satan thought,
if he could only get the body as well as the property
and children of Job into his hands, he should gain his
purpose. But what was the answer of God? ' Behold
he is in thy hand, only his life," or, as our translation
has it, " but save his life."f In other words, you shall
have his body, and with it all its functions, but not the
spirit which is in him. How much comfort this Scrip-

ture is calculated to be to those of God's people who
are afflicted with any mental malady, it is, perhaps,
impossible for those to conceive who have not had this
great and signal trial of their faith put upon them.
Mary Magdalene, whose soul most undoubtedly waa
* 1 Sam. xvi. 14—18. f Job, ii. 6,

284 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPOUTS
saved, had a multitude of demoniacal spirits in her. So,
likewise, had Joanna the wife of Chusa, and Susanna,*
and many others, who were all healed of these evil

spirits. At Gadara was one poor creature so filled
with them, that when the Saviour asked him his name,
his reply was "Legion;" and so tied and bound
was he to the dictates of these accursed spirits,
that his mind, totally unconscious of God's power,

was made to behold the blessed Saviour as he will
be to all those who love darkness rather than light
— a terror and torment to him.f And that the mind

of man being given over to Satan, whether for a short
period or for the term of his natural life, does not in
all cases imply that this affliction was sent as a punish-
ment to the individual, while it proves that that mind

could be again turned to the service of God by the aid
of his Holy Spirit, is made evident by several circum-
stances recorded on this point in Scripture, j It would

seem sometimes to bear a relation to others, and was
sent, like other afflictions, " that the works of God
should be made manifest in them."§ The recollection
of this circumstance ought to convey great consolation
to the parents and friends of many a poor stricken one,

for wise but inscrutable purposes bereft of his reason
or the free use of his mind. " Ofttimes," it may be

said, " the evil spirit casts him into the fire and into
* Luke, viii. 2, 3. f Mar. v. 7.
X Mar. v. 19, 20; Luke, viii. 2,3. § John, ix. 2.

the water to destroy Mm;" and, in enduring this
affliction, he may have been manifesting the power of
the spirit of God over that of Satan.

On the other hand, through the sins and provoca-
tions of men towards whom God has had purposes of
mercy, their minds have been given over, as respects
this life, in some cases temporarily, and in others per-
manently, to Satan. Thus the Apostle Paul, finding

that the heathens at Corinth, who had been converted
to Christianity by his preaching, fell back into the sins
which marked them so signally as heathens, while they

outwardly professed the faith of Christ, judged " that
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ such an one
should be delivered unto Satan for the destruction of
the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of
the Lord Jesus."* The same Apostle delivered over
Hymenseus and Alexander to Satan, " that they might

learn not to blaspheme. "f Nothing can, then, be more
certain, than that, for wise and merciful reasons, the
spirits of demons were permitted to take possession of
the bodies of men, subject to such commands and

limitations as the power and wisdom of God had
ordered.
We cannot, however, be too much upon the watch-
tower, or habituate ourselves too much to contemplate
these fearful spirits while they are yet distant from us.
Satan's favourite mode of warfare is not to seek to ob-
tain demoniacal possession ; but, short of this, to
* 1 Cor. v. 5. f 1 Tim. i. 20.

—
secure the same practical ends. He more commonly

confines his attack to that more circumscribed and less
conspicuous form, which consists in so injuring the

desires of the mind as to destroy their powers of volun-
tary action. This answers his purpose, and it is per-
haps his most popular mode of assault. While he

persuades some to partake of the forbidden fruit, be-
cause it is calculated to make them wise, a far greater
number take it because it is good for food and pleasant

to the eyes. It is unlikely that such food as this could
be taken harmlessly or moderately, and he saw how

many he should slay by this bait plures crapula quam
gladius. It was better for him than setting whole
nations to fight with each other. This is the incipient
step in all his methods of attack, to undermine and

injure the functions of the body previously to making
his final onslaught.
In combating the absurdity of some who would sup-

pose the demoniacs of the Scriptures to be persons
whom we should call insane, epileptic, maniac, or me-
lancholic,
—
Trench observes " This has been often said,
and the often er perhaps because there is a partial truth
in the view that these possessions were bodily maladies.
There was no doubt a substratum of disease, which in

many cases helped to lay open the deeper evil, and
upon which it was superinduced ; and, in agreement
with this view, we may observe that cases of possession
are at once classed with those of various sicknesses, and

at the same time distinguished from them by the Evan-
gelists, who thus at once mark the relation and the

difference."* We need not confound the different
ways with each other in which Satan has attempted to
carry the citadel of man : we should act more wisely

by bearing in mind how artfully he applies his know-
ledge in every case to the particular individual, so as
to secure his end by a variety of means.
* Matt. iv. 24, viii. 16 ; Mark, i. 33. See his " Notes on the
Miracles of our Lord," p. 150.
—
CHAPTER XIV.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
The powerful operation of the spirit of angels, and the

relation they bear to each other and to the spirit of
man, having been considered, I go on now to speak,
so far as revelation permits me to do, of the existence
of the power and the offices of a still higher spirit,
one which is called, in different parts of Scripture, the
Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, and the Spirit of
adoption.
It seems hardly necessary that I should use any
argument, or adduce any facts, to prove the existence of
the spirit of God, or the influence that spirit exerts
upon the mind of man. To disbelieve the existence of
such a spirit, is at once to be opposed to a very large

portion of the Word of God ; indeed, it is equivalent
to an entire rejection of revelation. For there we find

this fact in many places is put beyond the possibility
of doubt.* " Know ye not," says St. Paul, to the
believers at Corinth, " that ye are the temple of God,
* Luke xii. 12 ; i Cor. vi. 19 ; 2 Cor. vi. 1G ; 1 Cor. ii. 11;

Eph. ii. 21, 22.
that the spirit of God dwelleth in you ? If any man

destroy the temple of God, him shall God destroy for ;
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."* And

again, to the Romans " But if the spirit of him that
:
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your

mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."f It
cannot, therefore, be a matter of doubt whether this

spirit exists in connexion with the human mind. A
far more interesting question is, On what terms does
it exist there ? In speaking of the spirit of man after
it became subject to the spirit of evil, it was shewn

that, as the consequence of man's fall, he became liable
to death. And in this state his spirit was excluded
from the presence of God, and banished into the king-
dom of darkness. In this state the imperishable spirit
ofman was by his own act of disobedience deprived
of happiness and hope. It was, therefore, devised by
the Creator that, by the aid of a more powerful spirit,
man might be able to turn again unto God. For this
purpose his holy spirit has from that time to this been
freely offered to all who seek it in the appointed way.
While this offer is held out to all, it is certain all do

not accept it. And so far is the spirit of man alienated
from God by the operation of the spirit of evil upon

his mind, that he cannot now behold anything heavenly,
or recognise even the existence of God in the sensible
* 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; Rev. xxi. 3. f Rom - yiii - 1L

u
—
and material creation around, by its natural powers

alone, so much perverted and injured are all the attri-
butes of his mind, particularly that attribute we call
conscience.
The Apostle Paul, accordingly, tells the Corinthians
that God has revealed his purposes of mercy to man by
the Holy Spirit alone, and that as " there is no man
that knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of
man that is in him," so " the things of God knoweth

no man but the spirit of God" that is put anew into
him. All our knowledge and views of divine things,
and the power to apply them spiritually to our mind,

comes from the spirit of God, and not through the
spirit of man. So that, although the organic apparatus
of the brain in the human constitution was in the first
instance for the reception of the spirit of man only,
with a cerebral and mental arrangement fitted for it,
yet that cerebral and mental conformation was clearly

capable of being acted upon by a very different spirit,
viz. the spirit of evil, as revelation states. But this
would be physically impossible, if what is commonly

termed the mind were to be regarded as the spirit of
man, for, in this case, it must be both the spirit of man

and the spirit of God, for both these spirits take up
their abode in the human mind, not to say anything of
the spirit of evil.
Each of these spirits has dealings with the human

mind, making it the great stage on which the rewards
and punishments, the motives, examples, reasons, and

inducements, are introduced and acted upon. It is the
Holy Spirit, acting on the mind of man, which alone

enables him to " search all things, even the deep things
of God," and the natural man, that is, the spirit of
man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness to him ; neither is it possible for
him to know them, because they are only to be dis-
cerned by the help of the Spirit of God. The spirit of
man is called by St. Paul the spirit of bondage, because

it is in bondage to Satan ; while the spirit of God in
man is called the spirit of adoption, which spirit
beareth witness with our spirit.
There is great confusion in the minds of many as to

what proof there really is, that the Spirit of God does not
dwell in every child that is born into the world. This has
been a famous question for Satan's advantage. It has
caused more to rest themselves in the efficacy of outward
forms and ceremonies, as a sufficient substitute for in-
ward grace, holiness, and good works, than can be told.
It must, however, be remembered that the bareknowledge

of right and wrong, though it comes through the con-
science in man, is essentially a knowledge that comes
by the spirit of evil. The demons, to, Sai/uovta, believe
there is one God, and this makes them tremble. But

why should they tremble, unless they were aware of the
difference between right and wrong, and the conse-
quences this knowledge has informed them will result
from their acts ? This circumstance has been greatly
overlooked, and the consequence has been, men have
thought they had God's spirit in them because their
consciences were alive, which made them afraid. By

regarding the conscience as an attribute or mode of
action of the mind, we can see how that attribute,
before the Tall, acted, by producing obedience without

seeking to inquire to the right hand or to the left whe-
ther it was right or wrong, as it did after that event,
by the help of the Holy Spirit, when it heard " a voice
behind, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it."*
The only genuine evidence we possess that the
Spirit of God is in us, is by the particular fruit it pro-
duces :
" Ye shall know them by their fruits." This
fruit is not the product of the natural tree, but of
being grafted into the true vine : as in the natural
world the difference is clearly distinguished, so in the
spiritual ; and then, not only the conscience, but every

other attribute, is brought into the field, and they all
are in operation when by this spirit " the eyes of the
understanding are enlightened;" so that our "reason-

ings, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God," are cast down, and every thought

is thus " brought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ."
Though it is a very generally received idea, there is
nevertheless no authority from Scripture to lead us to
suppose the Spirit of God dwells naturally in the
minds of all who are born into the world. Neither is
there any authority from Scripture, or any more reason

in the prevalent supposition, that the outward dedica-
tion to God in baptism, or any other outward means,
* Isaiah, xxx. 21.

necessarily brings this spirit with them. "Circum-

cision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but
the keeping of the commandments of God."* No one
need be misled on this matter. The Jews had an out-
ward ceremony of ablution, which, under the law, they
were obliged to observe on pain of death. f But who
will be bold enough to say the soul of every Jew who
was thus unavoidably sprinkled was saved ? And al-
though this Jewish rite may not be regarded in the

light of a covenant, yet the outward mark of all who
were admitted under the covenant of Abraham, was
circumcision : and we cannot possibly suppose that all
who were circumcised either had the Spirit of God in
them, or were saved. This is a very grave, but rather

a popular error, which in some form or other has crept
into all the Christian churches, as it did before them
into the Jewish church. The Jews thought that, being
outwardly called to be God's people, they were " deli-
vered" to do all kinds of abomination with impunity,

and had need only to trust in outward ceremonies or
in the stability of their temple, saying " The temple of
the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord, are these !" j But what says one of their pro-
phets to them, when they thought to substitute such
useless and extravagant follies for the obedience of

faith :
" Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of
rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I
* 1 Cor. vii. 19. f Numb. xix. 17—21.

% Jer. vii. 4, 9.
294 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPJUITS
give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my

body for the sin of my sonl ? He hath shewed thee,
O man, what is good ; and what doth the Lord require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God ?"* The judicious Hooker

has touched this point very finely, where, in speaking
of the sacrament of baptism, he observes, " for all re-
ceive not the grace of God which receive the sacra-
ments of his grace ;" and again, " unless, as the spirit is
a necessary inward cause, so water were a necessary

outward mean to our regeneration, what construction
should we give unto those words wherein we are said to
be new-born, and that l£ vSarog even of water ?"f
But we have opposed to this general distribution of
God's Holy Spirit, as a necessary consequence of the
outward form, some very plain Scripture authority.
Christ told Nicodemus that the wind bloweth where

it listeth, and thou heareth the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the spirit." We read

that Simon the sorcerer was baptized, but after this
Peter told him he had " neither part nor lot in the
matter." |
That God's spirit was offered to the antediluvian
* Mic. vi. 7, 8.
f Eccles. Pol. book v. p. 595 and 601, Dobson's edition. Nor

can we with safety neglect the outward means appointed of God.
By neglecting to perform the outward ceremony of circumcision
upon his children, Moses nearly lost his life. (See Exod. iv. 24):
% Acts, viii. 13, 21.

world is certain from that Scripture where the Lord

said, " My spirit shall not always strive with man,"*
which it had been doing through the preaching and
prophesying of Enoch, f and of Noah.j: And that it
was possessed by many from the time of the flood up

to the birth of our Saviour, is shown many parts of
in
revelation. By the aid of this spirit, Abraham walked

faithfully before God; Job was enabled to bear up
patiently when the enemy came in upon him like a
flood ; and David, and Samuel, and Daniel, and many

others, experienced its powerful aid in subjecting the
strongest efforts of Satan to its power. Moreover, that

it has been offered in every age to the rebellious and
the wicked, is clear from what David said in the 68th
Psalm, v. 18; and Stephen told the Libertines and
Cyrenians, and those who disputed with him, that they
always resisted the Holy Ghost. §
As man was in the first instance created with the
power to choose and to act voluntarily, it could not be

said that his fall was brought about by his own in-
ability to resist temptation. It was purely a voluntary

act that he disobeyed the command of God ; and the
act of the rebellion was the more unnecessarily heed-
less, from the fact of his not knowing the consequences
or the difference between good and evil. All he did
know was, that, if he ate of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, he should surely die, because God
had commanded him not to eat of it.
* Gen. vi. 3. f Jude, 14. % 2 Pet. ii. 5. § Acts vii. 51.

Now, again, when God offers man the help of His

Holy Spirit to enable him to resist the power of Satan,
it is only offered upon conditions, and given to those
only who ask for it. It could not be otherwise, or the
dispensation under which man is now placed would be
removed : for it must be obvious, if all received the
Holy Spirit, Satan would be comparatively bound, and

could not hold the world in the slavery of sin and the
fetters of unbelief, in the unequivocal manner in which
we see he does.
But doubtless the Holy Spirit is given in very diffe-
rent measure to all who receive it, and even to the same
individual at different times. It evidently strives with
many who are not influenced by it to the production of
its fruits, and we are warned not to quench the Spirit
of God that is in us, as it is by its instrumentality that

we are sealed or preserved unto the day of redemption.
It is given in different degrees, and in a different
manner, to all who receive it. And the Apostle Paul

tells us there are diversities of spiritual gifts under its
ordinary influence. When received into the mind, it
does not operate uninterruptedly in any one, but ap-

pears to act there as if confronted by an opposite
spirit. The conflict of these two spirits in the mind of
the believer is beautifully and clearly described by the
same Apostle -.
" With the mind I myself serve the law
of God after the inward man ; but I see another law"
{the spirit of evil) " in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin" {the spirit of evil) " which is in my

;;
members. For what I would that do I not, but what

I hate that do I : for the good that I would, I do not
but the evil that I would not, that I do." Thus the
" flesh or spirit of evil lusteth against the Spirit of God,
and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
the one to the other." This state of contention be-
tween what St. Paul calls the law of the members and
the law of the mind is caused by the presence of the
Spirit of God and the spirit of evil, through which
the inward working and striving of the spirit of man
are clearly to be traced.
The Holy Spirit was also, before the ascension of

our blessed Saviour, given in greater measure to the
Prophets, and after that event it was poured out in a
miraculous manner upon the Apostles and the first
Christians ; so powerfully as to enable them to prophesy,

to heal diseases, and to cast out devils. Here the
Holy Spirit exhibits a power that far excels that of
angels, whether holy or fallen angels. Not only could

this Divine Spirit foretel future events, and raise the
dead to life, which the fallen angelic spirit of evil
could do, but it could heal the sick and cast out
devils, which those demoniacal powers could not do.
That these last properties of the divine Spirit of God
were of no ordinary importance is evidenced by their
forming the chief occupation of the blessed Saviour
while upon earth. Everywhere he went, he healed
the sick and cast out devils. In attempting to do
this, even after the disciples had received the spirit to
do so, they on several occasions failed to effect a cure

. ;
which the Saviour attributed in one or two instances

to want of faith, and in another to the neglect of prayer
and fasting.
These were miraculous powers of the Spirit of
God, but necessarily displayed, to convince us that

here reside the elements of all spiritual strength, a
power that is able to bear witness it is from God, " by
signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost." " For to one was given by the
Spirit the word of wisdom and knowledge ; to another
the gifts of healing, by the same Spirit ; to another
the working of miracles ; to another prophecy ; to
another discerning of spirits ; to another divers kinds
of tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues
but all these wrought that one and the self-same spirit,
dividing to every man severally as He would."* This

was a wonderful power bestowed upon the first
Christians, which they had so great need of, on account

of the almost overwhelming spread of the spirit of
evil. By this power it was that the great mystery of
Christ, which in other ages was not made known to
men, was revealed to his holy apostles and prophets

after his ascension.
The chief office of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten
the eyes of the understanding, that we may know what

is the hope of the calling of God, and the things that
are freely given to us of God.
It is the power to use the high attributes of the
* 1 Cor. xii. 8, 11
mind, perception, judgment, memory, conscience, will,
&c, in so extended a manner, as that the feelings,
sentiments, and desires, are made to come fully within
the influence of the Holy Spirit, which constitutes that

wise and understanding heart spoken of in revelation.
This spirit, then, produces the fruit of goodness, righte-
ousness, and truth; love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance. It produces,

also, hope and faith, and above all, love to God. When
we place this long catalogue of heavenly qualities by the
side of that manifest and numerous list of the works of
the flesh, or compare it with that expression in Genesis
where God says the whole imagination, purposes, and
desires of man's heart were only evil continually, we
must at once collect this truth, and conclude that,
without the assistance of God's Spirit helping our
infirmities, we cannot resist the downward tendency of
every part, faculty, feeling, and attribute of the natural

mind. What is called faith in God, and the power of
His Spirit, does not consist in the bare intellectual
reception of these facts relating to man's final salvation.

St. Paul clearly describes to Titus the difference be-
tween the belief of the mere intellect and that in which
the whole moral portion of the mind is also combined.
He says, " they profess that they know God," — that is,
with the intellectual part of the mind, " but in works they
deny Him," — that is, in the moral part of the mind,
"being abominable and disobedient and unto every
good work void of judgment." The word aSqicifioi,
rendered in our translation " reprobate," in its active

,
sense, according to Macknight, means undiscerning

undistinguishing, void of judgment ; hereby implying
that the perceiving, and judging, and comparing powers
in man, are, as 1 explained in the eighth chapter, capable
of being applied over the entire range of the moral part
of the mind of man. The same Greek word occurs in
Rom. viii. 28 :
" God gave them over to a reprobate
mind," eig ago/ei/uov vovv, a mind that would not have
power to reflect upon, understand, or judge of the con-
sequences of their conduct. Like Jannes and Jambres

who withstood Moses, so, Paul tells Timothy, in the last
days there will come those who "resist the truth, men
of corrupt minds, having no judgment concerning the
faith, aSo/ct/xoi Trepi rr\v tt'kxtiv. And, as the conse-
quence of the Pall, the mind is ever liable, even though
under the power of the Holy Spirit, to be assaulted

and blinded, and even led away, though it be only for
a time, by the spirit of evil. David says " Neverthe- :
less,my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh
slipped." When he saw the prosperity of the wicked,
he was transiently invidious of their position, and in this

state of mind found it impossible to understand why
this should be nor did his understanding become en-
;
lightened upon the matter till he asked of God. Then

he beheld it clearly enough. With his judgment en-
lightened by the Holy Spirit, he saw clearly how
suddenly these would come to a fearful end : and this
leads him to break out into a strain of renewed

faith -.
" Nevertheless, I am always by Thee, for Thou
hast holden me by my right hand ; Thou shalt guide
me with thy counsel, and after that receive me unto

glory."
The naturally irrecoverable state into which the

mind of man has been thrown by the fearful and
tremendous effects the spirit of evil has had upon it,
should excite no surprise in that mind when it is told
that it can no longer do anything that is pleasing to its
despised Creator, by the sole unassisted efforts of the

spirit of man. "It is not in man that walketh to
direct his steps." All his righteousness in the eyes
of an insulted and unreconciled God, are as filthy
rags, and his poor and utterly unavailing attempts to
do anything that is right in the strength of his own

spirit, are, we are plainly told, regarded in the same
category with the sins of his fallen nature. We
cannot, then, marvel that we must be born again, and
that we must have the aid of the Spirit of God to help
our infirmities, and to enable us to seek for strength

where only it is to be had. " For we know not what
we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself
(the Holy Spirit) maketh intercession for us according
to the will of God."

The necessity of having this spirit in us, if ever we
hope to see the face of God in glory, cannot be stronger
or more convincingly put than on this wise. God has
most mercifully revealed to us that we cannot enter
that rest which is prepared for all his people, but by
one appointed way. Jesus said, " I am the way, the
truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father
but by me." The same revelation that conveys this
302 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS.
inestimable truth to our mind, informs us also that

without the aid of this very spirit, now under con-
sideration, no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, and
therefore without its help we cannot go to Him that
we might have life.

INDEX.
Action of the spirit of man before the Fall, 207, 209,
Aerolites, arguments drawn from, 89.

phenomena of, 88.
Ah' plants, how nourished, 109.

Alexipharmics, use of, 262.
Ampere on the loadstone, 185.
Analyses of inorganic matter, 107.
simple inorganic bodies, 40.
Angel a name of office, 233.
Angels are sometimes invisible, 24 4.
gradations in the, 232.
have bodies, 236, 243.
holy, spirit of, 238.
intelligence of, 242.

powers of, 239, 241.
spirit of, 231, 249.
supernatural power of, not lawfully given to man, 247.

swiftness of the, 239, 240.
Animal creation altered by the Fall, 210.
magnetism is not mesmerism, 273.

Appearance of different stars, 91.
Argument to prove that all created worlds are alike composed of matter
and spirit, 86.
Atmosphere, peculiar circumstance in its composition, 27.

Attack, Satanic, two forms of, 253.
Attributes of the mind, 175.
distinguishing characteristics of the, ISO.
irregular power of the, 189, 190.
Authorities (angels), 234.
Balaam's knowledge worse than useless, 269.

Baptism cannot take the place of regeneration, 292.
true value of, 293.
Belief is no proof that the spirit of God dwells in the mind, 290.
. .
304 INDEX.
Bird, Dr. G. on electric tension, 134.
Bodies of angels, 236, 242.

sometimes invisible, 244.
formed by the spirit of life, 103, 108.
spirits of heat and electricity, 112.

operation of fallen angels upon mortal, 249.
Body, resurrection, 217.
Brown, John, his theory of life, 152.
Brute creation, suffering of, for man's sins, 211.
Cabbalists, errors of the, 281.
Cain, death of, 215.

Centre of gravity, 8]
Chalk fossils, remarkable appearance in, caused by the spirit of elec-
tricity, 95.
Characters that mark the separate spirits, 127.
Charming, antiquity of the practice of, 263.

spoken of in Scripture, 264.
Chemical affinity and sensation, difference between, 108.
Cherubim, 235.
Clairvoyance a disease of the nervous system, 273.
denial of the power of, dangerous to truth, 274.
may be induced, and cannot afterwards be removed, 278.
phenomena of, are real, 274.
Clairvoyant, a, is always the subject of some sort of bodily disease, 273.

Collocations of matter in the planets, 89.
Colours of different stars, 90.

the sunbeam rayolets, on what are they dependent ? 71.
Combined and uncombined matter, different effects of the spirit of elec-

tricity upon, 25
Conscience an attribute of the mind, 176.
how injured by the spirit of evil, 177, 290.
Conscious sensation the basis of mind, 150.

Consecutive operation of the immaterial spirits in the works of crea-
tion, 54.
Cooper, Mr. Campbell, on the identity of light and heat, electricity and
caloric, 127.
Cornish mines, experiments on electricity in the, 84.

Coulomb's experiments on electricity, 26.
Creative worlds have a relative connection with each other by means of

the two kinds of entity, 85.
will be destroyed by the same spirits by which they were
made, 94.
INDEX, 305
Crime, how regarded by human laws, 197.
of murder, natural consequences of, 214.
cannot safely be met by any other punishment than

death, 215.
Damsel, the, at Philippi, 257.
Davy, Dr., experiments on the raia torpedo, 147.

Sir Humphry, experiments on the red and purple rayolets, 71.
Davy's, Dr., remarks on the habits of the cobra de capello, 262.

Deceptive appearance of luminous bodies, 53.
Degrees of power in different spirits, 19.
Demoniacal power, how defined, 260.

possession, 279.
a particular form of Satanic attack, 286.

can be removed only by the Spirit of God, 281.
fell heavily upon the Jews, 281.
Demoniacs, 253.
the, of the Scriptures, differed from the insane, 282.
Demonomania, those afflicted with, 282.
Demons, origin of the word, 250.
does not necessarily imply an evil power, 199.

Devil, personation of the, 250.
ubiquity of the, doubtful, 250.

Diamond, lumiuous properties of the, 73.
Difference in the mind of man and of animals, 178.
Difficulty of reconciling natural phenomena by the old theories, 57.
Diluvial catastrophe brought about by the spirits of heat and electri-

city, 94.
Disappearance of stars, 91.
Distinction between the attributes of the mind and the faculties and
feelings, 175.
Divination, different kinds of, 254.

spoken of in Scripture, 254.
Diviners not mere fortune-tellers, 256.
Divisibility a quality of created matter only, 69.
Doctrine of imponderable agents, shown to be erroneous, 47.

the correlation of physical forces, 121.
Doctrines, false, at the time of the Saviour's first advent, 280.
Dominions (angels), 234.
Effect of different natural productions on the nervous system, 265,

the spirit of electricity upon different quantities of air, 92,
X
306 INDEX.
Electric spirit, effect of the, upon iron, 81.
engaged in the formation of animal structures, 124.

extensive operation of the, upon the globe, 94.
how distinguished from that of life, 134, 135.
necessary to produce globularity in all bodies, 115.
apparatus of the raia torpedo, how supplied with nerves, 147.
Electro-magnetism, action of, 81.
Elements of creation in their uncombined state, 24.
Enchanters denounced in Scripture, 256.

not mere dealers in natural magic, 256.
Endor, witch of, 266.
Errors in the world at the birth of Christ, 281.
Example of the sudden operation of the spirit of electricity upon the
earth at the time of the Deluge, 95.
Faith, mental definition of, 298.

Eamiliar spirits a remarkable expression, 256.
denounced in the Scriptures, 256.
Earaday, Dr. experiments on electricity, 83, 126.
Eeelings, the, cannot act without the intellect and the attributes of the
mind, 182.
Foreknowledge of demons, 257.
Gadusa, the demoniac of, 283.

Globe, foundations of the, 82.
Globularity of bodies, cause of the, 113.
God's care and commiseration for the living creatures, 210.
people sometimes are tormented by demoniacal power, 283.
Gradual subjection of the mind to the spirit of evil, 213.
Grove, Mr. on the correlation of forces, 121.
Hansteen on the magnetic poles, 84.
Heat, spirit of, one of the necessary causes of motion, 115, 119.
acting on the red rayolet, 71.
combined with the spirit of electricity in the production of
the phenomena of inorganic bodies, 112.
laws of the, 22.
Henwood's experiments on electricity, 84.
Holy Spirit, the, was given in different measure, 295.
conflict in man of the spirit of evil with the, 295.
office of the, 297.

supernatural powers of the, 296.
Immaterial substances, degrees of power in, 56.

INDEX. 307
Immateriality of all things an incorrect doctrine, 36, 41.
Immortality of the soul in a disembodied state not a doctrine of the
Scriptures, 218.
Imponderable agents, doctrine of, 47.
Indivisibility a quality of uncombined matter as well as spirit, 24,
phenomena of, 67.
Inoceramus, curious state of the shell of the, 95.

Insanity, what constitutes, 179.
differed from demonomania, 282.

Intellectual faculties may be engaged without the feelings, 182.
Intoxication, how treated by the Legislature, 188.
Invisibility of angels, 244.
circumstances connected with the, 246.

Jaser, book of, mentions the manner of Cain's death, 215.
Jews afflicted with demonomania, 281.
involved by the Cabbalists, 280.
reliance placed on their temple as a substitute for vital religion by
the, 292.
Job, foundation of the earth alluded to in, 82,
mental affliction of, 282.

Job's affliction a comfort to those suffering from mental infirmities, 283.
Jurisprudence in relation to the mind very defective, 194.
Justice, operation of, upon the community, 198.
Latent state of the spirit of life in seeds, 136.

Laws of the spirit of life in its union with matter, 140.
heat and electricity, 22.

relating to criminal acts very incomplete, 179.
Legislation, criminal, deficiency of, 187, 196.

Life a term expressive of mixed phenomena, 102.
power of Satan to give, 258.
spirit of, and the phenomena dependent on its union with those of
heat and electricity, 99.
Light is a mode of action, 44.
caused by the operation of the spirits of heat
and electricity on matter, 70, 71.
new theory of, 63.
phenomena of, how formed, 28.

the causes of, have no property of divisibility, 68.
Living ones (angels), 234.

Luminous phenomena of mineral bodies, 73,
Magnetic poles, on the, 84.

308 INDEX.
Magnetism, peculiar power of, 81.
Marsians, the, practised serpent-charming, 263.

Material modes of union of bodies formed by the spirit of life, 103.
substance cannot be annihilated, 38.
Materiality, universal, au incorrect doctrine, 35.
Matteucci's experiments on respiration, 159.

Memory an attribute of the mind, 176.
remarkable power of, 181, 189.

Mental operations in animals, 178.
philosophy, theories of, 140.

Mesmerisers, argument used by, 277.
have mistaken the power they make use of, 275.
Mesmerism, argument of St. Paul's affliction against the use of, 278.
is not animal magnetism, 273.
the effect of a demoniacal spirit, 274.
great argument opposed to, 277.
what is, 270.
Metals that have a great affinity for magnetic electricity, 26.
Meteorolites, argument to be drawn from, 89.
whence do they come, 88.
Mind cannot be separated from life, and both result from the same
spirit, 154.
condition of the, after the Fall, 199, 213.
effect of the spirit of evil upon the, 268.
in animals, Avhat attributes move the, 179.
is not the immortal soul, 143, 165.
mode of operation of the attributes of the, 184.
Miracles of demons, 258.

Mode of operation of the attributes of the mind, 184.
Morichini, experiments on the purple rayolet, 71.

Motion implies globularity in all bodies where it is manifested, 119.
not confined to any one substance or structure, 145.

phenomena of, 145.
the cause of, in all bodies, 119, 123.
Murder, the crime of, how treated in revelation, 214.

Mysteries contained in revelation, 17.
Natural philosophy, valuable discoveries of, 8, 32.
advantages of revelation to, 15.
Nerves do not contain or transmit the electric spirit, 132.
Newton, Sir I., theory of imponderables, 48.

Non-luminous caloric, what is it ? 65.
INDEX. 309
Oersted's discovery of electro-magnetism, 81.

Office of the spirit of man, 207.
Optical illusions, 53.
Orders of angels, 233, 234.
Outward ordinance of baptism, value of the, 293.
Ovid's allusion to the practice of charming, 263.
Peat-bogs, wonderful preservation of seeds in, 136.
Perception, phenomena of, explained, 105.
Phenomena of bodies, how distinguished from their qualities, 26.
life and mind identical, 144.
sensation and voluntary motion result from the application

of the spirit of life to particular structures, 147.
or modes of action, 11.
Philosophy, natural and revealed, the respective claims of, 1.
Pithen, spirit of, origin of the words, 261.
the same as the spirit of demons, 257.

Planetary systems, intimate connection hi, 86.
Plea of insanity in criminal cases, 196.

Poisonous drugs, effect of, on the nervous system, 265.
used in the art of witchcraft, 262.
Ponderosity a quality of uncombined material substance, 11.
Power, demoniacal, 260.
of the Holy Spirit, 288.
spirit of life to build up organic structures, 108.

Powers (angels), 234.
Prescience an attribute of the mind, 176.

not found in the mind of animals, 178.
Primordial elements of the creation, in what way to be detected, 24.
Principalities (angels), 234.
Progressive development of the material structures as the vital and

mental powers increase, 149.
Prophetic powers, 248.
Proximate principles of matter, 32.
Pythia, the, was exposed to the influence of poisonous drugs, 265.
Qualities of bodies distinguished from modes of action, 63.
matter, 11, 24.

caused by the union of material and immaterial enti-
ties, 22.
Quality of indivisibility, 11, 24.
Quaternary unions of matter caused only by the spirit of life, 103.

.
310 INDEX.
Reason, what is it ? 191.

Regeneration does not necessarily take place at baptism, 293.
Remarkable instances of the long retention of the spirit of life in vege-
tables, 136.
Responsibility, mental, on what does it rest ? 192, 197.

Resurrection body, 222, 227.
difference shown to the good and evil in the, 228.
of the body, 217.
a different doctrine to that of the immortality

of the soul, 217.
a mystery, 17.
the doctrine of Pythagoras, 219.
Revelation alone informs us of the real existence of either spirit or
matter, 14, 15.
first makes known the existence of spiritual substances, 15.
great value of, 7.
must be taken as a whole, 6.
not inconsistent with reason, 7.
why given to man, 5
Samuel's appearance before the witch of Endor, 226.

Satan, real existence of, 250.
Satan's favourite method of warfare, 285.
Satanic attacks, two different kinds of, 253.

Saturn, the planet, in relation to the earth, 89.
Saul's mind was diseased, 282.
Sensation and chemical affinity, difference in, 108.
Sepia officinalis, why found fossil with the ink unscathed, 95.
Seraphim, 235.
Serpent charmers, 262, 263.
nations worshipping the, 262.
worship, 261.
Serpents, effect of sound upon, 263.
why supplied with a poison, 261.
Solomon's power to cure disease, 259.
Sons of God, 235.
Spirit of angels, 231.
God, office of the, in relation to man, 289.

proof that the mind is under the influence of the, 291.
the, 287.
does not dwell in all, 290.
dwells in believers, 287.

.
INDEX. 311
Spirit of life common to all creatures, proved from revelation, 158.

in conjunction with those of heat and electricity, producing
the phenomena of living bodies, 138.
the seeds of vegetables, 136.
produces mental operations in animals, 162.
man different to the spirit of life, 208.
distinct and separate, 16.
effect of the spirit of evil on the, 246.
its subjugation to the spirit of evil, 208.

operation of, in the mind, 202.
Spirits, angelic, 19.
separate existence of, proved from revelation, 19, 23.

Spiritual modes of union in co-operation with the spirit of life, 104.
Stars change their colours in the course of time, 91.
different colours of, 90.
the cause of, 92.
varied appearance of, in the heavens, 91.

States in which the spirits are found to be united to matter explained, 28.
Sugar and starch cannot be formed by the spirits of heat or of electri-

city, 106, 135.
Sun's heat partly dependent upon matter, 79.
Synthesis of water, 40.
Terrestrial poles, relation these bear to the magnetic poles, 84.
Theories of life, different, 140.
Thoughts of the mind, what are the, 142.
Three spirits of heat, electricity, and life, the cause of all natural pheno-
mena, 99.
Thrones (angels), 234.
Tiedemann's belief that all animals have some kind of nervous system, 149.
Triple unions of matter cannot be formed by aid of electricity, 107.
Truth, the mental apprehension of, 192.
Ubiquity of the devil not a doctrine of Scripture, 250, 252.

Uncombined materiality, 36.
Union of spirits in the production of the higher phenomena of bodies, 113.
Universal materiality and universal immateriality alike incorrect, 35

Virgil alludes to the power of charming, 263.
Yital principle, difficulties in the theory of a, 155.
Water, how changed into steam or ice, 27, 116.

formed, 40.
312 INDEX.
Water must have the spirits of heat and electricity further added to its
surfaces to produce vapour, 116.
the formation of, caused by the spirits of heat and electricity, 40.
Will, infirmities of the, 186.
power of the, 187.
the, one of the attributes of the mind, 186.

Witchcraft, how defined by some, 259.
mixed up with the properties of natural productions, 265.

several kinds of, 354.
Witch of Endor, instruction conveyed in the account of the, 268.
Saul's dealings with, 268.
ERRATA.
Page 87, line 14, for " at the period in the Genesis of Moses," read " at the
period stated in the Genesis of Moses."
Page 237, line 9,/o;- "material utility," read "material entity"
THE END.
WILSON AND OGILVV, 57, SKINNER STREET, SNOWHILL, LONDON. i

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THE

THE REAL EXISTENCE OF TWO VERY DISTINCT KINDS OF ENTITY

BY WHICH THE PHENOMENA OF LIGHT, HEAT, ELECTRICITY,

MOTION, LIFE, MIND, ETC.

ARE RECONCILED AND EXPLAINED.

Job, xxxvi. 24, 25.

Wilson and OgUvy, 57, Skinner Street, Snow hill, London.

with a rapidity, a dexterity, a beauty of mathematical reasoning which no

be discovered once only. But Newton himself appears to have had no

Whewem/s Beidgewatek Treatise.

I AM too well aware of the infirmities and short-

dence in submitting them to public opinion.

A very cursory glance at them, however,

elucidating scientifically or systematically the

ought to have been done, many of the points

any oversights I may have been guilty of, in a

work purposely comprised within the compass

view throughout the work, has been to shew,

real existence and operation of spirits of diffe-

the existence of spirit, by shewing in what way

subject before us. What is this spirit ? The

a large portion of the remainder of the book.

colour, taste, &c, as qualities ; and light, elec-

tricity, motion, life, &c, as phenomena, are the

have been in a conjugate state as constituting

that created matter.

well say that colour is the same as that which

union or application of these two entities in

iiig- themselves ? Does motion, for instance,

which is a phenomenon resulting- from the

This question may most satisfactorily be

have propounded. For there it will be found

peculiar to themselves, and graduated in such

to be distinctly defined and sufficiently clear

not so decidedly prove how many they are,

efficient causes in his hands, they are possessed

would not be correct to say the heavenly bodies,

that controls the spirit that produces it. We

of the spirit that is in the body producing it

confined to the spirit of man, and which comes

bring conviction to the mind that spirits in a

they can combine to form the more elaborate

subordinate to each other in their powers of

duced through those structures, which alike

archetype of created things, and in its operation

cate phenomena that can result from the most

created bodies around.

ing to subordinate order, each of which con-

they have been first employed in the production

them place among the entities of creation, there

the result of the application of spirit to matter

The characters which mark the presence of

which I contend mark the presence of other

power they both possess of spanning objects

possess the power of imparting the characters

forward, I have nevertheless the strongest

THE ARGUMENT TO BE DRAWN FROM PHILOSOPHY

EVERY CREATED THING. .....

union with matter ... 22

Proximate principles of matter