spirits would appear to each other; and if made visible to us, would appear to us precisely as a world of living men do; and would be capable of mutual action and reaction on the same principle. The Scriptures, which in no case consult for the gratification of speculative reason, but confine themselves rigidly to practical views, bear no explicit testimonies on this subject. They, however, record instances of the appearance of disembodied human spirits, and of angels in human forms. These beings appeared again and again, and always in human forms. Such appearances were of course miraculous; but in what did the miracle consist? Did it consist in assuming the human form? Or in rendering their true forms visible to human eyes? We are nowhere informed that in appearing to men, the disembodied spirits of men or angels assumed forms which did not properly belong to them; but the contrary seems to be generally assumed. That which men saw, was the spirit or angel in his proper form; and the miracle by which such visions were enjoyed, consisted in an improvement of the human powers of vision, by which those who were before invisible, became visible. Not only do the Scripture accounts of the appearances of spirits, harmonize with the doctrines of all antiquity respecting the extension and form of these beings; but they cannot be reconciled with the more metaphysical theory which has been adopted in modern times on this subject.

356. The most common opinion in modern times has been, that disembodied spirits do not possess extension nor form; nor sustain any definite relations to space. This opinion was adopted in the dark ages as one of the refinements of scholastic theology; and its foundations were not laid in observations of particular facts; but in reasoning by syllogisms from general and universally admitted opinions. Having been admitted and baptized as orthodox, this hypothesis is generally adopted as a matter of course, with little investigation of the grounds on which it rests. But it is well enough, after so long a time, to inquire a little into its credentials. What is the syllogism which legitimatizes it! What is the evidence on which it rests?

The syllogism which legitimatizes it, is the following: 1. All material beings are extended and figured; 2. Spirits are not material beings;

3. Therefore spirits are not extended nor figured

Such is the argument from which it is concluded, that spirits are without extension or figure. But this argument is a sophism, and does not establish its conclusion. The assumption that all material beings are extended, does not prove that all beings which are not material are not extended. The proper conclusion of the foregoing argument would be; Therefore, nothing is proved by this argument, in relation to spirits. If spirits were material beings, the argument would prove that they are extended; but inasmuch as they are not, it proves nothing about them. Because material beings possess extension and figure as their essential properties, many infer that spiritual beings must of course be without these properties. But how does the extension of matter prove the non-extension of spirits? May not things be different in some respects, without being different in all respects? Is a known difference in some respects, a valid ground on which to infer a difference in all respects? By no means We conclude, therefore, that the doctrine of the non-extension of disembodied spirits, is without any valid support from human reason, and inconsistent with the Scriptures. But this is not all. The doctrine is absurd, and the thing which it supposes is inconceivable, and impossible. Space comprehends every thing, and nothing is conceivable which does not possess definite relations to it. Some have supposed that they could conceive of things out of space. But they never yet have succeeded in expressing and exhibiting such a conception, and they never will. Space is an essential condition of reality, and we are not more certain that there is any such thing as space, than we are, that all real beings sustain fixed and definite relations to it. Minds, therefore, exist in space, if they have any existence at all; if they do not exist in space, they have no exjstence. But whatever exists in space, must exist in mathematical points, the elements from which space is reckoned, or else in extended portions of space. Points are not parts of space, but they are comprehended in space. One of these three suppositions, therefore, must be true. Disembodied spirits exist in points entirely without extension; or else they are extended in some degree, and occupy definite portions of space; or else they are extended infinitely, and occupy all space. No one will claim that they are infinitely extended. The question,

then, lies between the supposition, that they exist in points; or that they are of limited extents and definite forms. Is there any evidence that embodied minds are restricted to unextended points? Not a particle. Are there any great purposes of speculative or practical reason to be answered by such a hypothesis? None. Is it consistent with known facts in respect to embodied minds? Embodied minds are proved to be extended by the same evidences which prove their existence. The assumption, therefore, that disembodied minds are not extended, is contrary to known facts in respect to the extension of minds in their embodied state. §357. The associated condition of disembodied minds is made highly probable on theological grounds pertaining to natural religion. The Scriptures render it certain; and also teach us, that in the disembodied state, men will not only be associated with each other, but with different orders of angels.

The employments of the disembodied state, cannot be determined with precision. The Scriptures and reason concur, however, in teaching, that they will be analogous to the employments of the wise and good in this world, and suited to the nature of moral beings. The ultimate destinies of human minds are set forth in the Scriptures under the figures of eternal life, and eternal death. The former is the reward of obedience, and comprehends the greatest conceivable happiness and glory; and the latter is the punishment of disobedience, and comprehends the greatest conceivable misery and shame.

§ 358. The condition and destinies of animal minds, and of the organic principles of vegetable life after their disengagement from their respective bodies, are matters concerning which we cannot reason from theological grounds, either natural or revealed, and concerning which we cannot reason conclusively, perhaps, from any grounds. They either perish at their disengagement from their bodies, or else survive. There is no evidence that they perish, and such a supposition is contrary to the whole analogy of nature, both with respect to human spirits and bodies. The supposition, that they survive the dissolution of their bodies, and that they will continue to subserve in some way the purposes of Infinite Wisdom, and contribute to the accomplishment of useful ends, is in the highest degree probable. This is

more probable in regard to animal minds, than in regard to the organic principles of vegetable life, in consequence of their greater similarity to human minds, whose immortality is established on theological grounds.

CHAPTER XXVI.

REASONING FROM BODIES AND SPIRITS TO GOD.

§ 359. In reasoning on causality, the progress of the mind is similar to that which it makes in reasoning on time and space. From limited times, we reason to an absolute eternity, without beginning and without end; and from limited spaces, we reason to absolute and unlimited space, extending infinitely in all directions. Infinite space comprehends all limited and local spaces; and eternity, another name for infinite duration, comprehends all limited and particular times. Our perceptions of the unlimited are as clear and certain, as those of the limited, from which they are derived; and cannot be more so. These objects belong to the category of quantity. In the world of reality, we ascend from effects to causes. We investigate causes which are in operation within the sphere of our knowledge; determine their precise nature, and the limitations of their powers; and divide them into two co-ordinate genera, Material and Spiritual. Material causes constitute the material world; and Spiritual causes belong to the spiritual world. These again we divide and subdivide into various ranks and orders, according to their similarities and diversities of operation.

§ 360. The reality of these causes is as certain as that of space and time. On a comparison of them with each other, we find that spiritual beings are the superior order, and material beings the inferior; that minds are agents, and bodies instruments of the actions and pleasure of minds. This diversity of rank and superiority of the spiritual to material, is a highly important fact in philosophy. Minds and bodies are not associated as partners with equal and mutual interests, but as proprietor and property, agent and instrument; all right and authority belonging to the mind,

and entire subserviency characterizing the offices of matter. This is true of each mind, considered with respect to its body; and of the whole known class of minds, considered with respect to all known bodies. The material world is the enginery of the spiritual world; furnishing tenements for minds to dwell in, organs for them to use, and objects for them to reason upon. Without minds to enjoy and use it, the material world would exist in vain, and answer no rational purpose whatever. Organized bodies would be in vain; continents and oceans, and worlds, and systems would exist in vain. But though the existence of matter is conceivable without minds, its organization into bodies without them is impossible and inconceivable. For organization implies design, and the accomplishment of rational ends, and the intentional adaptation of means to that purpose. Every body is an effect of design, and exhibits the operation of a thinking mind in conceiving of its parts, adapting them to their organic purposes and to each other, and providing for their construction and preservation, till they accomplish the essential purposes of their existence. This ultimate designer of organic bodies is not the mind which occupies them, and which, by its organic powers, is the immediate agent of their construction. It is some other mind. Human bodies are constructed by human minds, exercising fixed organic powers; animal bodies, by animal minds; vegetable bodies, by the organic principles of vegetable life; but these bodies were all designed by some other mind of a higher order, and of vastly greater powers than belong to the immediate occupants and agents of their construction. The judgment by which we infer a designing mind which conceived of all the parts of organic bodies and their uses, and which, in pursuance of those conceptions, made provision for the construction of bodies, investing subordinate minds with physical powers to execute them without design, is of the same certainty as the judgment by which we infer the existence of human and animal minds, from human and animal sensations and ideas. The human body embraces a great variety of organs, many of which are of the nicest construction, and which have remarkable adaptations both to the properties of matter, and to the general construction of the material world. This body is the effect of intelligence acting with a view to the acccomplishment of rational ends. The eye was made for