The best criterion of the truth of a philosophical opinion, is its tendency to produce exalted ideas ofthe Divine Being, and humble views of ourselves. The doctrine of animal life which has been delivered is calculated to produce these effects in an eminent degree, for
8. It does homage to the Supreme Being, as the governor of the universe, and establishes the certainty of his universal and particular providence. Admit a principle of life in the human body, and we open a door for the restoration of the old Epicurean or atheistical philosophy, which supposed the world to be governed by a principle called nature, and which was believed to be inherent in every kind of matter. The doctrine I have taught, cuts the sinews of this error; for by rendering thecontinuanceof animal life, no less than its commencement, the effect of the constant operation of divine power and goodness, it leads us to believe that the whole creation is supported in the same manner.
9. The view that has been given of the dependent state of man for the blessing of life, leads us to contemplate, with very opposite and inexpressible feelings, the sublime idea which is given of the Deity in the scriptures, as possessing life “within himself.” This divine prerogative has never been imparted but to one being, and that is the Son ofGod. This appears from the following declaration. “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have lifewithin himself.”[103]To this plenitude of independent life, we are to ascribe his being called the “life of the world,” “the prince of life,” and “life” itself, in the New Testament. These divine epithets which are very properly founded upon the manner of our Saviour's existence, exalt him infinitely above simple humanity, and establish his divine nature upon the basis of reason, as well as revelation.
10. We have heard that some of the stimuli which produce animal life, are derived from the moral and physical evils of our world. From beholding these instruments of death thus converted by divine skill into the means of life, we are led to believe goodness to be the supreme attribute of the Deity, and that it will appear finally to predominate in all his works.
11. The doctrine which has been delivered, is calculated to humble the pride of man by teaching him his constant dependence upon his Maker for his existence, and that he has no pre-eminence in his tenure of it, over the meanest insect that fluttersin the air, or the humblest plant that grows upon the earth. What an inspired writer says of the innumerable animals which inhabit the ocean, may with equal propriety be said of the whole human race. “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, and they are created. Thou takest away their breath—they die, and return to their dust.”
12. Melancholy indeed would have been the issue of all our inquiries, did we take a final leave of the human body in its state of decomposition in the grave. Revelation furnishes us with an elevating, and comfortable assurance that this will not be the case. The precise manner of its re-organization, and the new means of its future existence, are unknown to us. It is sufficient to believe, the event will take place, and that after it, the soul and body of man will be exalted in one respect, to an equality with their Creator. They will be immortal.
Here, gentlemen, we close the history of animal life. I feel as if I had waded across a rapid and dangerous stream. Whether I have gained the opposite shore with my head clean, or covered with mud and weeds, I leave wholly to your determination.
Footnotes:[89]Lect. xi. p. 198.[90]“Organization, sensation, spontaneous motion, and life, exist only at the surface of the earth, and in places exposed tolight. We might affirm the flame of Prometheus's torch was the expression of a philosophical truth that did not escape the ancients. Without light, nature was lifeless, inanimate, and dead. A benevolent God, by producing life, has spread organization, sensation, and thought over the surface of the earth.”—Lavoisier.[91]It is probable, the first impulse of life was imparted to the body of Adam by the decomposition of air in his lungs. I infer this from the account given by Moses of his creation, in Genesis, chap. ii. v. 7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” in consequence of which, the verse adds, he became “a living soul.” This explanation of the origin of life in the father of the human race, appears to accord more with reason, as well as the order of the words which describe it, than the common opinion of his having been animated by the infusion of a living soul into his body.[92]A fever was excited in Cinna the poet, in consequence of his dreaming that he saw Cæsar, the night after he was assassinated, and was invited to accompany him to a dreary place, to which he pointed, in order to sup with him. Convulsions and other diseases, I believe, are often excited in the night, by terrifying or distressing dreams.Plutarch's Life of M. Brutus.[93]“Novum fœtum a seminis masculistimulovitam concepisse.”—Elementa Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 177.[94]Niebuhr, in his Travels, says the children in Arabia are taught to keep themselves constantly in motion by a kind of vibratory exercise of their bodies. This motion counteracts the diminution of life produced by the heat of the climate of Arabia.[95]The stimulus of a disease sometimes supplies the place of food in prolonging life. Mr. C. S——, a gentleman well known in Virginia, who was afflicted with a palsy, which had resisted the skill of several physicians, determined to destroy himself, by abstaining from food and drinks. He livedsixtydays without eating any thing, and the greatest part of that time without tasting even a drop of water. His disease probably protracted his life thus long beyond the usual time in which death is induced by fasting. See a particular account of this case, in the first number of the second volume of Dr. Coxe's Medical Museum.[96]Exodus xxxiii, 11. xxxiv, 28.[97]Vol. ii. p.298.[98]Niebuhr's Travels.[99]Haller's Elements Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 2. p. 107.[100]Dr. Mead relates, upon the authority of Dr. Hales, that more of the successful speculators in the South-Sea scheme of 1720 became insane, than of those who had been ruined by it.[101]They have been very happily called by Mr. Green, in his poem entitled Spleen, “the manna of the day.”[102]Dr. Barton.[103]John v. verse 26.
Footnotes:
[89]Lect. xi. p. 198.
[89]Lect. xi. p. 198.
[90]“Organization, sensation, spontaneous motion, and life, exist only at the surface of the earth, and in places exposed tolight. We might affirm the flame of Prometheus's torch was the expression of a philosophical truth that did not escape the ancients. Without light, nature was lifeless, inanimate, and dead. A benevolent God, by producing life, has spread organization, sensation, and thought over the surface of the earth.”—Lavoisier.
[90]“Organization, sensation, spontaneous motion, and life, exist only at the surface of the earth, and in places exposed tolight. We might affirm the flame of Prometheus's torch was the expression of a philosophical truth that did not escape the ancients. Without light, nature was lifeless, inanimate, and dead. A benevolent God, by producing life, has spread organization, sensation, and thought over the surface of the earth.”—Lavoisier.
[91]It is probable, the first impulse of life was imparted to the body of Adam by the decomposition of air in his lungs. I infer this from the account given by Moses of his creation, in Genesis, chap. ii. v. 7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” in consequence of which, the verse adds, he became “a living soul.” This explanation of the origin of life in the father of the human race, appears to accord more with reason, as well as the order of the words which describe it, than the common opinion of his having been animated by the infusion of a living soul into his body.
[91]It is probable, the first impulse of life was imparted to the body of Adam by the decomposition of air in his lungs. I infer this from the account given by Moses of his creation, in Genesis, chap. ii. v. 7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” in consequence of which, the verse adds, he became “a living soul.” This explanation of the origin of life in the father of the human race, appears to accord more with reason, as well as the order of the words which describe it, than the common opinion of his having been animated by the infusion of a living soul into his body.
[92]A fever was excited in Cinna the poet, in consequence of his dreaming that he saw Cæsar, the night after he was assassinated, and was invited to accompany him to a dreary place, to which he pointed, in order to sup with him. Convulsions and other diseases, I believe, are often excited in the night, by terrifying or distressing dreams.Plutarch's Life of M. Brutus.
[92]A fever was excited in Cinna the poet, in consequence of his dreaming that he saw Cæsar, the night after he was assassinated, and was invited to accompany him to a dreary place, to which he pointed, in order to sup with him. Convulsions and other diseases, I believe, are often excited in the night, by terrifying or distressing dreams.
Plutarch's Life of M. Brutus.
[93]“Novum fœtum a seminis masculistimulovitam concepisse.”—Elementa Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 177.
[93]“Novum fœtum a seminis masculistimulovitam concepisse.”—Elementa Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 177.
[94]Niebuhr, in his Travels, says the children in Arabia are taught to keep themselves constantly in motion by a kind of vibratory exercise of their bodies. This motion counteracts the diminution of life produced by the heat of the climate of Arabia.
[94]Niebuhr, in his Travels, says the children in Arabia are taught to keep themselves constantly in motion by a kind of vibratory exercise of their bodies. This motion counteracts the diminution of life produced by the heat of the climate of Arabia.
[95]The stimulus of a disease sometimes supplies the place of food in prolonging life. Mr. C. S——, a gentleman well known in Virginia, who was afflicted with a palsy, which had resisted the skill of several physicians, determined to destroy himself, by abstaining from food and drinks. He livedsixtydays without eating any thing, and the greatest part of that time without tasting even a drop of water. His disease probably protracted his life thus long beyond the usual time in which death is induced by fasting. See a particular account of this case, in the first number of the second volume of Dr. Coxe's Medical Museum.
[95]The stimulus of a disease sometimes supplies the place of food in prolonging life. Mr. C. S——, a gentleman well known in Virginia, who was afflicted with a palsy, which had resisted the skill of several physicians, determined to destroy himself, by abstaining from food and drinks. He livedsixtydays without eating any thing, and the greatest part of that time without tasting even a drop of water. His disease probably protracted his life thus long beyond the usual time in which death is induced by fasting. See a particular account of this case, in the first number of the second volume of Dr. Coxe's Medical Museum.
[96]Exodus xxxiii, 11. xxxiv, 28.
[96]Exodus xxxiii, 11. xxxiv, 28.
[97]Vol. ii. p.298.
[97]Vol. ii. p.298.
[98]Niebuhr's Travels.
[98]Niebuhr's Travels.
[99]Haller's Elements Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 2. p. 107.
[99]Haller's Elements Physiologiæ, vol. viii. p. 2. p. 107.
[100]Dr. Mead relates, upon the authority of Dr. Hales, that more of the successful speculators in the South-Sea scheme of 1720 became insane, than of those who had been ruined by it.
[100]Dr. Mead relates, upon the authority of Dr. Hales, that more of the successful speculators in the South-Sea scheme of 1720 became insane, than of those who had been ruined by it.
[101]They have been very happily called by Mr. Green, in his poem entitled Spleen, “the manna of the day.”
[101]They have been very happily called by Mr. Green, in his poem entitled Spleen, “the manna of the day.”
[102]Dr. Barton.
[102]Dr. Barton.
[103]John v. verse 26.
[103]John v. verse 26.
END OF VOL. II.
Transcriber's Note:The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and formatting have been maintained.Obvious misprints have been corrected.Partly repeated chapter headings have been deleted.This book contains links to other books in the Project Gutenberg collection. Although we verify the correctness of these links at the time of posting, these may not work, for various reasons, for various people, at various times.
Transcriber's Note:
The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and formatting have been maintained.
Obvious misprints have been corrected.
Partly repeated chapter headings have been deleted.
This book contains links to other books in the Project Gutenberg collection. Although we verify the correctness of these links at the time of posting, these may not work, for various reasons, for various people, at various times.