Acts xxiv. 24, 25. And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and 1 SERMON I. ON THE SPIRIT OF A MAN COMPARED WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE BEAST IN ITS QUALITIES AND PROBABLE DESTI NATION. Eccles. iii. 21. Who knoweth the spirit of man, that goeth upward; or the spirit of the beast, that goeth downward to the earth? No question has excited curiosity more, or gratified, it less, than that which relates to the essence of the human soul. We are unavoidably impelled to inquire, what it is within us that perceives, reflects, and reasons; and speculative men have pursued this inquiry with an ardour and a perseverance which the want of success, instead of repressing, seems to have animated. Yet the only discovery resulting from their labours is that which Solomon made some thousand years ago, and which he has stated in an interrogative form, in the words of the text, "Who knoweth the spirit of man, that goeth upward; or the spirit of the beast, that goeth downward to the earth?" The sage of Judea is not ashamed to confess his ignorance, where he finds knowledge to be unattainable; and it would have been for the honour both of philosophers and divines, if, in similar researches, they had imitated his modesty. Discussion, in this case, if it had brought no accession to knowledge, might have proved at least a source of innocent amusement. But, unhappily for the reputation of literary men, whatever is once a subject of investigation, soon becomes, in their hands, a subject of contention; and when the parties are engaged in the warfare of words, it generally happens, that where least can be known, there dogmatism is most positive, and intolerance most bitter. It is not my intention to enter into those disputes concerning matter and spirit, which have occasioned so much unnecessary heat, and so many uncharitable judgments. judgments. Even of matter, though it lies open to our senses, we know nothing but a few properties. These seem to be utterly incompatible with the power of thought; and it has therefore been a general opinion, that "there is a spirit in man" in which this power resides. But what that spirit is, or how it acts upon the material frame, is far beyond the reach of our limited faculties to determine. The same argument from which we conclude, that the soul of man is a spiritual essence, will justify Solomon in attributing a spirit to the beasts: "for they also think and reason not contemptibly." And if the immateriality of the soul of man be a valid argument for its immortality, it is valid also for the immortality of the beast. But, notwithstanding all the subtlety, and all the pertinacity, with which this argument has been supported, it must appear to a plain understanding altogether nugatory. To affirm that the soul, whether it consist of matter or of spirit, is naturally immortal, is not only begging a question which cannot be proved, B 2 * |