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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
the resurrection of the dead , and an everlasting life ; but as no good purpose can be answered by a resurrection , unless on the principle of identity , I conceived that it was desirable to endeavour to
shew the possibility of this identity being protected during the series of years that may intervene between death and resuscitationand hence the probability of sl general resurrection , independent of revelation .
To this I was more particularly inclined from a recollection of the perplexity that I myself felt , some years a " go , on this subject , before I became so much engaged in chemical pursuits as I am at presefnt ;
having never been able , ' till . I contemplated the unalterable pro - perties of matter , to acquire that full and unhesitating acquiescence in the doctrine of a future life , which is so desirable to every one who would receive that
satisfaction which such a belief is calculated to produce . But when I could perceive that matter is endued with properties , which , notwithstanding the various forms und combinations into which it
may be thrown b y { nan , are indestructible and unchangeableit occurred , to me that minjj , which can only be matter *
im-* As we are surrounded with matter , and are acquainted with nothing that is immaterial , we have reason to conclude that mind is material also . Certain appear ^ ances in Nature seeny to favour this-conclusion ; If we take an egg that has lain even for some months unnoticed , and place it in a favourable temperature , caloric alone will impart life unto the inert mass , and a perfect animal , endued with perception , volition , appetite and instirict , will , in a short time , be developed . + A remarkable instance of this may be seen in any of the metals . If we take a piece of metal , tin , or coppey for instance , and place it in a situation to absorb ® xygeto 9 it will lose its former appearance and be reduced to a pulverulent mass . If tlmpowder be now put into some of the acids , the whole will be dissolved , so
« 8 toiorm a perfectly transparent solution . Here all its properties of hardness , lustre , malleability , tenacity , ductility , and even its opacity seem to be entirely destroyed—but the moment it is precipitated from its solution and the oxygen abstracted , that moment does the metal recover all its prigmal properties , assume * H & jwonted brilliancy , and is as fit for any purpose to which it i * usually applied , as ** u bad awecAcea dissolved , -
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pressed with peculiar properties , / may also be indestructible , and that the God of nature may have so isolated the mind of every
fauman being as to prevent the matter of whicji it is composed from forming suqb combinations with , lhe surrounding matter , as would in any \^ ay impair it , or destroy its identity *
He has provided , I perceive for the preservation of every property of every particle of matter-with , which we arc acquainted ,- } - and can he have omitted to exercise
the same providence ^ in the protection of mind , that most wonderful of all his productions ? . These reflections having operated so favourably with me as to remove some doubts respecting the possibility of a resurrectioTi , with which I had formerly been
so much . embarrassed , I was desirous of laying this view of tfeo subject before the public , with the hope thiit it might have tlie same happy effect on others ; and if your correspondent G . will but
have the goodness to look at my paper again , especially at the latter part of it , he will perceive that this was my object ; indeed , it was m ^ sole * motive for publishing such reflections .
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mr < TarJces on Matter Owl Mm < $ * fl $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1809, page 713, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1707/page/7/
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