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immediately or ultimately acquired through these senses ;— 'if man were destitute of these material senses , he would be little superior to a plant or a tree . 5 th . The different states of
man from the cradle to the grave , contribute much to increase the evidence in favour of simple ma ,, tonality : —we perceive that the inind and the body gradually stiengthen and decline together : at the middle period of life , when the body is the most established , the
intellectual powers are the most invigorated , the memory is the most retentive , the reasoning powers are capable of greater research , so that a clear perception and an unimpaired brajn , whether in the lower or the higher walks of life , are found to go together .
6 th . Bodily debility occasions mental debility : persons who give themselves up to voluptuousness , and thereby destroy the powers of their bodies , equally impair the faculties of their minds ; from this we see that the
nervous system is intimately connected with the seat of sensation , and in shout , that the whole of the perceptive system is material
ftn nnmortai spirit , possessing no one common property with matter , could not degenerate in its faculties in consequence of the injuries sustained by matter .
7 th . Suspended animation , swoons , sound sleep , and indeed every state which resembles death , is proved from fact and experience to be an unconscious one , and of course death itself , which
* a complete dissolution of the powers , uiust be so : and if the soul be unconscious during the sleep of death , its immortality is not worth ' contending . for , the
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grounds for a future life , being al-U > gether independent of this hy ~ pothesis . 8 th . Is it not strange ! and at least paradoxical ! to represent be in iis , whose founda ' tion is in thedust ) and who are crushed bf fore-. the moth as being naturally immortal ?* the scriptures always speak of man as being coriuplibleand subject to death !
9 th , He who created us , and zcho knoiLcth whereof tee arc mvde ^ has declared in the most positive manner what man 3 s , and what he is destined to be— " Dust thou art , and unto dust shalt thou return !" .
10 th . The testimony of good mej ] , of patriarchs and prophets concerning themselves , shews the antiquity and increases the evu dence in favour of this simple * philosophy . — " Behold I have taken upon me to speak to tho
Lord , " says the patriarch Abra - ham , " who am but dust and ashes . " " Thou k no west whereof we are made : thou reinembcrest that we are but dust ., ' * said thtt pious psalmist . Ulihu inhis conversation with Job respecting I ho divine dispensations , which h <*
was attempting to justify ; with a view to divest himself of self-importance , and to conciliate the attention of his friend , declares , 4 C 1 also am formed out of tlitt clay . " And in like manner Job himself expresses the same thing ;
cc Remember I beseech thee lh ; it thou hast made me as the clay , and wilt thou bring me into dust again ?"
Jlth . The scripture repre ^ senjation of death is in favour of the material hypothesis , as may be collected from very many passages . To instance a few : —The ¦• uftliclcel Job , in th * moment ot
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General Argtunents in favour of the Doctrine of Materialism . 593
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vol . m . 4 4 v
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 593, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/17/
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