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Untitled Article
he passive , in such a manner , as would correspond with all these real or supposed subjects . The separation of two distinct substairces ,. such as body and soul are represented to be , is not avowedly professed with respect to
animals , by immaterialists themselves ; and as to angels , there are-no writings or Christians that maintain them to be a compounded order of beings : the immaterialist represents them as being pure and exalted spirits , and the materialist considers them as
beings whose perception inheres in one substance , consist in whatever it may . Dying , with them , must therefore mean something different to a separation of substances , because they have but
one substance ; and with its pec t to the Deity , who is essentially immortal , and of whom we say he cannot die , what is the specific idea which we preclude , i . e . what idea have we of that state
to which His immortality stands opposed ? The supposed sepualion of body and spirit will not relieve us from the difficulty ! since his essence is whole and jndu isible : n othi nir less th erefore his
than ^^ dissolution of attri - butes—u ceasing to exist in any conscious stale of beins;—is intended as an opposite to his unbounded immortality . These
observations with respect to three oj these particular subjects , lay a foundation for a very important question concerning the fourth , viz . wan : If the death of an
animal , the death of an angel , and the death of the Deity , consist in a loss of consciousness , vvhy should the death of au human being be an exception ? if death bu a different state in this
Untitled Article
latter case , to any of the forguer , it should also have a different name ! but the fact is , that dcatU
upon the material hypothesis is a term uniform in its meaning , whilst upon the immaterial system , it is perfectly unintelligible , and admits of no general definition . —Lastly : we may almost infer the unconsciousness of death , from the love of life , as well as from the dread of death . We
cling to life , because we imagine , and imagine justly , that we cannot exist without it : we dread
the approach of death , because it appears like " a land of darkness , where no light is : " to shut our eyes upon every visible object , for ever ! is a thought that would make life itse , lf distressing , and o \ ye to death a more than
terrific foim ! but as Christians , our fears are abated , and our hopes are revived , by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from tfye dead . 17 th . The moral advantages
of this doctrine , ' deserve to be taken into consideration , and may be justly urged in its favour . The doctrine of simple
materiality is calculated to inspire the mind with humiliiv . When we reflect upon the dust as being our origin ; when we contemplate ourselves as an heap of animated clay ; we feel ourselves more upon a level with things around us than we should do with a fancied immateriality : those pompous
sayings which express our celestial origin , our natural immortality , &e . are calculated to awaken vanity , to beget seh . Complacency , and in short , to make us " think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think : "—very different effects did the dpctrine
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General Arguments in favour of the Doctrine of Materialism . 649
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 649, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2399/page/13/
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