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Untitled Article
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
tiffJfy 9 M sb &r at least as " it ret " dfe "* any ~ practical ' purposes , tftig the night season . In profotind sfiep ; all perception , or
consciousness , which is but a reflex act of perception , ceases ; mind hath no real existence . Yet so far is this suspension of the mental process from destroying its identity , or operating as any real obstacle to its existence , or
successfuldperations , that there is ffeksfcfrrW'believe it is essential to tnfese ^ purposes . The same ttffttf telreslored , with the return of morning , irt a state of renewed
vigor and ntfiess for future action . ShqtfW , ; however , any doubts be tnt& ' rtf&iied '' t&siteetmg the reality
WTOirsUfpefisioh in sleep , which Is n ^ ertfielesr a matter of plain & | fe ! i £ ji ^ £ e a £ si far as a negation CW ^ jJif ' iaitf to be so , they will ti&fe ^ y hot be ex tended to the state
of dbrm ^ inpy , to which the human * p > fe ( die ^ bav ^ In some inst ' ances lie ^ n siibjecfedj , and from which they ' ijH&ye * sometimes recovered tfee ftill possession oftheir minds
and of their conscious identity , as in the case of tfee ordinary returns of vikifence . In this state it is often impossible by any natural ineans to impart sfcnsation , which is the first principle of perception ,
to tl > e patient ; and it can scarcely he distinguished from death , in V ^ j < : h it frequently terminates , by an ^ other circumstance than the absence of putrefaction * . . . Now if itf the usual course of
nature the mind can be thus Witlijgjr ^ wHi 4 restored , not only without , impediment , but with real advantage to its existence and ^ oriscious sameness ; if the functions of the system can be absolutely suspended for a season , and * fiferwards retailed to the produc-
Untitled Article
tion of precisely the same mental effect as before , why may not the like be effected , with correspondent advantages , by the moTe immediate intervention of the Deity ? Why may he not for any term , which his infinite wisdom may
dictate , suspend the existence , as well as the operations of that curious mechanism by which mind is produced , and again re-organize it , with such alterations in its structure and external circumstances as may be more
immediately adapted to the future purposes of its existence ? The organ though renewed will , if adapted to the production of the same mental effects as before , be essentially the same , and a renewed
vigor and enlargement of capacity may surely be imparted to it , not only without endangering , but with the greatest advantages to its former and future attainments .
" The power of uniting the past and future with the present ** will
be promoted both by the improved powers of the organ , and by its advantageous circumstance ^ pn its entrance on the world nowYuture ; while the scenes with whiclt we are now immediately conversant , being contemplated with a
strong but distant and comprehensive view , will be seen more according to the true character and just relation to the general scheme of things . The same mind being
thus restored , with vast advantages , with regard both to its former and future acquisitions , will obtain a more complete self-possession than it had ever before experienced , and may feel a peculiar degree of self-complacency ,
both in its conscious identity and the glorious changes which it has undergone .
Untitled Article
Difficulties in the JDm ^ tine a Resurrection . 73 S
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1813, page 735, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2434/page/43/
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