vigilance, in constancy, and in a persevering aim at even the highest degree of perfection. Let us not by a blind, hypocritical, and lying candour (or affectation of candour rather) give weak or bad men, should they introduce themselves amongst us, the advantage; thereby neutralizing the otherwise powerful efforts of the virtuous and strong minded; but let us (in love and benevolence indeed, but still in truth) speak of men and of principles as they deserve, and as we really think them. Let us rebuke those whom we think to blame, with sincerity-and bestow our approbation, where deserved, with cheerfulness; acting neither as men-pleasers, nor as seeking merely our own repose and quietness, but as answerable to our heavenly Father for the talents given to our care-and as servants who know the will of their Master, and are therefore tenfold more deserving of punishment, should they neglect its performance.

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In this spirit, friends, let us act, each, individually-with benevolence to others, for blessings have freely and bountifully been given to us-with prudence before the world, for the eyes of the evil are fixed upon us; intent to discover and to magnify our failings, in order to traduce our principles-with activity in the business and duties of life, for so we shall best shew ourselves the disciples of our beloved Master-with minds zealously affected towards the rights of the church of God, and devoted to the extending its benignant influence upon mankind-with faithfulness in giving, and humility in receiving reproof; not regarding him as an enemy who honestly, and in a Christian spirit, rebukes us, but, on the contrary, cherishing him as the best and most valuable of friends-with brotherly kindness towards each other, wherever it may be possible, promoting each other's welfare; and, above all, with true piety and fervent, unaffected devotion, remembering the blessings which, above all others, we enjoy encouraging the prayer of the heart and the closet -drawing from the scriptures the principles which should actuate the Christian's conduct-striving to imitate the great excellencies of our Master Jesus, and his apostlesdwelling on the character and the attributes of that infinite and all-powerful Being who formed us by his will, and who supports us by his providence-cherishing within us the pure, but subtile flame of gratitude and thankfulness-and duly preparing ourselves for that hour of death, and that day of judgment which is, to all human beings, the close of their earthly pursuits, and which opens to the Christian the hopes of eternal happiness in a state of things, where the wicked

shall cease from troubling, and where each shall be judged according to his works done in the flesh, whether they have been good, or whether they have been evil."

Signed on behalf of the whole by the Elder.

LONDON, July 1822.

THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD OPPOSED TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

To establish the positions that the resurrection from the dead is peculiarly the doctrine of the gospel; and an immaterial, self-existent principle in man, called a soul, is the offspring of heathenism and infidelity, is the object of the present and succeeding Essays: a design which may be esteemed bold-perhaps irreligious-but certainly second to few in interest to mankind, and in an especial degree important to the believer in revelation.

I approach the subject, therefore, anxious to do justice to the truly philosophical and Christian system of the onenessthe materiality of man: in opposition to the unphilosophical and heathen hypothesis that man is composed of two principles, which possess no qualities in common: the one material and incapable of thought, or even of life, the other immaterial and naturally immortal.

I propose examining this subject under five divisions:First, The history of the doctrine of an immortal soul; from which it will appear that this popular and falsely-called Christian doctrine arose naturally out of the speculations, at once of the savage and the philosopher, when unaided. by divine assistance, and that it is entirely unknown to Christianity.

Secondly, To prove that the immortal soul of the modern immaterialist is a substance or a shadow of no settled qualities; that these persons support a system not merely differing from their heathen model, but that the "immortal "soul," as explained and defined by each separate advocate, differs from that which is described by all the others.

Thirdly, That the existence of two, or more, separate and distinct principles in man is inconsistent with our experience

of nature, and with philosophy-and that it is destructive of the grounds of hope peculiar to the Christian, of a future state of existence.

Fourthly, That the portions of scripture, supposed to favour the belief in an immortal soul, are misconstrued.

Fifthly and finally, That the scriptures place the promises of a future life, not upon the existence of an immaterial soul, which never dies, but upon the resurrection of man from the dead, and that by an express interposition of the mighty power of God.

In discussing these positions, it may be useful to bear in mind the well known principles of philosophical discussion laid down by Newton:-Firstly, That we should admit no more causes than are sufficient to explain appearances; and secondly, That to similar effects, we should, as far as possible, assign similar causes. These principles, valuable in all inquiries, are doubly important in a discussion like the present, which has been rendered obscure by ancient. prejudice, subtle reasoning, and false philosophy,

In committing myself to the support of the above five positions, it will be seen that I, in fact, unite what the Christian so called, and the modern Deist, will join in esteeming as contradictory-a belief in a future state of existence and a dis-belief in an immortal soul; and I may say that it is because I am a believer in a future state of existence, and that upon the express authority of the New Testament, that I oppose the doctrine of an immortal soul. The liability of being misunderstood upon a doctrine so very important, originates in the gross degree of ignorance which prevails in relation to the scripture doctrine of a resurrection; an ignorance too not likely to be remedied, for even the Wesleyan preacher, Dr. Adam Clark, complains, that, though" there is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid, there is not a doctrine, "in the present system of preaching, which is treated with more neglect."

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This neglect, not more characteristic of the doctor's own sect than of other bodies of professing Christians, is the more singular from the circumstances which have recently brought this subject before the law authorities of the country; for, had these reverend and pious persons felt as they ought to have done, upon a question affecting the foundation of their faith, they would not have been content to leave their cause solely in the hands of the Christian Advocate of Cambridge, who, by virtue of his office, and

"of the will of the late Rev. John Hulse, is required to "produce, every year, an answer to the objections which "may be brought against natural or revealed religion."

This reverend person, who is also the vicar of Kensington, chooses to commit the popular error of confounding the materialist, not merely with the deistical, but also with the atheistical unbeliever. Having been induced to notice "medical publications upon organization and life, which "strike deep at the root of all religion," he states, that in his estimation an "immortal soul" is the first," the noblest gift of God to man;" that atheism and materialism are synonimous--and that "sceptical notions and atheistical views," characterize the materialists. So conversant is this "Advocate" with the secrets of nature, and the precise qualities of matter, that he deems it a sufficient answer to Mr. Lawrence, upon that subject, to assert oracularly deny the assertion that " medullary matter thinks."

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we

These sceptical views, Mr. Rennell, the "Christian "Advocate,"" has been lately informed," upon the best authorities," have, upon the minds of many, had a con"siderable effect." Mr. Abernethy too, with equal zeal for the souls of the medical profession, kindly warns them to beware of this modern pestilence; and Mr. Wetherell aided by the Lord Chancellor, contended that the materialism of the soul had been asserted for the purpose of denying a future state. "That it was as easy to shew the evit

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tendency of this opinion, as the sun at noon day. That "the plaintiff" (Mr. Lawrence)" could have no copyright "in the work, as it was a public denial of Christianity and "Revelation--was contrary to public policy and morality, "which had been demonstrated by the Edinburgh Medical

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Reveiw, the Quarterly Review, the Vicar of Kensington, and others." "That materialism openly and necessarily "taught death to be an eternal sleep, and that, therefore, "hereafter we were not to be accountable for the deeds "done in this life." These reverend and learned adversaries of materialism ought, in justice to the argument, to have preceded their catalogue of effects by philosophical and Christian demonstration; they should have shewn, in the first instance, that the fact can be proved from nature, that man is composed of two principles, the one necessarily mortal, the other essentially immortal; they should have proved, from the mouths of Jesus and his apostles, that the denial of an immaterial, immortal soul was equivalent to the disbelief of Christianity, and then their warnings and

lamentations might have been appropriately promulgated; though even then, from their own reverence for precedent and authority, they would have been pressed with the difficulty of accounting for the moderate and almost favourable views entertained of materialism, by some eminent members of the established church. Paley, in his Natural Theology says, "That grand point-the resurrection of the human "dead-might appear hopeless, did we not see the power at "work adequate to the effect; but I admit it is first necessary to be persuaded that there is a God to do so. This being settled, there seems to be nothing in this process "which need to shock our belief. They who have taken up the opinion, that the acts of the human mind depend upon organization, are supposed to find a greater difficulty than others do, in admitting a transition by death, to a new "state of sentient existence, because the old organization is "apparently dissolved. But I do not see that any impracticability need be apprehended even by these."

The late Dr. Taylor, in his correspondence with Bishop Law, freely asserts "No man can prove from scripture, that the "human soul is a principle which lives, and acts, and thinks,

independent of the body." Upon the situation of man, after death, "revelation alone can give an answer to this point; "for whatever the metaphysical nature, essence, or substance

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of the soul be, which is altogether unknown to us, all "arguments, for the natural immortality of the soul, taken "from the nature of its substance or essence, are manifestly vain; we can never prove that the soul of man is of such a nature that it can and must exist and live, think and "act, separate from, and independent of, the body; all our present experience shews the contrary; the operation "of the mind depends constantly and invariably upon the "state of the body of the brain in particular." And the late Bishop of Carlisle asserts, that upon a perusal of the scripture," by which we protestants profess to be deter"mined, we may possibly discern that the natural immortality of the human mind is NEITHER NECESSARILY CONNECTED 66 WITH, NOR TO A CHRISTIAN ANY PROPER PROOF OF, A FUTURE STATE OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS." Had the religious, pious, and doubting Chancellor been familiar with these high authorities in the English church, he might have recognized the right of literary property, in a treatise on materialism, and have let a less favourable ear to the force of Mr. Wetherell's testimony; especially to that portion of it adduced from the work of

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even