The banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1844-1847, 1846-05-20
THE IMMORTALITY OF TIE
SOUL.
The Subject PIilosopIicalIy Considered
AN ESSAY,
Read before "IHe AdbccWe Lyccum,"
18th Norember, ls45, by the Rev. A.
Fl. CORNISH, A. NJ.
(pUBLlSIED BY REOUESr.)


ration Of The sout
But too commonly, however, has it
happened that, prcsumptuously striving
to know what God has wisely concealed
from the finite view, they have ovcrstcp-
ped the limits of modest investigation.
and entered the mysterious and shadowy
region which lies beyond. They have
vainly sought 10 kuo,o all thing: ;, and be-
cause they could not gain Il perfect
knowledge OF the essence and mole Of &C.
astemce of the soul; or rather, because
the soul is not, like matter, perccptible
to the external senses, they would Who'll
ly discard the notoh of its imsmortaliiy,
and betalle themselves to the cherries
and gloomy hypothesis, that the soul
per'shes with the body in the grave, or,
in other and more expressive language,
that the sleep Of death Is eternal.
Such, in brief, is the creed of inflcli-
ty-such the end it assigns to man.
But is death total extinction? Is all
that folio rs death mere "blank oblivion,
utter nothingness The mind instinc-
lively shudders at the thought. 1t is too
dismal to be for moment indulged
TO be laid in the narrow-house, and
moulder back to dust, and be no more,
ase0er! no never! Horrible anticipa-
tionl And the rational mind would
fain avoid it in the belief, that, Revela-
ton apart, it is nevertheless in the high
est degree, possible and probable that the
spirat anlN s"rcirc the wrech Of ITS mortal
tenement. That, as an old poet has well
and forcibly expressed it, ::Regit idcm
spiritus artus orbe alio"*
1t will then be my present aim 10
show, that it is, in mere philosophical
point Of view, both possible and probable
THAI the m!~I or soHl Of nan is capable OF
existing, and acW crist after the dissolution
of the body.
The existence Of mind as something
distinct from the functions of the body,
has been questioned by the hypothesis
which supposes the mind, or vital princi-
pie to be Of the same substance as the
body, and like the body, liable to disso-
luton and annihilation
Now suppose it be, COR arguments
sake, admitted, that the mind and body
are, as to substance, the same, will it
follow that the mind is destruciible? or,
in other words, will be annillilatcd2
In nature, as in mechanics, permn-
aency is known to be an universal lar.
From all the teachings Of science we
learn, with respect to matter, that no
particle Of it has ever been DESTROYED bv
the decomposition Of bodies; and since
annlhllation supposes entire destruction,
IT follows that no particle Of matter has
ever been anmiAlated. The term ami
hiIation, therefore, is vague and un-
notwithstanding something Of which
the human mind can form no adequate
conception. Hence, for aught that ap-
pears to the contrary, matter itself may
be in.perishablc, immortal. and conse-
quently though the body and mind were,
as to substance, the same, it would ne
vertheless be true, that the mind is I'M
mortal. Annihilated then man cannot
be. The grave may cover him-the
worm may feed upon him-hs body
may be dissolved into its original atoms,
but no one Of these atoms will be de-
stroycd or lost while tho present consti-
tuition and order Of things continues.
Matter of all kinds, we know, is liable
to dissolution. Yet, all alike is contn
ued IN being-entering, perhaps, into
an innumerable variety of new and fan.
ciful combinations so that in the natu.
raj process of things, the majestic oak
may, in part be composed of the atoms
of some once sensitive form laid to re-
pose beneath its quiet shade. Never
theless permanently is stamped upon all
all are Immortal.
But, be it observed, the mind if mate.
rial, must be an atom, or q combination
Of atoms, and, consequently perceptible
to the external senses. But this not be.
ing the case, it follows that the mind is
essentially different from its corporeal
*Lucan.