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tive and conscious testimony, that we are immortal parts of the great integer-Nature; that we have existed from, and shall continue to exist to all eternity, though our identities have been interrupted by the weakness of reminiscence, or changed by decay or death.

A weak mind, that attaches itself to identity alone, may not be able to conceive its eternal connection with Nature, but I defy a mind, that has arrived at the acme of intellect and considers the indestructibility of matter to separate itself from its eternal integer, though it can have no knowledge of the mode of connection.*

The utility of this doctrine is indisputable, as it shows us that we shall participate, in present and future, of all the evil that our vice or violence may bring upon the great mass of Nature, in the same manner, that the sobriety or intemperance of youth prepares a healthy or disordered old age, and that no clemency of an imaginary power or deity, can relieve us from the present or future consequences of our own actions.

Such a religion or doctrine would not fail, if universally taught, to render all mankind wise, virtuous and happy. The tyrant would tremble at the cruelty he prepares for another identity-the violent or vicious man would cease to perpetuate his brutality, lest his succeeding identity be animated to a world of misery; and the brute creation would be entitled to more humanity than our own species, lest their dumbness might conceal the pain which man inflicts, and lest he in future, assuming the identity of a brute, might suffer that pain, his inhumanity had caused and perpetuated.

The absurd and cruel institutions of society tyrannize over Nature, by multiplying the wants and classes of humanity, by substituting power to peace, labor to repose, riches to happiness. Original violence having destroyed

The river that is lost in the ocean, though its identity is no more, does not cease to exist, but undergoes all the agitations and evaporations of the sea, and returns into rivers again; and thus it is with the connection of man and Nature.

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truth in its abstract, or in the great circle and system; mankind, by operating in a contracted system of relative truth, perpetuate misery for their present and future identities.

When the human capacity shall arrive at intellectual existence, and conceive intuitively the sacred doctrine of the unity and eternity of all Nature, the whole moral economy of humanity will be changed-the system of Nature will be known-self will be discovered-happiness will be studied-and man, in the plenitude of intellectual existence, will be brought to a state of enlightened Nature, or absolute liberty directed and controlled by a wise volition, to obtain the end of well-being to self and fellow-selves, or all sensitive creatures.

THE VOLITION

OR will is produced both by physical and by moral causes; it is first examined by the Judgment, and in proportion as it is, or is not, thereby influenced, it effects an harmonious or a discordant tune.

The volition of man may be regarded as the source of moral motion, and takes its birth from outward or inward impression. This affection in man, unaccompanied by wisdom, is often dangerous to his well-being, and is very inferior to that of brutes, which instinct directs in a right line to their well-being. Hence the origin of coercion, to restrain the volition which would have answered all the end of wisdom, had not mankind, from an increase of population, seperated into several societies, each of which became, as it were, an individual, with its own unwise volition. Different associations having no coertion to restrain them, waged war on each other, and their violence or evil volition unrestrained, forced mankind into the asylum of civilization, where they met coertion, a monster who devoured their liberty and happiness, in order to assure to them their miserable existence.

In proportion as wisdom augments or advances. coer

tion must diminish or recede, and this is exemplified in the present state of different nations; those possess most liberty who possess most wisdom. The latter must always precede; for should the former dare to assume the precedence, it changes into licentiousness, and wisdom flies from its society, and to preserve existence, coertion must be called in, though to that demon, happiness is sacrificed upon the altar of despotism.

THE JUDGMENT

Is the power of the mental qualities, to assort, to relate, to compare the ideas presented to it, to draw therefrom just inferences or deductions, and to direct and preserve the volition in a strait line to truth.

It is the great moral excellence of the machine called man; and if this machine is so organized as to allow the perfect operation of judgment, it must, when played upon, ever produce a melodious air.

Other machines that are less perfectly organized, and where this faculty may be wanting, are still capable of performing the same melody, but then they must follow the example of the first, which answers to the leader of the band, and they may acquire the habit of playing well, though they do not in so eminent a degree feel the consciousness, or know the cause of the melodious tune, which they produce by imitation, as the leader does b invention, by which it must receive a greater proportion of pleasure.

The faculty of judgment is the sovereign of the mental powers, and places its throne in the mind, holding a most despotic empire over the volition, whose residence is [figuratively said to be] in the heart. This it must treat with uncommon severity; for upon the least indulgence it rebels, and drives judgment from its throne, and even when it assumes an abject posture of supplication to wait with resignation the sovereign decree, its treachery must still be suspected, and it must not be suffered to approach

even the steps of the throne; nay, with all these precautions, it has been known to menace its sovereign, and influence decrees, which judgment imagined were of pure motive. It often employs an officious emissary, named vanity, who whispers in the ear of judgment to obtain a partial decree for volition concealed behind its flowing robes. In short, judgment can never be secure till it has elevated its throne to a pinnacle, where the whispers of the emissary, and the supplications of volition, can never reach.

If we attend to the polemical writings of mis-named philosophers, and the conversation of modern disputants, we shall be sensible on what a low and humble throne judgment is seated, and what power the emissary, vanity, possesses; for their disputes tend not to form, but only to support an opinion; and with them truth and triumph are synonimous. If we would demonstrate by observation the power of volition over judgment, we might no tice the clubs in St. James' street, and the conduct of some august personages, who resemble and equal in their great powers and excellence of intelligence, reflection and anticipation, the Caribbee Indians, who play for their beds in the morning, and cry for them at night, as do the former for their estates.

Having, by this allegory, shown the powers and properties of the animal machine, Man, I shall proceed to investigate his essence and end of existence; and first of his ESSENCE.

ESSENCE.

WE find in that combination of matter, called man, two powers, one passive, and the other active. The first is the corporeal power, formed of the visible and tangible parts, called body: the other is the result of the organization of that body, forming the power vulgarly called soul. The body, by its organs of sense, as eyes, ears, nose, palate, and various members, communicates with the soul, and conveys to it that intelligence, which the soul administers in procuring well-being to the body, and constantly directs it to the objects of pleasure, and warns it against those of pain. Where these component parts are perfect, the machine is moved in a right line to wellbeing, unless interrupted by some extraneous power over which it has no control.

The corporeal part of this machine is, as it were a ca nal or duct, to receive extraneous matter, and to communicate to it in its momentary passage the pleasure of consciousness or existence; for the foreign matter incorporates every moment in the machine, by respiration and aliment, and passes with such velocity, that thought can form no period of absolute, corporeal, or mental identity. The action of the memory, which lasts no longer than the nerve, its agent, vibrates, conveys epochas of pain and pleasure, called existence, to the circulating matter, and this is what is vulgarly understood by identity, which ceases, upon the decomposition of the corporeal and mental union, and releases itself in all Nature, from which it is impossible, even in thought, to separate it.

All Nature, that is, all its parts, called I, you, they, which are, were, and will be eternally a part of Nature, are interested in preserving these canals, or selfish identities of persons, in order that matter may be assured happiness and well-being in its eternal revolution.

The essence of man may be simply and intelligibly defined to be; Matter organized so as to procure a volition,

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