DOCTRINE OF MATERIALISM. 95 



sesses of intellect, or soul. Instead of consi- 

 dering the organs which the principle of life 

 has elaborated, as the mere recipient of its 

 power, as the secondary, or instrumental 

 cause, by the energy of which, ratiocination, and 

 voluntary motion, are produced, it is to the 

 organisation alone subsisting as a cause, to 

 which the essence and power of soul are ascri- 

 bed. Nothing, however, can be more erro- 

 neous. The error has been acknowledged by 

 the best, and by the wisest men, that have ever 

 flourished, in antient or in modern times : it 

 has appeared to them that the attributes of 

 mind, and of matter, are altogether different 

 and distinct from each other; and that no 

 modification of matter whatever, could ac- 

 count for the formation of the soul. It must 

 be apparent, that if the soul is material, that 

 like the universal attribute which belongs to 

 matter, it must be composed of parts ; and, 

 that if it contains parts, that it necessarily 

 must be divisible ; that if it be divisible, it 

 must likewise be decomposable and resolvable ; 

 and if it be decomposable, it must be destructi- 

 ble ; and if it be destructible, it must be a com- 

 posite ; and if it be a composite, it must have 

 triple dimensions of length, breadth, and thick- 

 ness, as the common attributes belonging to 

 matter, in general. If this were the case, 

 the accumulation of ideas, would pecessarily, 



