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REV. JAMES GOSSET-TANNER, M.A., ON 



able to be present at its reading. It deals with a subject which is 

 probably the most important for us in our earthly life, because a 

 clear comprehension of all that it signifies will materially help us 

 to gain a truer perspective of this world of appearances in 

 which so many imagine that they live and move and have their 

 being. 



"As a humble but earnest student of nature and the physical 

 sciences for over half a century, I may perhaps be allowed to 

 state the conclusions I have come to on that which constitutes a 

 human being. 



"From our finite outlook it may be said that the human being 

 comprises body, soul and spirit, as follows : — • 



" The body, T\ath its life, is purely physical, it is built up of the same 

 protoplasmic cell (the foundation of all living matter) as we find in 

 the bodies of all animals and plants. It has no free-will of its own, 

 its wish must always be in one direction, namely, in the form ' Let 

 my will be done.' It has instincts which are not wrong in them- 

 selves, in a purely animal nature, but certain of them are made 

 manifest as conscious wrong when they come in contact and, therefore, 

 in competition with the spiritual. 



" The spirit is an emanation from and an integral part of the Great 

 Spirit. Being purely spiritual, and in the image of the Great 

 Spirit, it is not limited by space and must therefore be what we should 

 call Omnipresent, and being indej^endent of time limitation it must 

 be omniscient. It cannot be said to have freewill of its own ; its 

 desires must always be in the form, ' Let Thy Will be done,' and all 

 its ways are perfection. It is the Son of God growing up within 

 us and is our Real Personality. 



" The soul is the shadow or aspect of our real personality on the 

 physical plane of consciousness under the limiting conditions of time 

 and space. It can therefore only think in finite words ; requires 

 succession of ideas to accumulate knowledge ; is dependent on 

 perception of vibrations in aether, air or matter for forming concepts 

 of its surroundings and without those concepts on its plane of 

 consciousness it would have no knowledge of existence. It con- 

 stitutes the ■ I am ' of our consciousness, or what may be called 

 the physical ego. 



" As already pointed out, neither the spiritual nor the physical, 

 the natures by which the soul is surrounded, can be said to possess 



