Man All Immortal

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." GENESIS ii, 7. "There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." JOB Xxxii, 8.

WHENCE came I? what am I? and whither am I bound? are questions which have ever excited in the human mind an intensity of thought and feeling awakened by no other subject. They are questions of transcendent importance. For all that can elevate us in the scale of being; all that can direct to noble and virtuous purpose the energies of our nature; in fine, all that can give permanency to our hopes of an eternal being, or satisfy our longings after immortality, are centered in the solution which reason and religion give of them. The very rules of life, the maxims of society, the ultimate purposes and aims of a social and immortal being, are dependent upon them. For, unless we know what man is, unless we know what are the present objects of his being, and what is to be his final destiny, how can we prescribe rules for his conduct or lay before him proper motives of action? how can we still the disquietude of his heart or prevent the soul from falling back, discomfited and distressed, in its unsatisfied longings to solve the mysterious problem of its own being? Any effort,

then, however feeble and unsatisfactory it may be, looking toward the solution of this problem of humanity is not unworthy of considerate attention and thought.

After all the

But how little does man know of himself! researches of science, from the time that "know thyself". was first inscribed upon the temple of reason till the present hour, what has been the result? How little do we know of even our physical economy-the curious mechanism of the human body! The coarser appurtenances of the grand machinery are known, but the finer integuments of our being, which are essential to our existence, which give energy and power to the elastic springs of life, have, as yet, eluded the ken of science and the skill of human ingenuity. New discoveries have perpetually evolved new mysteries, displaying more, and still more, the surpassingly-wonderful organism of our bodies. What complexity of parts, and yet what unity of design! What mysterious interweaving of machinery, what delicate, what wonderful processes, and yet how harmonious the combination, and what simplicity in the result! Who can look upon this organism without feeling that he is indeed "fearfully and wonderfully made!"

But if the investigation of our physical nature is attended with so many difficulties, and involves mysteries so inscrutable to the unaided intellect, can we wonder that the mind-the immaterial and thinking principle-should in volve questions still more subtile and inexplicable? Can we wonder that the undying spirit—that emanation of light and glory from the bosom of the Eternal-should rise above our comprehension, and elude the research of our unaided powers? Nothing can be more striking than the impotent efforts of heathen philosophers to solve the mystery of this intangible, subtile, conscious element of our nature; unless, indeed, it be the equally-important efforts of those who, though favored with the light of Divine

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Man All Immortal: Or, the Nature and Destination of Man as Taught by Reason ...