which confer upon man the character of moral agent. To controvert, therefore, the existence of these moral principles, or the idea of a general standard in the morality of human actions, is to fly in the face of all experience, to oppose the universal consciousness of the human understanding, and deny the most conspicuous facts connected with the life of man.

CHAP. XXIV.

Maller and Power; Origin of Motion; Liberty and Necessity.

THE universe is composed of an infinte mass of matter,* or at least, to the human mind, it is infinite, because to

The New York Reviewers, in the review which they took of the first edition of this work, after quoting a number of detached sentences from this chapter, make the following observation: "Those who have read the most celebrated atheistical writers, will see that Mr. Palmer is as determined an Atheist as any of them." It is presumed that these learned Reviewers mean to take the Bible and Testament descriptions of God as the standard of theism. Let us then examine the case upon this ground, and we shall soon discover what it is to be an Atheist in the estimation of the New York Reviewers. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend."—(See Exodus, ch. xxxiii. 11.) "And i will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall no be seen."-(See Exodus, ch. xxxiii. 23.) Fron these passages it appears, that God is represented in the form and shape of a man, and that such were the ideas of the inspired and chosen people of God concerning the Creator. But there is another passage in the New Testament, which places this matter in a still stronger light. In Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, speaking of Jesus Christ, he says, that he was the brightness of his father's glory, and the express image of his person. Now, both believers and infidels agree, that Jesus Christ was in the shape and form of a man; and as he was like God, of course God must be like him; therefore, the Christian God is like a man, perhaps, like one of the New York Reviewers. Now, the fair deduction from all this is, that whosoever doth not believe that God is like a New York Reviewer, is a most profane and abominable Atheist. What a sublime and majestie spectacle of theism do these learned men present to the human mind ! In another place they charge the author of this work with affectation, inordinate vanity, and the want of comprehensive views. How wonderfully comprehensive must be the views of those who can place the material universe upon the shoulders of a God, resembling in his ex

this mass no assignable boundary can be affixed. Space is unlimited or infinite, and in this vast expanse, innumerable bodies of matter, of different magnitudes, are continually performing variegated revolutions. Upon these bodies, or higher spheres of existence, other small bodies are discovered, of specific modification and powers, essentially connected in their natures with the larger orbs, to which they respectively belong. In all these bodies, great and small, motion is an essential and inherent property. The inactivity of matter is a doctrine contradicted by the evidence of our senses, and the clear deductions of a sound philosophy. It is impossible to conceive of matter without power, or of power without matter; they are essentially connected; their existence is interwoven, and cannot be separated even in thought. The ancient doctrine of matter and motion, so long exploded and so much calura niated by theological priests, will probably, at some future day, be considered as bearing a very strong relation to a pure and incorruptible philosophy. Supernatural religion has blinded the human understanding, and prevented, upon this subject, every clear and correct conception.

A belief in spirits had nearly, at one time, overturned the empire of real existence; the power and excellence of matter were exploded to make room for a world of fictions-of phantoms, and things that had in nature no poistence a New York Reviewer. Such literary heroes ought triumphantly to exclaim, that they have excelled in brilliancy of conception, and in comprehensive views, the story of the Indian, which places the earth upon a turtle's back, and then declares the turtle stands upon nothing! Permit us miserable Atheists to bow with great humility, before such splendid talents, and such comprehensice rices. Go on, gentlemen Reviewers, and console yourselves in the preservation of that trinitarian or polytheistical scheme of religion to which you are so much attached; but remember, the moment will arrive in succession of future ages, when those very mental energies of the intelligent world, which you sneer at so much, will sweep. away the whole bundle of theological nonsense, leaving only the mighty power by which the universe is sustained: and of the shape or form of this power, the New York Reviewers have as little idea as the author of the Princip.es of Nature, or any of the profane and abominable Atheists, whom the advocates of christianity long ago sent down to the dismal abodes of the damned, to dwell for ever in bull fire.

P

sitive, no real or substantial being. Filled with this iden, the dreams of theology were substituted for philosophic truth, and fanaticism usurped the dominion of reason. Philosophers joined in the race of spiritual or material glory, and the united effect of their different opinions constituted the annihilation of nature. The spiritualists contend against matter, and the materialists against spirits; Caus sweeping away, by their opposite systems, every species of existence. Matter and its diversited modes of operation are the only things of which human intelligence can take cognizance. It is this vast body which demands Our most serious investigation-it is this in which we are interested, and with which we are most closely connected. Much has been said concerning dead or inactive matter; much concerning its vis inertiæ: but an appeal may be safely made to the phenomena of the physical world for a complete refutation of this opinion. Every fact that strikes our eyes, or presents itself to the contemplation of the understanding; every movement in nature furnishes an argument against a doctrine so unphilosophic and erroneous. Every thing that we behold-all the elements are in continual flux; agitation or motion is an universal and eternal law of nature. The earth, the ocean, and the atmosphere are constantly in a high degree of action; the evidence of these facts are presented to every living creature. The raging element of fire is never wholly at rest; it is always powerfully or more silently operating ia every part of the world. If these ideas are contraverted, let man inquire into their truth by an immediate recourse to the energetic movements of physical existence. In regard to fluids, this opinion perhaps will be contraverted; but it will be asked, whether it be equally true in regard to solids? To this the answer is unequivocally in the affirmative; at least so far as it relates to the question, motion or not motion, action or not action. Beside the general revolutionary motion which the earth has round the sun, the parts of its solid materials are constantly combining and dissolving, as may be proved by the smallest recurrence to the organic structure of vegetable and animal life, and the property of disorganization essential to each specific mode of existence. It will how

ever be contended, that if this be true in regard to organic matter, or to vegetable and animal existences, it will not hold equally in regard to other portions of the ma terial world. There is undoubtedly a difference in the activity of matter, or in the degrees of motion of which the several parts are capable; but there is no such thing as absolute incapacity of motion; no such thing as absoJute and entire rest. For the truth of this, an appeal is made to the power, pressure, and dissolving operation of the most inert and stupid portions of material substance. An appeal is made also to the activity of the most stupid parts of matter in the composition of vegetable produc tions. What regular industry do the solids and fluids exhibit in the formation of a common vegetable? The march of each particle to its destined post is with firm and philosophic step, with constancy and physical zea!. There is no such thing as dead matter; all is alive, all is active and energetic. The rays of the sun fructify the earth, and these are considered among the portions of dead matter. These rays, however, are so active as to travel ninety-five millions of miles in the space of seven minutes and a half; a celerity of motion which substantiates, beyond all contradiction, their essential power and activity. Every fact in the physical world forces conviction in the human mind, and proves the energetic nature of the material system. An investigation of the properties of matter, a full developement of its modes of operation, would lead to the most salutary consequences, by instructing man in regard to his true predicament in nature, and reconciling him to his fate. To corroborate the ideas which have al ready been suggested upon this subject, the following strong and philosophic reflections are taken from an anonymous pamphlet, entitled, "An Essay on Matter :”

All matter is possessed of life, spirit, action, or motion, What is called inanimate matter, owes its motion or life no more to the elements than what is acknowledged to be animate. This elementary influence presupposes the animation of bodies; for as these cannot move without that influence, so neither can that influence where there is no life. To say that the elements alone give motion, is to say that the elements give life, which is denying an

universal agent, or making him appear to act more by intermediate agents than philosophy will allow. No one, I presume, will doubt the independent motion of matter in that form which we name animal-at least that it is as independent as man: we allow animals to be a composi tion of matter without a soul, yet we allow them to be possessed of the principle of motion. It is from this mo

tion solely that we allow them to be possessed of life; for there is nothing beside that can or does influence the mind to make it assent to this truth, that animals have life; and it is from the different combinations of motion and matter that we form our ideas of the different kinds of animals. It is then from motion, and nothing else, that we judge of, and allow matter of a particular kind of composition to he possessed of the living principle; the same evidence must have the same weight in every other kind of composition. Wherever motion is discoverable in matter, be the form of it what it may, we must acknowledge it to entertain the living principle; but it may be said, that though motion be an evidence of life in matter of certain forms, and where the motion is of certain kinds, yet motion of every kind will not prove the existence of life in matter of every form. The absurdity of supposing a cupul mortuum must appear to every one who considers the connection and dependence which exists in all bodies upon each other, the motion which this connection sup. poses, and life which motion evidences. There is a perpetual exchange of matter with matter of every form. The animal creation, for instance, is constantly exchang ing parts with the earth and its atmosphere. If the matter composing animals be animate, and that of the earth inanimate, how can these be united? This would be to suppose that two opposites could exist in one body; whereas it is the nature of opposites to recede from each other, and nothing can be greater opposites than life and death. The independent motion of matter in that form called vegetable, can be as little doubted as in animal. Storms, earthquakes, fires, floods, do not cause vegetation any more than they do generation in animals. The natural or preternatural motion of bodies, no more contributes to the motion of matter in vegetables than in animals; they,

PRINCIPLES OF NATURE..

like us, receive only the natural and gentle influence of the elements, and thereby mark a link in that chain which connects all matter, and which is the harmony of creation. We shall be more particular in speaking of motion in ve- • getables, when we come to treat of the nicer operation of matter in that action which we call thinking. We come now to speak of the motion of matter in those forms where it is less observable upon a superficial view of things; but where, upon a nearer view, it is not less evident than in either of the other forms mentioned. Whoever doub's the motion of matter in the form of a stone, let him take the trouble to look upon the first rock in his way, and be will see its surface mouldering. Whatever decays must be replenished, for matter cannot waste. Stones, then, give to and receive matter from other bodies. Circulation is a very perfect motion. Will any one assert, that the motion of giving and receiving of its substance does not exist in the stone, with only that assistance which, in common with us and animals, it receives from the elements? The motion of matter in the various forms of minerals is mure observable as it is more lively. There is a constant fluctuation of matter in all mineral bodies. When miners open a mine, and do not find the ore they are in pursuit of in the quantity which they expected, they say the mine is not ripe, and close it up again that the metal may have time to grow. If matter have not a vital principle, then have I the power of creating. The bulk of my form is increased by the matter which, in the action of eating, inspiration, and absorption, I add to myself. If this matter have not the principle of life, how can I make it partake of me, and thereby partake of life? Can I unite dead and living things, or can they be united in me? Chymists tell us, that the union of bodies depends upon the affinity, i. e. the likeness which matter in one form has to matter in another form, and tell us no farther. We have before mentioned the different kinds of union produced by atü nity-the perfect and imperfect; but what gives the qua lity of the union and preserves the existence of the compound? It is the living principle in one body, inclining it to associate with the living principle in another body, Without this living principle, that inclination which sup poses motion, could not exist."