' Now, the
truth is, Materialists contend that matter _as a whole_ cannot in
strictness be considered either dead or living, intelligent or
non-intelligent, but simply matter; which matter when in certain
well-known states is called dead, and when in other equally well-known
states is called living. If where motion is there is life, then there is
no dead matter; for all matter, or at least all matter of which we have
experience, moves. To charge upon Materialists the dogma of matter's
deadness is a paltry trick which a writer like Mr. Smith should disdain
to practice. Nor does it become him to lecture Atheists about their
dogmatism, while from his own published writings can be adduced such
passages as the following:--
'We know that the two principal attributes of matter are visibility and
tangibility, and these two properties are purely spiritual or
immaterial. Thus resistance is nothing but that mysterious power we call
repulsion--a power which fills the whole universe--which holds the sun,
moon, and stars in its hand, and yet is invisible.'
This is what our Rev. Pantheist calls one of Spiritualism's 'splendid
arguments,' and splendidly absurd it certainly is; quite equal,
considered as a provocative of mirth, to Robert Owen's sublimest
effusions about that very mysterious and thoroughly incomprehensible
power which 'directs the atom and controuls the aggregate of nature.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106