THE SPIRITUAL BODY*
*75
purposes and desires, intelligence and thought; and surely we
cannot attribute these to tangible matter. It would be repug¬
nant to all our sense of fact, to affirm thatßesh could think and
purpose. We inevitably refer all such action to the unseen. It
is the unseen one that loves, and that we love.
“And now with reference to the spiritual body, it seems
natural to conclude that these secret powers exist in combina¬
tion, forming an interior being. We refer them all to one, and
yet each is distinct. The same being sees, thinks, and loves.
And yet seeing, thinking, and loving are quite different. There
is, then, an organization interior to this physical organization,
possessing in itself each of the senses, and all of the intellectual
and emotional power we see expressed through the exterior
form. And, being so, it is in a proper sense a body. It is in all
things, but its texture, like the body we see. Only in thus (its
texture), can we mention aught that the body possesses that the
spirit hath not. Indeed, except this and the shape of humanity,
the body hath nothing when the spirit hath gone out. It hath
no senses, no power. Here, then, we have not only the exist¬
ence of a spirit, tpit a spiritual body, in the sense of organi¬
zation.
“But what of its substance? Hath it substance? or, is it
without? I have often received the impression from friends,
that they supposed a spirit to be without substance. Perhaps
they had no clear conception of what a spirit is. Perhaps I was
unable to receive their conception. But, so far as able, it
seemed to be, in the words of another, 1 the most definite con¬
ception of nothing ever given to mankind.’ And yet I think
it manifest that spirit hath substance. To see this truth, let us
inquire what we mean by substance. Do we mean some particu¬
lar thing? No ; for every thing is substance. Do we not mean
by this term something) in distinction from «öthing? Can we
mean any thing else? Borrowing an illustration, then, think
of the millions of human bodies now being moved about by
spirits. They would all stop, were the spirits to go out. Is this
immense amount of substance moved without substance,
moved by nothing?