Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;… Is he but a bodily organism? Is he a duality, body and mind united together? Is he a trinity in unity, having a material frame, a connecting life principle, and an immortal spirit? We know nothing of mind force except through its material manifestations. Voltaire said, "The welfare of a nation often depends on the good or bad digestion of its prime minister"; and Mr. Motley avers that "The gout of Charles V may have changed the destinies of mankind." Our mental and emotional states rise and fall with our bodily conditions, as the tides with the moon. How often does bodily decay seem to be mental decay. In answer to the question, What is man? the materialistic and semi-materialistic schools give various answers. "Man is but a thinking machine," says one. Feuerbach declares that "The soul is but the sum total of nervous processes." In another place he says, "It is but a dust heap, to be dispersed as it was swept together." Zoust asserts that "Man's acts are the result of his organisation." Another maintains that "The brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bile." Moleschoff avers that "Thought is a motion of matter." Buchner, that "Mental activity is a function of the cerebral substance. It is emitted by the brain as thoughts are by the mouth, as music by the organ." There is, however, one truth we must face; there is a will constituting the self-hood of each person, absolutely uncontrolled, but controlling all bodily conditions. It is a will separable in thought and fact from the material organism in which it finds its play and manifestation. I find no better answer to the question, What is man? than that contained in Scripture, 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." (Samuel Fellows, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; |
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