What is man? The materialist says, “He is the highest order of the animal
kingdom, or an animal gifted with intelligence.” If such be true, it may
be said with equal propriety, that animals are men without reason. Are
they? Does manhood consist in mere physical form? Can you find it in
simple physical nature? Man holds many things in his physical nature in
common with the animal; but is he, on this account, to be considered as a
mere animal? There are plants that seem to form a bridge over the chasm
lying between the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Are those plants animals
without sensation? Why not? What is the logical and scientific difference
between saying plants, which make the nearest approach to the animal are
animals without sensation, and saying animals are men without
intelligence? Let it be understood at all times, that if man is simply an
animal endowed with the gift of reason, an animal may be simply a
vegetable endowed with the gift of sensation. “The bodies of mere animals
are clothed with scales, feathers, fur, wool or bristles, which interpose
between the skin and the elements that surround and affect the living
animal.” All these insensible protectors “ally animals more closely to the
nature of vegetables.”
“The body of a human being has a beautiful, thin, highly sensitive skin,
which is not covered with an insensitive, lifeless veil.” Man’s body is in
noble contrast with all mere animals. It is so formed that its natural
position is erect. “The eyes are in front; the ligaments of the neck are
not capable of supporting, for any considerable length of time, the head
when hanging down; the horizontal position would force the blood to the
head so violently that stupor would be the result. The mouth serves the
mind as well as the body itself. According to the most critical
calculation, the muscles of the mouth are so movable that it may pronounce
fifteen hundred letters.” What a wonderful musical instrument.
The mouth of the mere animal serves only physical purposes.
Man turns his head from right to left, from earth to sky, from the slimy
trail of the crustacean in the ocean’s bottom to the contemplation of the
innumerable stars in the heavens. The human body was created for the mind;
its structure is correlated with mind. The animal has a sentient life; man
an intelligent, reasoning nature.
When animals are infuriated and trample beneath their feet everything that
lies in their way, we do not say they are _insane_, but _mad_. “Man is an
intelligent spirit,” or mind, “served by an organism.” We know that mind
exists by our consciousness of that which passes within us. The propriety
of the sayings of Descartes, “_I think, therefore I am_,” rests upon the
consciousness that we are thinking beings. This intelligence is not
obtained by the exercise of any of the senses. It does not depend upon
external surroundings. Its existence is a fact of consciousness, of
certain knowledge, and hence a fact in mental science.
We are continually conscious of the existence of the mind, which makes its
own operations the object of its own thought; that it should have no
existence is a contradiction in language.
Experience teaches us that the materialistic theory of the existence of
the mind is utterly false. In an act of perception I distinguish the pen
in my hand, and the hand itself, from my mind which perceives them. This
distinction is a fact of the faculty of perception—a particular fact of a
particular faculty. But the general fact of a general distinction of which
this is only a special case, is the distinction of the _I_ and _not I_,
which belongs to the consciousness as the general faculty. He who denies
the contrast between mind-knowing and matter-known is dishonest, for it is
a fact of consciousness, and such can not be honestly denied. The facts
given in consciousness itself can not be honestly doubted, much less
denied.
Materialists have claimed that mind is simply the result of the molecular
action of the brain. This theory is as unreal as Banquo’s ghost—it will
not bear a moment’s investigation. It is simply confounding the action of
the mind upon the brain with the mind itself. Every effect must have a
cause. When I make a special mental effort what is the cause lying behind
the effort? Is it the molecular action of the brain? I _will to_ make the
effort, and do it. Then will power lies behind brain action. But power is
a manifest energy; there is something lying behind it to which it belongs
as an attribute; what is it? Answer, _will_. But, where there is a _will_
there must of a necessity be that which _wills_. What is it that _wills_
to make a special mental effort—that lies away back “behind the throne”
and controls the helm? It is evidently the I, _myself_, the “inner man,”
_the spirit_. On one occasion, when some of the disciples of the Nazarene
were sleepy, Jesus said to them, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the
flesh is weak.” It is the spirit that _wills_ to make a special mental
effort. Here is the “_font_” of all our ideas. “What man knoweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?” 1 Cor., ii, 11.
_Will_, as an effect, belongs to the spirit of man, as _the cause_ lying
behind. Beyond this no man can trace this subject, short of crossing over
from the spirit of man to the invisible Father of spirits. The spirit of
man is a _wonderful intelligence_! “The body without the spirit is dead,
being alone.” When we analyze the physical structure back to the germ and
sperm-cells we are brought face to face with the invisible builder. Call
it what you may, it still remains the same invisible architect, which,
being matter’s master, built the organism. We live, and breathe; we die,
and cease breathing. Dead bodies do not breathe. Therefore, life lies
behind breath, and spirit behind life. So life and breath are both
effects, which find their ultimate or cause in _spirit_. This at once sets
aside all that materialists have said in order to show that spirit and
breath are one and the same. The original term, translated by the term
spirit has, in its history, away back in the past, a _physical_ currency.
The old-fashioned materialist or “soul-sleeper” finds his fort in this
fact. His entire aim is to get the people back to an old and obsolete
currency of the term “_pneuma_.” If we lay aside words which were used in
a physical sense, in times gone by, we will not have many words to express
the ideas embraced in mental science. In ancient times “_pneuma_”
signified both mind and wind, or air. In later times it lost its physical
currency, and no longer signifies, in its general currency, breath or air.
The adjective, “_pneumatikos_,” is _never used_ in a physical sense. It
came into use too late.
We have many examples of old meanings passing away from words.
“_Sapientia_,” in Latin originally meant only the power of tasting. At
present it means _wisdom_, _prudence_, _discretion_, _discernment_, _good
sense_, _knowledge_, _practical wisdom_, _philosophy_, _calmness_,
_patience_. The word “_sagacitas_,” originally meant only the faculty of
_scenting_, now it means the power of seeing or perceiving anything
easily. In old literature we may read of the sagacity of dogs; keenness of
scent. But it is now sharpness of wit; keenness of perception, subtilty,
shrewdness, acuteness, penetration, ingenuity. The terms, “attentio,”
“intentio,” “comprehensio,” “apprehensio,” “penetratio,” and understanding
are all just so many bodily actions transferred to the expression of
_mental energies_. There is just the same reason for giving to all these
terms their old, obsolete, physical currency that there is for giving to
pneuma, or spirit, the old obsolete currency of wind or air. You must ever
remember that it is the business of lexicographers in giving the history
of words, to set before you the first as well as the latest use of terms.
In strict harmony with all this Greenfield gives “_pneuma_” _thus_:
1. Wind, air in motion, breathing, breath, expiration, respiration,
spirit, i. e. the human soul, that is, the vital principle in man, life.
Matthew xxvii, 50; Rev. xiii, 15.
2. Of the rational soul, mind, that principle in man which thinks, feels,
desires, and wills. Matthew v, 3, 26, 41.
3. Of the human soul after its departure from the body, a spirit, soul.
Acts xxiii, 8, 9; Hebrews xii, 23.
4. Spc. Spirit, that is, temper, disposition, affections, feelings,
inclination, qualities of mind.
5. Construed with “_mou_” and “_sou_” (_I_ and _thou_), it forms a
periphrasis for the corresponding personal pronoun. Mark ii, 8; Luke i,
47. A spirit, that is, A SIMPLE, SPIRITUAL, INCORPOREAL, INTELLIGENT
BEING. Spoken of God. John iv, 24. Of angels. Hebrews i, 14. Of evil
spirits, Matthew viii, 16; Mark ix, 20. A divine spirit, spoken of the
spiritual nature of Christ. 1 Corinthians xv, 45; 1 Peter iii, 18. Of the
Holy Spirit. Matthew iii, 16-28; John xv, 26; Acts i, 8; Romans ix, 1.
Robinson, in his Lexicon, sums up the history of its use thus: