Life is the one universal soul, which, by virtue of the enlivening
BREATH, and the informing WORD, all organized bodies have in common,
each _after its kind_. This, therefore, all animals possess, and man
as an animal. But, in addition to this, God transfused into man a
higher gift, and specially imbreathed:--even a living (that is,
self-subsisting) soul, a soul having its life in itself. "And man
became a living soul." He did not merely _possess_ it, he _became_ it.
It was his proper _being_, his truest _self_, _the_ man _in_ the man.
None then, not one of human kind, so poor and destitute, but there is
provided for him, even in his present state, _a house not built with
hands_. Aye, and spite of the philosophy (falsely so called) which
mistakes the causes, the conditions, and the occasions of our becoming
_conscious_ of certain truths and realities for the truths and
realities themselves--a house gloriously furnished. Nothing is wanted
but the eye, which is the light of this house, the light which is the
eye of this soul. This _seeing_ light, this _enlightening_ eye, is
Reflection.[16] It is more, indeed, than is ordinarily meant by that
word; but it is what a Christian ought to mean by it, and to know too,
whence it first came, and still continues to come--of what light even
this light is _but_ a reflection. This, too, is THOUGHT; and all
thought is but unthinking that does not flow out of this, or tend
towards it.
[16] The "_dianoia_" of 1 John v. 20, inaccurately rendered
"understanding" in our translation. To exhibit the full force of the
Greek word, we must say, _a power of discernment by Reason_.