(seq. 17)

of Reason

essence; yet those actions of the Soul of which we are
conscious demonstrate the existence of the Soul, since
without an existence it could not act or display
a rational nature. It may be presented that thought
or reflection is the Soul itself, or that its essence con-
sists in thinking. Admitting this definition of the
essence of the Soul, and it affords no manner or solu-
tion to the question of the substance of the Soul, for the
same question will recur, whether there is any sub-
stance in thought or not. To say that it the essence
of the Soul consists merely in thought, without de-
termining whether thought is a substance or not,
is saying nothing to the point at the issue concern-
ing the Essence of the Soul.

Admitting the position that
mere thought constitutes the essence of the Soul, it alters
not the force of the preceeding arguments; for if we
call the Soul by the name of thought, we must admit
its entity and union with the body, and disunion from
it at Death, and passage or motion from the corps to
its place of retribution, in these and all other circumstan-
ces of being and action, thought or the Soul, must occupy
Space as before argued. So that calling the Soul by the
name of thought, or by any other name, alters not the
arguments concerning the essence of the Soul; or afford
any solution to the subject matter of our inquiry.