from
the whole soul and the whole heart; and that God creates in man a new
soul and a new heart, Deut. vi. 5; chap. x. 12; chap. xi. 13; chap.
xxvi. 16; Jerem. xxxii. 41; Matt, xxii. 37; Mark xii. 30, 33; Luke x.
27; and in other places: it is also expressly said, that the blood is
the soul of the flesh, Levit. xvii. 11, 14." At these words, the cry of
"Learned! learned!" was heard in the assembly, and was found to proceed
from some of the canons. After this a fourth, clad in the garments of
the former speaker, ascended the desk, and thus began: "I also am
inclined to suspect that not a single person can be found of so subtle
and refined a genius as to be able to discover what the soul is, and
what is its quality; therefore I am of opinion, that in attempting to
make the discovery, subtlety will be spent in fruitless labor;
nevertheless from my childhood I have continued firm in the opinion of
the ancients, that the soul of man is in the whole of him, and in every
part of the whole, and thus that it is in the head and in all its parts,
as well as in the body and in all its parts; and that it is an idle
conceit of the moderns to fix its habitation in any particular part, and
not in the body throughout; besides, the soul is a spiritual substance,
of which there cannot be predicated either extension or place, but
habitation and impletion; moreover, when mention is made of the soul,
who does not conceive life to be meant? and is not life in the whole and
in every part?" These sentiments were favorably received by a great part
of the audience. After him the fifth rose, and, being adorned with the
same insignia, thus delivered himself from the desk: "I will not waste
your time and my own in determining the place of the soul's residence,
whether it be in some particular part of the body, or in the whole; but
from my mind's storehouse I will communicate to you my sentiments on the
subject, What is the soul, and what is its quality? No one conceives of
the soul but as of a pure somewhat, which may be likened to ether, or
air, or wind, containing a vital principle, from the rationality which
man enjoys above the beasts. This opinion I conceive to be founded on
the circumstance, that when a man expires, he is said to breathe forth
or emit his soul or spirit; hence also the soul which lives after death
is believed to be such a breath or vapor animated by some principle of
thinking life, which is called the soul; and what else can the