Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/71

Rh cases, however, it is to be remembered, that it is not the organ itself which perceives, or is sensible of any change in it's state and form, but that it is the mind or spirit which sees with the eye, hears with the ear, and tastes with the tongue; the same also being true in respect to the other senses of smelling and feeling.

In like manner the will and understanding in man are actual substances and forms, though of the purest quality, and so organized and arranged as to be proper receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord. The affections, perceptions, and thoughts, which appear to many to rise up in the mind as it were out of nothing, or to float about in it like mere vapours, exhalations, or etherial principles, without any substance of their own, are in reality changes, modifications, and variations in the state and form, not merely of the natural substances of the brain, but of those purer spiritual substances also, of which the human mind is composed. For it is impossible, that any thing can be communicated to man, so as to affect him either internally or externally, unless there be in him something substantial, capable of receiving, perceiving, and detaining it. All the operations of the mind are variations of it's form, according to the changes which take place in the state of it's affection: for, properly speaking, affections are changes of the state, and thoughts are variations of the form. And as without the natural organic substance and form, called the eye, there can be no sight, without the ear no hearing, and without the tongue no taste; so in like manner without the spiritual substance, called the mind, including both, the will and the understanding, there can be no afection of love, no perception of wisdom, and no thought concerning either the one or the other.