Page:Letters on the Human Body (John Clowes).djvu/181

Rh your will and understanding, by virtue of which determinations your arms and hands, your legs and feet, and your whole body, are put in motion, and continued so for a certain length of time, which motions may not improperly be called voluntary motions.

Now both these kinds of motion, you must allow, when explored as to their origin, bear a singular character, which merits the attention, because it is calculated to promote the edification, of every intelligent mind. For in regard to the latter, viz. the voluntary motions, how wonderful is it, that will and understanding, which are spiritual principles, can exercise power over gross matter, so as to put a large bulk of it in motion, and thus to remove it from one place to another, or to keep it at work in the same place, in agreement with their joint determination! How wonderful is it, that these same spiritual principles can, at one time, influence the organs of speech, so as to produce articulate sounds, and thus convey ideas; whilst, at another time, they can act upon the arms and hands, and by putting them in motion give birth to actions! For on what ground, except that of the appointment of the and, can we account for this otherwise inexplicable commerce between mental volition and bodily action,—in consequence of which commerce, the organs of the