Letters on the Human Body

by John Clowes

LETTERS,

&c.

LETTERS
ON THE
HUMAN BODY,
PRINCIPALLY DESIGNED TO PROVE,
THAT
THE BODY IS A MERE EFFECT
DERIVED
FROM THE SOUL,
AS ITS INSTRUMENTAL CAUSE,
AND THUS
From God,
AS ITS PRIMARY CAUSE;
AND THAT
CONSEQUENTLY IN EVERY HUMAN BODY
MAY BE SEEN
A DEMONSTRATION
OF THE
CONTINUAL PRESENCE AND OPERATION OF THE CAUSES,
Both Primary and Instrumental,
OF WHICH IT IS THE EFFECT.

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BY THE REV. J. CLOWES, M. A.
RECTOR OF ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, MANCHESTER, AND
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

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Warwick:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY W. ROSE

AND SOLD BY HIM AT WARWICK AND LEAMINGTON; AND IN LONDON
BY H. C. HODSON, 15, HATTON GARDEN; W. SIMPKIN AND R.
MARSHALL, STATIONERS’-HALL COURT, LUDGATE
STREET; T. GODYER, 415, STRAND; AND
IN MANCHESTER BY W. CLARKE.

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1826.

TO THE

CHURCHWARDENS, SIDESMEN,

AND THE REST OF THE

CONGREGATION OF ST. JOHN’S CHURCH,

MANCESTER.

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Dearly Beloved,

About two years ago I presented you with a Work, entitled Letters on the Human Soul, &c. in which it was my intention to prove, not only the soul’s immateriality and immortality, but also, what is of equal importance, that it is a spiritual substance and form, created to receive life continually from God; consequently that it possesses no life properly and independently its own.

The present work on the human body may be regarded as a continuation of the foregoing one, and as an additional proof of the astonishing properties with which the soul of man is gifted by its MERCIFUL CREATOR. For my principal design in this work is to show, that all the appetites, sensations, motions, and operations of the body, and even all its forms, are from the soul, and not from the body; consequently that they designate mental affections and powers, and were intended thus to conduct man to the knowledge of that invisible substance and form, called soul, by which his body is animated; and, at the same time, to an acquaintance with that DIVINE BEING, by whom this substance and form is continually vivified, sustained, and preserved in the order of its life.

Let it not then be supposed, that the body and its operations are alone the objects of my view in presenting you with the following Letters; for, had this been the case, I should have been content to refer you to the writings of those numerous and able anatomists, who have done themselves so much credit, and the world so much benefit, by their unwearied and accurate researches into the astonishing mechanism of the corporeal or material part of the human constitution.

These writings, however, excellent as they are, contain descriptions only of the casket of what may be denominated MAN but tell you nothing of the jewels and other valuables which it contains; or, to change the metaphor, they introduce you only into the outer court of the knowledge of God and of yourselves, which court, ample and magnificent as it certainly is, is still but a court; and therefore, if you proceed no further, and thus stop short in the way to the Temple of Wisdom, to which that court was intended to lead, you will still know as little of what is passing in the temple, as if you had never entered into the court.

It is my purpose therefore, in the following Letters, to conduct you through the above court into the temple; or, in other words, to unlock the above casket for the exhibition of its treasures, by endeavouring to convince you, that the material body of man is a mere effect in this lower world, which effect has its instrumental cause in the soul or spirit, and its primary cause in the DIVINE SOURCE OF LIFE; and that, since cause and effect are one, and incapable of separation, therefore these three, viz. the body, or the effect,—the soul or spirit, or the instrumental cause,—the DIVINE SOURCE OF LIFE, or the primary cause,—are in continual close connection with each other in every human being, insomuch that the first cannot subsist for a moment without the other two; neither hath it any power, appetite, sensation, or operation, but what it derives from the other two.

For the material body, considered in itself, or separate from its soul, and thus separate from the DIVINE SOURCE OF LIFE, is a mere lump of inanimate matter, and is consequently as incapable of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling, as a stone, or any other mass of material substances. Whensoever therefore man sees, hears, tastes, smells, and feels, he has a full demonstration that some higher principle is at work within him, acting as an instrumental cause, and thus producing effects, which cannot otherwise be explained or accounted for. If too he will have the candour and the courage to pursue the enquiry, he will presently discover, that this instrumental cause cannot produce an effect separate from its primary or Divine cause; and that consequently every sensation and operation, excited either in the soul or body of man, is from a superior cause, viz. from the SUPREME DIVINE SOURCE OF ALL LIFE, in case the sensation and operation be in agreement with the laws of Divine order; but from the infernal source of all death, if opposed to those laws.

It is then my devout prayer that you may be led to discover, from the perusal of the following Letters, that there is in every human bosom a gradation of life, commencing with the FIRST CAUSE of all things, and proceeding through the soul, or instrumental cause, to its ultimate effect in the body, where it renders itself manifest by an indefinite variety of forms, of sensations, of appetites, and operations. And my further prayer is, that thus, by a serious attention to what is passing every day in your bodies, you may be led on, not only to the knowledge of that FIRST CAUSE, but also to such a measure of humility, of love, of adoration, of gratitude, of obedience, as may prove you to be involved in that higher prayer of your REDEEMER, where it is written, “That they ALL MAY BE ONE, AS THOU FATHER ART IN ME, AND I IN THEE, THAT THEY ALSO MAY BE ONE IN US, [John xvii. 27.].

In the blessed Spirit of this prayer, I remain, dearly beloved,

Your affectionate Friend and Pastor,

J. CLOWES.

CONTENTS.

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LETTER I.

Page

On the external Form of the Human Body, and on the Lessons of Instruction thence resulting in Regard to the Human Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

LETTER II.

On the Five Bodily Senses, and first on the Eye, and its Connection with the Eye of the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24

LETTER III.

On the Bodily Sense of Hearing, and its Connection with Spiritual Hearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

42

LETTER IV.

On the Bodily Sense of Taste, and its Connection with Mental Taste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

LETTER V.

On the Bodily Senses of Smelling and Touching, and their Connection with Mental Smell and Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

73

LETTER VI.

On the Bodily Acts of Eating and Drinking, and on the Spiritual Eating and Drinking to which they point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

89

LETTER VII.

On Bodily Digestion, Absorption, Secretion, Excretion, &c. of the several parts of Food admitted by Eating and Drinking; together with the Reference of those Bodily Acts to correspondent Spiritual Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

110

LETTER VIII.

On Bodily Sleeping and Awaking; together with the Reference of those Bodily Acts to correspondent Acts of the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

126

LETTER IX.

On the Bodily Heart and Lungs, and their Connection with corresponding Principles in the Mind or Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

140

LETTER X.

On the voluntary and involuntary Motions of the Body and its parts; together with their Application to the voluntary and involuntary Motions of the Mind, with its Affections and Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

154

LETTER XI.

On the Motion of the Human Body, called WALKING; and on the Modes of Bodily Rest, called STANDING and SITTING; with their Application also to corresponding Acts of the Human Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

172

LETTER XII.

On Bodily Health, Bodily Sickness, and Bodily Death; together with the Relationship of each to similar States of the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

187

ERRATA.

Page 40, line 6 from the bottom, for conduct read connect.
Page 174, line 1, for the read this, and for this read the.