BOOK I PART IV
ration of any object, of which it is possible for
the human mind to form a conception. Any ob-
ject may be imagined to become entirely inac-
tive, or to be annihilated in a moment; and it
is an evident principle, that whatever we can
imagine, is possible. Now this is no more true
of matter, than of spirit; of an extended com-
pounded substance, than of a simple and un-
extended. In both cases the metaphysical ar-
guments for the immortality of the soul are
equally inconclusive: and in both cases the
moral arguments and those derived from the
analogy of nature are equally strong and con-
vincing. If my philosophy, therefore, makes no
addition to the arguments for religion, I have
at least the satisfaction to think it takes nothing
from them, but that every thing remains pre-
cisely as before.