to air, the tongue to flavors, and the nose to odors. Which proves that man was created for society, as plainly as our bodily senses, by their very constitution, presuppose the existence of light, air, flavors and odors, to which they bear a fixed and definite relation.
Besides, we know that people are not happy when deprived of all intercourse with their fellows. And for this obvious reason: that they are gifted with affections which crave the fellowship of kindred minds, and they cannot be happy without the opportunity to exercise these affections. We can hardly conceive of a severer sentence than that which condemns a human being to solitary confinement for a long time. Cases have occurred where such isolation has caused an utter wreck of the mental faculties, reducing the individual to a state of lunacy.
Unless, therefore, all the native and strong appetencies of the soul are to be extinguished in the Hereafter—unless our mental constitution is to be entirely changed, we must then as now desire association with others. And to possess this innate social inclination, this hunger of the heart for society; and at the same time to be denied the possibility of social intercourse, would render us supremely miserable. Much of our happiness in this world, comes from the exercise of our social feelings—from the interchange of thought with kindred minds, and the doing of kindly deeds for others. From all of which the conclusion is inevitable, that the angels must possess a social nature; and if heaven is a happy state, they must have ample opportunity for its exercise. And this involves the necessity of social intercourse and social relations.
