permitted to glory in their crimes. All that I can plainly perceive, is, the operation of Uncontrollable Power, directed by no principle but caprice, and accomplishing nothing that can inspire ardent affection, or secure the permanent happiness of rational beings.

Such are some of the gloomy reflections of a hopeless mortal whose prospect is bounded by the grave; and such are some of the horrible consequences which the denial of a future state necessarily involves. It throws a veil of darkness over the scenes of creation, and wraps in impenetrable mystery the purposes for which man was created,it exhibits the moral world as a chaotic mass of discordant elements, accomplishing no end, and controlled by no intelligent agency, it represents mankind as connected with each other merely by time and place, as formed merely for sensual enjoyment, and destined to perish with the brutes,-it subverts the foundations of moral action, removes the strongest motives to the practice of virtue, and opens the flood-gates of every vice,—it removes the anchor of hope from the anxious mind, and destroys every principle that has a tendency to support us in the midst of sufferings, it throws a damp on every effort to raise mankind to the dignity of their moral and intellectual natures, and is calculated to obstruct the progress of useful science,-it prevents the mind from investigating and admiring the beauties of creation, and involves in a deeper gloom the ruins of nature which are scattered over the globe,-it terminates every prospect of becoming more fully acquainted with the glories of the firmament, and every hope of beholding the plans of Providence completely unfolded,-it involves the character of the Deity in awful obscurity, it deprives Him of the attributes of infinite wisdom, benevolence and rectitude, and leaves him little more than boundless omnipotence, acting at random, and controlled by no beneficent agency. In short, it obliterates every motive to the performance of noble and generous actions, damps the finest feelings and affections of humanity, leads to universal scepticism, cuts off the prospect of every thing which tends to cheer the traveller in his pilgrimage through life, and presents to his view nothing but an immense blank, overspread with the blackness of darkness for ever.

Such being the blasphemous and absurd consequences which flow from the denial of the doctrine of a future state of retribution-the man who obstinately maintains such a position, must be considered as unworthy not only of the name of a philosopher, but of that of a rational being, and as one who would believe against demonstration, and swallow any absurdity, however extravagant, which quadrates with his grovelling appetites and passions. Mathematicians frequently demonstrate a truth by showing that its contrary is impos. sible, or involves an absurdity. Thus, Euclid demonstrates the truth of the fourth proposition of the first book of his Elements, by showing that its contrary implies this obvious absurdity" that two straight lines may enclose a space." This mode of proving the truth of a proposition is considered by every geometrician, as equally conclusive and satisfac. tory, as the direct method of demonstration, Lecarge the contrary of every falsehood must be truth, and the contrary of every truth, falsehood. And if this meds of demostration is conclusive in mathematics, it ough ordered

as equally conclusive in moral and theologist reasoning, If, for example, the denial of a future exisice mvc es in it the idea that God is not a Being possessed of impartial justice, and of perfect wisdom and goodness-notwithstanding the striking displays of the two last-mentioned attributes in the system of nature-we must, I presume, either admit the doctrine of the immortality of man, or deny that a Supreme Intelligence presides over the affairs of the universe. For, a Being divested of these attributes, is not en. titled to the name of Deity, nor calculated to inspire intel. ligent minds with adoration and love; but it is reduced to something like uncontrollable fate, or mere physical force, impelling the movements of universal nature without a plan, without discrimination, and without intelligence. On the same principle (the reductio ad absurdum,) we demonstrate the earth's annual revolution round the sun. The motions of the planets, as viewed from the earth, present an inexplicable maze, contrary to every thing we should expect in a well arranged and orderly system. These bodies appear sometimes to move backwards, sometimes forwards, sometimes to remain stationary, and to describe looped curves, so anomalous or confused, that we cannot

suppose an Infinite Intelligence the contriver of a system of such inextricable confusion. Hence the astronomer concludes, on good grounds, that the earth is a moving body; and no one thoroughly acquainted with the subject ever calls it in question for when our globe is considered as revolving round the centre of the system in concert with the other planetary orbs, all the apparent irregularities in their mo tions are completely accounted for, and the whole system appears reduced to a beautiful and harmonious order, in accordance with every idea we ought to form of the wisdom and intelligence of its author.

In the same way, the admission of the doctrine of a future state accounts for the apparent irregularities of the moral world, and affords a key for the solution of all the difficulties that may arise in the mind respecting the equity of the Divine administration in the present state. In opposition to the desponding reflections and gloomy views of the sceptic, it inspires the virtuous mind with a lively hope, and throws a glorious radiance over the scenes of creation, and over every part of the government of the Almighty. It exhibits the Self-existent and Eternal Mind as an object of ineffable sublimity, grandeur, and loveliness, invested with unerring wisdom, impartial justice, and boundless benevolence, presiding over an endless train of intelligent minds formed after his image, governing them with just and equitable laws, controlling all things by an almighty and unerring hand, and rendering all his dispensations ultimately conducive to the happiness of the moral universe. It presents before us an unbounded scene, in which we may hope to contemplate the scheme of Providence in all its objects and bearings, where the glories of the divine perfections will be illustriously displayed, where the powers of the human mind will be perpetually expanding, and new objects of sublimity and beauty incessantly rising te the view, in boundless perspective, world without end. It dispels the clouds that hang over the present and future destiny of man, and fully accounts for those longing looks into futurity which accompany us at every turn, and those capacious powers of intellect, which cannot be fully exerted in the present life. It presents the most powerful motives to a life of virtue, to the performance of beneficent and he

roic actions, to the prosecution of substantial science, and to the diffusion of useful knowledge among all ranks of mankind. It affords the strongest consolation and support, amidst the trials of life, and explains the reasons of those sufferings to which we are here exposed, as being incen tives to the exercise of virtue, and as "working out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." It affords us ground to hope that the veil which now intercepts our view of the distant regions of creation, will be withdrawn, and that the amazing structure of the universe, in all its sublime proportions and beautiful arrangements, will be more clearly unfolded to our view. It dispels the terrors which naturally surround the messenger of death, and throws a radiance over the mansions of the tomb. It cheers the gloomy vale of death, and transforms it into a passage which leads to a world of perfection and happiness, where moral evil shall be for ever abolished, where intellectual light shall beam with effulgence on the enraptured spirit, and where celestial virtue, now so frequently persecuted and contemned, shall be enthroned in undisturbed and eternal empire,

Since, then, it appears, that the denial of a future state involves in it so many difficulties, absurd consequences and blasphemous assumptions, and the admission of this doctrine throws a light over the darkness that broods over the moral world, presents a clue to unravel the mazes of the divine dispensations, and solves every difficulty in relation to the present condition of the human race—the pretended philosopher who rejects this important truth must be considered as acting in direct opposition to those principles of reasoning which he uniformly admits in his physical and mathematical investigations, and as determined to resist the force of every evidence which can be adduced in proof of his immortal destination.

Thus I have endeavoured, in the preceding pages, to prove and illustrate the immortality of man, from a consideration of the universal belief which this doctrine has obtained among all nations-the desire of immortality im

planted in the human breast-the_strong desire of knowledge, and the capacious intellectual powers with which man is furnished-the capacity of making perpetual progress towards intellectual and moral perfection-the_unlimited range of view which is opened to the human mind throughout the immensity of space and duration--the moral powers of action with which man is endued the forebodings and apprehensions of the mind when under the influence of remorse--the disordered state of the moral world when contrasted with the systematical order of the material-the unequal distribution of rewards and punishments, viewed in connection with the justice of God--the absurdity of admitting that the thinking principle in man will be annihilated-and the blasphemous and absurd consequences which would follow if the idea of a future state of retribution were rejected.

Perhaps there are some of these arguments, taken singly, that would be insufficient fully to establish the truth of man's eternal destiny; but when taken in combination with each other, they carry irresistible evidence to the mind of every unbiassed inquirer. They all reflect a mutual lustre on each other; they hang together in perfect har- mony; they are fully consistent with the most amiable and sublime conceptions we can form of the Deity; they are congenial to the sentiments entertained by the wisest and best of men in every age; they are connected with all the improvements and discoveries in the moral and physical worlds; and, like the radii of a circle, they all converge to the same point, and lead directly to the same conclusion. It appears next to impossible, that such a mutual harmony, consistency, and dependence, could exist among a series of propositions that had no foundation in truth; and, therefore, they ought to be considered, when taken conjunctly, as having all the force of a moral demonstration. They rest on the same principles and process of reasoning from which we deduce the being of a God; and I see no way of eluding their force, but by erasing from the mind every idea of a Supreme Intelligence. Hence, it has generally, I might say, uniformly been found, that all nations that have acknowledged the existence of a Divine Being, have likewise recognised the idea of a future state of retribution.