CHAPTER I. PROOFS OF A FUTURE STATE FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE. THE evidences of a future state which the light of reason affords, though not so clear and decisive as those which are derived from Divine Revelation, are worthy of the serious consideration of every one in whose mind the least doubt remains on this important subject. The conviction they are calculated to produce, when attentively weighed, is sufficient to leave every one without excuse who trifles with the concerns of his future destiny, and overlooks his relation to the eternal world. Though the Deity is invisible to mortal eyes, yet his existence and perfections are clearly demonstrated by his visible operations, and he has not left himself without a witness to his beneficence, in any age, "in his giving rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, and filling our hearts with food and gladness." In like manner, though the realities of a future world are not presented directly to the eye of sense, yet the faculties with which man is endowed, when properly exercised on all the physical and moral scenes which the universe displays, are sufficient to evince the high degree of probability, if not absolute certainty, that his duration and his sphere of action are not confined to the narrow limits of the present world, but have a relation to a future and an immortal existence. In illustrating this topic, I shall waive the consideration of several of those metaphysical arguments which have been adduced by Philosophers and Divines, founded on the immateriality of the human soul, and confine myself chiefly to those popular considerations, which are level to every capacity, and, perhaps, more convincing than the subtle and refined disquisitions of metaphysical minds. SECTION I. On the Universal Belief which the doctrine of immortality has obtained in all ages. It forms a presumptive proof of the immortality of man, that this doctrine has obtained universal belief among all nations, and in every period of time. That the thinking principle in man is of an immortal nature, was believed by the ancient Egyptians, the Persians, the Phenicians, the Scythians, the Celts, the Druids, the Assyrians, by the wisest and the most celebrated characters among the Greeks and Romans, and by almost every other ancient nation and tribe whose records have reached our times. The notions, indeed, which many of them entertained of the scenes of futurity were very obscure and imperfect, but they all embraced the idea, that death is not the destruction of the rational soul, but only its introduction to a new and unknown state of existence. The ancient Scythians believed that death was only a change of habi tation; and the Magian sect, which prevailed in Babylonia, Media, Assyria, and Persia, admitted the doctrine of eternal rewards and punishments. The doctrines taught by the second Zoroaster, who lived in the time of Darius, were, "that there is one Supreme Being, independent and self-existent from all eternity; that under him there are two angels, one the angel of light, who is the author of all good; and the other the angel of darkness, who is the author of all evil: that they are in a perpetual struggle with each other; that where the angel of light prevails, there good reigns; and that where the angel of darkness prevails, there evil takes place; that this struggle shall continue to the end of the world: that then there shall be a general resurrection and a day of judgment, wherein all shall receive a just retribution according to their works. After which, the angel of darkness and his disciples shall go into a world of their own, where they shall suffer, in everlasting darkness the punishment of their evil deeds; and the angel of light and his disciples shall also go into a world of their own, where they shall receive, in ever. lasting light, the reward due to their good deeds; that after this they shall remain separated for ever, and light and darkness be no more mixed to all eternity."* The remains of this sect, which are scattered over Persia and India, stil] * Rollin's Ancient History, Vol. 2. hold the same doctrines, without any variation, even at this day. It is well known, that Plato, Socrates, and other Greek Philosophers, held the doctrine of the soul's immortality. In his admirable dialogue, entitled, "The Phædon," Plato represents Socrates, a little before his death, encompassed with a circle of Philosophers, and discoursing with them on the arguments which prove the eternal destiny of man. "When the dead," says he," are arrived at the rendezvous of departed souls, whither their angel conducts them, they are all judged. Those who have passed their lives in a manner neither entirely criminal, nor absolutely innocent, are sent into a place where they suffer pains proportioned to their faults, till, being purged and cleansed of their guilt, and afterwards restored to liberty, they receive the reward of the good actions they have.done in the body. Those who are judged to be incurable, on account of the greatness of their crimes, the fatal Destiny that passes judgment upon them, hurls them into Tartarus, from whence they never depart. Those who are found guilty of crimes, great indeed, but worthy of pardon, who have committed. violences, in the transports of rage, against their father or mother, or have killed some one in a like emotion, and afterwards repented-suffer the same punishment with the last, but for a time only, till, by prayers and supplications, they have obtained pardon from those they have injured. But those who have passed through life with peculiar sanctity of manners, are received on high into a pure region, where they live without their bodies to all eternity, in a series of joys and delights which cannot be described." From such considerations Socrates concludes, "If the soul be immortal, it requires to be cultivated with attention, not only for what we call the time of life, but for that which is to follow, I mean eternity; and the least neglect in this point may be attended with endless consequences. If death were the final dissolution of being, the wicked would be great gainers by it, by being delivered at once from their bodies, their souls, and their vices; but as the soul is immortal, it has no other means of being freed from its evils, nor any safety for it, but in becoming very good and very wise; for it carries nothing with it, but its good or bad deeds, its virtues and vices, which are commonly the consequences of the education it has received, and the causes of eternal happiness or misery." Having held such discourses with his friends, he kept silent for some time, and then drank off the whole of the poisonous draught which had been put into his hand, with amazing tranquillity, and an inexpressible serenity of aspect, as one who was about to exchange a short and wretched life, for a blessed and eternal existence. The descriptions and allusions, contained in the writings of the ancient Poets, are a convincing proof, that the notion of the soul's immortality was a universal opinion in the times in which they wrote, and among the nations to whom their writings were addressed. Homer's account of the descent of Ulysses into hell, and his description of Minos in the shades below, distributing justice to the dead assembled in troops around his tribunal, and pronouncing irrevocable judgments, which decide their everlasting fate, demonstrate, that they entertained the belief, that virtues are rewarded, and that crimes are punished, in another state of existence. The poems of Ovid and Virgil contain a variety of descriptions, in which the same opinions are involved. Their notions of future punishment are set forth in the descriptions they give of Ixion, who was fastened to a wheel, and whirled about continually with a swift and rapid motion-of Tantalus, who, for the loathsome banquet he made for the gods, was set in water up to the chin, with apples hanging to his very lips, yet had no power either to stoop to the one to quench his raging thirst, or to reach to the other to satisfy his craving appetite-of the Fifty Daughters of Danaus, who, for the barbarous massacre of their husbands in one night, were condemned in hell to fill a barrel full of holes with water, which ran out again as fast as it was filled-of Sisyphus, who, for his robberies, was set to roll a great stone up a steep hill, which, when it was just at the top, suddenly fell down again, and so renewed his labour-and of Tityus, who was adjudged to have a vulture to feed upon his liver and entrails, which still grew and increased as they were devoured. Their notions of future happiness are embodied in the descriptions they have given of the Hesperian gardens, and the |