every period of its history. They evidently present a striking contrast to the beauty and harmony which pervade the general constitution of the material system-to the majestic movements of the planetary orbs, the regular succession of day and night, and the vicissitudes of the seasons; the changes of the moon, the ebbing and flowing of the sea; the admirable functions of the human system; and the harmo mios adaptations of light and heat, air and water, and the various objects in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms to the wants and the comfort of animated beings. And can we, for a nomen, suppose that this scene of moral disorder and anarchy was the ultimate end for which the material system was created? Can we suppose that the earth is every moment impelled in its annual and diurnal course by the hand of Omnipotence that it presents new beauties every opening spring-brings forth the treasures of autumn, and displays so many sublime and variegated landscapes-that the sun diffuses his light over all its regions, that the moon cheers the shades of night, and the stars adorn the canopy of the sky, from one generation to another -merely that a set of robbers and desperadoes, and the murderers of nations, might prowl over the world for the purpose of depredation and slaughter, that tyrants might gratify their mad ambition, that vice might triumph, that virtue might be disgraced, that the laws of moral order might be trampled under foot, and that the suc cessive generations of mankind might mingle in this bustling and discordant scene for a few years, and then sink for ever into the shades of annihilation? Yet such a conclusion we are obliged to admit, if there is no future state in which the present disorders of the moral world will be corrected, and the plan of the divine government more fully developed. And if this conclusion be admitted, how shall we be able to perceive or to vindicate the wisdom of the Creator in his moral administration? We account it folly in a human being when he constructs a machine, either for no purpose at all, or for no good purpose, or for the promotion of mischief. And how can we avoid ascribing the same imperfection to the Deity, if the present state of the moral world be the ultimate end of all his physical arrangements? But his wisdom is most strikingly displayed in the adaptations and arrangements which relate to the material system, and a Being possessed of boundless intelligence must necessarily be supposed to act in consistency with himself. He cannot display wisdom in the material system, and folly in those arrangements which pertain to the world of mind. To suppose the contrary, would be to divest him of his moral attributes, and even to call in question his very existence. We are therefore necessarily led to conclude, that the present state of the moral world is only a small part of the great plan of God's moral go vernment-the commencement of a series of dispensations to be completed in a future scene of existence, in which his wisdom, as well as alf his other attributes, will be fully displayed before the eyes of his intelligent Spring. If this con clusion be admitted, it is easy to conceive, how the moral disorders which now exist may be rectified in a future world, and the intelligent universe restored to harmony and happiness, and how these moral dispensations which now appear dark and mysterious, will appear illustrative of divine wisdom and intelligence, when contemplated as parts of one grand system which is to run parallel in duration with eternity itself. But, if this be rejected, the moral world presents to our view an inextricable maze, a chaos, a scene of interminable confusion, and no prospect appears of its being ever restored to harmony and order. The conduct of the Deity appears shrouded in impenetrable darkness; and there is no resisting of the conclusion, that imperfection and folly are the characteristics of the Almighty-a conclusion from which the mind shrinks back with horror, and which can never be admitted by any rational being who recognises a supreme intelligence presiding over the affairs of the universe. SECTION IX. ON THE UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS IN THE PRESENT STATE. The unequal distribution of rewards and pu nishments in the present state, viewed in connexion with the justice and other attributes of the Deity, forms another powerful argument in support of the doctrine of a future state. It is admitted, to a certain extent, that “virtue is its own reward, and vice its own punishment." The natural tendency of virtue, or an obedience to the laws of God, is to produce happiness; and were it universally practised, it would produce the greatest degree of happiness of which human nature in the present state is susceptible. In like manner, the natural tendency of vice is to produce misery; and were its prevalence universal and uncontrolled, the world would be transformed into a society of demons, and every species of happiness banished from the abodes of men. By connecting happiness with the observance of his laws, and misery with the violation of them, the Governor of the world, in the general course of his providence, gives a display of the rectitude of his character, and the impartiality of his allotments towards the subjects of his government. But, although these positions hold true, in the general course of human affairs, there are innta merable cases in which the justice of God, and the impartiality of his procedure, would be liable to be impeached, if this world were the only scene of rewards and punishments. We behold a poor starving wretch, whom hunger has impelled to break open a house, in order to satisfy his craving appetite, or to relieve the wants of a helpless family, dragged with ignominy to the scaffold, to suffer death for his offence. We behold, at the same time, the very tyrant by whose order the sentence was executed, who has plundered provinces, and murdered millions of human beings, who has wounded the peace of a thousand families, ani produced universal consternation and despair wherever he appeared-regaling bimself in the midst of his favourites, in perfect security from human punishments. Instead of being loaded with fetters, and dragged to a dungeon, to await in hopeless agony the punishment of his crimes, he dwells amidst all the luxuries and splendours of a palace; his favour is courted by surrounding attendants; his praises are chanted by orators and poets; the story of his exploits is engraved in brass and marble; and historians stand ready to transmit his fame to future gene rations. How does the equity of the divine government appear, in such cases, in permitting an uncie punishment to be inflicted on the least offender, and in loading the greatest miscreant with unmerited enjoyments? Again, in almost every period of the world, we behold men of piety and virtue who have suffered the most unjust and cruel treatment from the hands of haughty tyrants and blood-thirsty persecutors. It would require volumes to describe the instruments of cruelty which have been invented by these fiend-like monsters, and the excruciating torments which have been endured by the victims of their tyranny, while justice seemed to slumber, and the perpetrators were permitted to exult in their crimes. Tho Waldenses, who lived retired from the rest of the world, among the bleak recesses of the Alps, were a people distinguished for piety, industry, and the practice of every moral virtue. Their incessant labour subdued the barren soil, and prepared it both for grain and pasture. course of two hundred and fifty years they inIn the creased to the mumber of eighteen thousand, occupying thirty villages, besides hamlets, the workmanship of their own hands. priests they had none, nor any disputes about Regular religion; neither had they occasion for courts of justice; for brotherly love did not suffer them to go to law. They worshipped God according to the dictates of their conscience and the rules of his word, practised the precepts of his law, and enjoyed the sweets of mutual affection and love. Yet this peaceable and interesting people be came the victims of the most cruel and bloody persecution. In the year 1540, the parliament of Provence condemned nineteen of them to be 41 burned for heresy, their trees to be rooted up, and their houses to be razed to the ground. Afterwards a violent persecution commenced against the whole of this interesting people, and purpose into effect. an army of banditti was sent to carry the hellish massacring the old men, women, and children, The soldiers began with all having fled who were able to fly; and then proceeded to burn their houses, barns, corn, and of Cabriere sixty men and thirty women, who whatever else appertained to them. In the town had surrendered upon promise of life, were butchered each of them without mercy. Some dragged out and burnt alive. Twenty-two vil women, who had taken refuge in a church, were lages were reduced to ashes; and that populous cheerless desert. Yet, after all these atrocities and flourishing district was again turned into a had been committed, the proud pampered priests, at whose instigation this prosecution was com menced, were permitted to live in splendour, to exult over the victims of their cruelty, to revel in palaces, and to indulge in the most shameful of punishments and rewards, how shall we vindebaucheries.-If the present be the only state dicate the rectitude of the Almighty, in such dispensations? of that despot, the Protestants of France were In the reign of Louis XIV. and by the orders elty. Their houses were rifled, their wives and treated with the most wanton and diabolical cru daughters ravished before their eyes, and their bodies forced to endure all the torments that ingenious malice could contrive. His dragoons tion, pulled them by the hair of their heads, who were employed in this infamous expedi plucked the nails of their fingers and toes, pricktheir chimneys with wisps of wet straw, threw ed their naked bodies with pins, smoked them in them into fires and held them till they were al ped them into ponds, took hold of them with red most burnt, slung them into wells of water, dip hot pincers, cut and slashed them with knives, and beat and tormented them to death in a most unmerciful and cruel manner. Some were hanged on the gallows, and others were broken upon unburied, or cast into lakes and dunghills, with wheels, and their mangled bodies were either left 'every mark of indignation and contempt. Mareschal Montrevel acted a conspicuous part in these barbarous executions. He burnt five hundred men, women, and children, who were aspsalms; he cut the throats of four hundred of the sembled together in a mill to pray and sing wives and children in the river, near Aignes new converts at Montpelier, and drowned their Mortes. Yet the haughty tyrant by whose orders these barbarous deeds were committed, along with his mareschals and grandees, who assisted in the execution-instead of suffering the visitations of retributive justice, continued, for thirty years after this period, to riot in all the splendours of absolute royalty, entering into solenin treaties, and breaking them when he pleased, and arrogating to himself divine honours; and his historians, instead of branding his memory with infamy, have procured for him the appellation of LOUIS THE GREAT. A thousand examples of this description might be collected from the records even of modern history, were it necessary for the illustration of this topic. The horrible cruelties which were committed on the Protestant inhabitants in the Netherlands by the agents of Charles V. and Philip II. of Spain, where more than a hundred thousand persons of respectable characters were butchered without mercy by the Dukes of Alva and Parma, for their adherence to the religion of the Reformers,—the dreadful massacres which took place, on St. Bartholomew's day, in Paris and throughout every province of France-the persecutions of the Protestants in England, during the reign of Queen Mary, when the fires of Smithfield were kindled to consume the bodies of the most pious and venerable men-the Irish massacre in the reign of Charles I. when more than 40,000 inoffensive individuals were slaughtered without distinction of age, sex, or condition, and with every circumstance of ferocious cruelty-the persecutions endured by the Scottish Presbyterians, when they were driven from their dwellings, and hunted like wild beasts by the blood-thirsty Claverhouse and his savage dragoons-the many thousands of worthy men who have fallen victims to the flames, and the cruel tortures inflicted by the Inquisitors of Spain, while their haughty persecutors were permitted to riot on the spoils of nations-the fiendlike cruelties of the Mogul emperors in their bloody wars-the devastations and atrocities committed by the Persian despots-the massacre of the Gardiotes by Ali Pacha, and of the inhabitants of Scio by the ferocious Turks are only a few instances out of many thousands, which the annals of history record of human beings suffering the most unjust and cruel treatment, while their tyrannical persecutors were permitted to prosecute their diabolical career without suffering the punishment due to their crimes. When the mind takes a deliberate review of all the revolting details connected with such facts, it is naturally led to exclaim, "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea are mighty in-power? Is there no reward for the righteous? Is there no punishment for the workers of iniquity? Is there no God that judgeth in the earth?" And, indeed, were there no retributions beyond the limits of the present life, we should be necessarily obliged to admit one or other of the following conclusions, either that no Moral Governor of the world exists, or, that justice and judgment are not the foundation of his throne. When we take a survey of the moral world around us, as it exists in the present day, the same conclusion forces itself upon the mind. When we behold, on the one hand, the virtuous and upright votary of religion struggling with poverty and misery, treated with scorn and contempt, persecuted on account of his integrity and piety, despoiled of his earthly enjoyments, or condemned to an ignominious death; and on the other, the profligate and oppressor, the insolent despiser of God and religion, passing his days in affluence and luxurious ease, prosecuting with impunity his unhallowed courses, and robbing the widow and the fatherless of their dearest com. forts-when we behold hypocrisy successful in all its schemes, and honesty and rectitude overlooked and neglected-the destroyers of our spe cies loaded with wealth and honours, while the benefactors of mankind are pining in obscurity and indigence-knaves and fools exalted to posts of dignity and honour, and men of uprightness and intelligence treated with scorn, and doomed to an inglorious obscurity-criminals of the deepest dye escaping with impunity, and generous actions meeting with a base reward-when we see young men of virtue and intelligence cut off in early life, when they were just beginning to bless mankind with their philanthropic labours, and tyrants and oppressors continuing the pests of society, and prolonging their lives to old age in the midst of their folly and wickedness-human beings torn from their friends and their native home, consigned to perpetual slavery, and reduced below the level of the beasts, while their oppressors set at defiance the laws of God and man, revel in luxurious abundance, and prosper in their crimes;-when we behold one nation and tribe irradiated with intellectual light, another immersed in thick darkness; one enjoying the blessings of civilization and liberty, another groaning under the lash of despotism, and doomed to slavery and bondage,-when we contemplate such facts throughout every department of the moral world, can we suppose, for a moment, that the Divine administration is bounded by the visible scene of things, that the real characters of men shall never be brought to light, that vice is to remain in eternal concealment and impunity, and that the noblest virtues are never to receive their just "recompence of reward?" To admit such conclusions would be in effect to deny the wisdom, goodness, and rectitude of the Ruler of the world, or to suppose, that his all-wise and benevolent designs may be defeated by the folly and wickedness of human beings. But such conclusions are so palpably and extravagantly absurd, that the only other alternative, the feality of a future state of existence, may be pronounced to have the force of a moral demonstration. So that, had we no other argument to produce in support of the doctrine of a future state of retribution, this alone would be sufficient to carry conviction to every mind that recognises the existence of a Supreme Intelligence, and entertains just views of the attributes which must necessarily be displayed in his moral administra tion. When this conclusion is once admitted, it removes the perplexities, and solves all the difficulties which naturally arise in the mind, when it contemplates the present disordered state of the moral world, and the apparently capricious manner in which punishments and rewards are dispensed. Realizing this important truth, we need not be surprised at the unequal distribution of the Divine favours among the various nations and tribes of mankind; since they are all placed on the first stage of their existence, and eternity is rich in resources, to compensate for all the defects and inequalities of fortune which now exist. We need not be overwhelmed with anguish when we behold the pious and philanthro pic youth cut down at the commencement at his virtuous career, since those buds of virtue which began to unfold themselves with so much beauty in the present life, will be fully expanded and bring forth nobler fruits of righteousness in that life which will never end. We need not wonder when we behold tyrants and profligates triumphing, and the excellent ones of the earth trampled under foot, since the future world will present a scene of equitable administration, in which the sorrows of the upright will be turned into joy, the triumphs of the wicked into confusion and shame, and every one rewarded according to his works. We need not harass our minds with perplexing doubts, respecting the wisdom and equity of the dispensations of Providence; since the moral government of God extends beyond the limits of this world, and all its dark and intricate mazes will be fully unravelled in the light of eternity. -"The great eternal scheme In palices, lay straining her low thought, Thompson's Winter. Thus it appears, that, although God, in the general course of his providence, has connected nappiness with the observance of his laws, and misery with the violation of them, in order to display the rectitude of his nature, and his hatred of moral evil; yet he has, at the same time, in numerous instances, permitted vice to triumph, and virtue to be persecuted and oppressed, to convince us, that his government of human beings is not bounded by the limits of time, but extends into the eternal world, where the system of his moral administration will be completed, his wisdom and rectitude justified, and the mysterious ways of his Providence completely unravelled. This argument might have been farther illus trated from a consideration of those moral perceptions implanted in the human constitution, and which may be considered as having the force of moral laws proceeding from the Governor of the universe. The difference between right and wrong, virtue and vice, is founded upon the nature of things, and is perceptible by every intelligent agent whose moral feelings are not altogether blunted by vicious indulgences. Were a man to affirm that there is no difference be tween justice and injustice, love and hatred, truth and falsehood; that it is equally the same whether we be faithful to a friend or betray him to his enemies, whether servants act with fidelity to their masters or rob them of their property, whether rulers oppress their subjects or promote their interests, and whether parents nourish their children with tenderness, or smother them in their cradles he would at once be denounced as a fool and a madman, and hissed out of society. The difference between such actions is eternal and unchangeable, and every moral agent is endued with a faculty which enables him to perceive it. We can choose to perform the one class of actions and to refrain from the other; we can comply with the voice of conscience which deters us from the one, and excites us to the other, or we can resist its dictates, and we can judge whether our actions deserve reward or punishment. Now, if God has endued us with such moral percep tions and capacities, is it reasonable to suppose, that it is equally indifferent to him whether we obey or disobey the laws he has prescribed? Can we ever suppose, that He who governs the universe is an unconcerned spectator of the good or evil actions that happen throughout his dominions? or that he has left man to act, with impunity, according to his inclinations, whether they be right or wrong? If such suppositions cannot be admitted, it follows that man is accountable for his actions, and that it must be an essential part of the Divine government to bring every action into judgment, and to punish or reward his creatures according to their works. And if it appear, in point of fact, that such retributions are not fully awarded in the present state, nor a visible distinction made between the righteous and the violators of his law, we must necessarily admit the conclusion, that the full and equitable distribution of punishments and rewards is reserved to a future world, when a visible and everlasting distinction will be made, and the whole intelligent creation clearly discern between him that served God and him that served him not. SECTION X. ON THE ABSURDITY OF SUPPOSING THAT THE THINKING PRINCIPLE IN MAN WILL EVER BE ANNIHILATED. It is highly unreasonable, if not absurd, to suppose that the thinking principle in man will ever be annihilated. In so far as our knowledge of the universe extends, there does not appear a single instance of annihilation throughout the material system. There is no reason to believe, that, throughout all the worlds which are dispersed through the immensity of space, a single atom has ever yet been, or ever will be annihilated. From a variety of observations, it appears highly probable, that the work of creation is still going forward in the distant regions of the universe, and that the Creator is replenishing the voids of space with new worlds and new orders of intelligent beings; and it is reasonable to believe, from the incessant agency of Divine Omnipotence, that new systems will be continually emerging into existence while eternal ages are rolling on. But no instance has yet occurred of any system or portion of matter either in heaven or earth having been reduced to annihilation. Changes are indeed incessantly taking place, in countless variety, throughout every department of nature. The spots of the sun, the belts of Jupiter, the surface of the moon, the rings of Saturn, and several portions of the starry heavens, are frequently changing or varying their aspects. On the earth, mountains are crumbling down, the caverns of the ocean filling up, islands are emerging from the bottom of the sea, and again sinking into the abyss; the ocean is frequently shifting its boundaries, and trees, plants, and waving grain now adorn many tracts which were once overwhelmed with the foaming billows. Earthquakes have produced frequent devastations, volcanoes have overwhelmed fruitful fields with torrents of burn ing lava, and even the solid strata within the bowels of the earth have been bent and disrupted by the operation of some tremendous power. The invisible atmosphere is likewise the scene of perpetual changes and revolutions, by the mixture and decomposition of gases, the respiration of animals, the process of evaporation, the action of winds, and the agencies of light, heat, and the electric and magnetic fluids. The vegetable kingdom is either progressively advancing to maturity or falling into decay. Between the plants and the seeds of vegetables there is not the most distant similarity. A small seed, only one-tenth of an inch in diameter, after rotting for a while in the earth, shoots forth a stem ten thousand times greater in size than the germ from which it sprung, the branches of which afford an ample shelter for the fowls of heaven. The tribes of animated nature are likewise in a state of progressive change, either from infancy to maturity and old age, or from one state of existence to another. The caterpillar is first an egg, next, a crawling worm, then a nymph or chrysalis, and afterwards a butterfly adorned with the most gaudy colours. The may-bug beetle burrows in the earth where it drops its egg, from which its young creeps out in the shape of a maggot, which cast its skin every year, and, in the fourth year, it bursts from the earth, unfolds its wings, and sails in rapture "through the soft air." The animal and vegetable tribes are blended, by a variety of wonderful and incessant changes. Animal productions afford food and nourishment to the vegetable tribes, and the various parts of animals are compounded of matter derived from the vegetable kingdom. The wool of the sheep, the horns of the cow, the teeth of the lion, the feathers of the peacock, and the skin of the deer-nay, even our hands and feet, our eyes and ears, with which we handle and walk, see and hear, and the crimson fluid that circulates in our veins are derived from plants and herbs which once grew in the fields, which demonstrate the literal truth of the ancient saying, "All flesh is grass." Still, however, amidst these various and unceasing changes and transformations, no example of annihilation has yet occurred to the eye of the most penetrating observer. When a piece of coal undergoes the process of combustion, its previous form disappears, and its component parts are dissolved, but the elementary particles of which it was composed still remain in existence. Part of it is changed into caloric, part into gas, and part into tar, smoke, and ashes, which are soon formed into other combinations. When vegetables die, or are decomposed by heat or cold, they are resolved into their primitive elements, caloric, light, hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon,-which immediately enter into new combinations, and assist in carrying forward the designs of Providence in other departments of nature. But such incessant changes, so far from militating against the idea of the future existence of man, are, in reality, presumptive proofs of his immortal destination. For, if amidst the perpetual transformations, changes, and revolutions that are going forward throughout universal nature in all its departments, no particle of matter is ever lost, or re duced to nothing, it is in the highest degree improbable, that the thinking principle in man |