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the early condition of the insect, the future wings and activity of which require the confinement and protection to which they are there subjected. ››ɔik to conclude from all this that our happiness in future will be such as we can understand here, and result from the gratification of our present ca pacities, whether moral, intellectual, or affectionate.

Of their degree or objects at that time we know nothing, but of the kind I think we may be sure; and if so, the objects and degrees which gratify the present condition of the same powers which are to be gratified more at large hereafter, are lawful, and intended by God for the cultivation of those powers; and therefore to be enjoyed, not only as constituting our happiness in this world, but as bearing a reference to that of the time to come. Id is very true that our world is no longer the plade which was designed for a happy preparation for a happier heaven; and that instead of obeying all our inclinations, we have to resist many of them, inas much as whereas they were pure, they now are corrupt. So that preparation no longer consists in mere cultivation of the desires of our nature, but tim regaining, as far as we can, the excellence of it which we have lost. This consideration must ma dify what has been said above, respecting the result of the reflection that we are here in a world of preparation. All that we feel is not virtuous, as in

paradise; all that we desire, not lawful. In order to reduce our inclinations to their original obedience, we must often mortify what was once to be indulged and being surrounded by corruptions of objects that in their natural state were lawful, must sometimes renounce the good, lest we should be led forward to the connected evil.

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But it is not

the high original propensities that are to be renounced; it is their corruptions. They are too noble to be the consequences of the fall. They are the human nature of paradise, but obscured by sin, and obstructed by sorrow; and it is the effects of these sources of degradation which we are to separate from the original pursuing that as the intention of our being, and only modifying our pursuit by the circumstances of the world in which we are placed.

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Let us refer once more to the divisions already mentioned of the human mind: morality, intellect, and affection. As it is impossible to say these are the effects of man's degradation, they must be allowed to be original powers, without which human nature wants parts of itself. The first is the indispensable requisite of an aspirant after happiness; and it is that which, constituting the only title to heaven, is generally looked upon as the only enjoyment there. But, as I have observed, a being with capacities for other enjoyments cannot be happy in

the exercise of only one. Morality is the possession upon which admittance to happiness is promised; it composes the character which is fit for the place where a pure and intellectual God designs to make the creatures already formed in his image still more like himself. This therefore is the object of the instructions we receive from him, and the characteristic of our future perfection which is dwelt upon. In a fallen world like this, perfection

is absent. No one unites all that was intended for human nature, and the intellectual faculties of half of the race are obscured. Therefore a description of that nature in its perfect state would have found few who understood it, and it seems altogether reasonable to make mention only of the temper which is the indispensable requisite; and to which, if obtained, we may easily conceive God to add the development of those capacities as reward which circumstances may have obscured in this place of trial.

There is an essential difference between the moral character which we must attain, and the privileges of intellect and affection to which part of our capacities are devoted. Morality is something immutable and independent of ordinance; which I know not how otherwise to conceive than as the character of the self-existent Being, and therefore as eternal and universal as himself. It is that

which is opposed to evil; right in itself, and to be pursued independent of reward, however God may have united man's happiness to his perfection in it. But the enjoyments of the intellect and the affections, though a privilege and an excellence in the rank of being, are nothing to us if they are not happiness. They do not imply right doing, they are not duties except so far as intrusted talents are such; their cultivation is a prerogative here, and a perfection both here and hereafter: but there may be situations which at present exclude men from attaining them, and therefore they are not of the same nature as the qualities without which there is no future heaven. The intellectual enjoyments and the affections present themselves in the light of intentions entertained by God with respect to the happiness and interests of his creatures. Morality is. the character upon which these are to be bestowed. It is very certain that there might have been that kind of intellect which is adapted to the knowledge of moral duties, of the existence of God and the adoration of him, without those capacities which obtain knowledge of the material world, or those powers which expand in the fine arts of various kinds. It is very plain also that men might have been made dependent only upon God, and united by notice of mutual want to each other; and thus have possessed every opinion entertained under

present circumstances respecting dove and submission to him, without any of affection to each other. If also our relation to him were to be the only object of our intellect and affections hereafter, it appears perfectly probable that such would have been our condition here: but when I see the mechanism of the mind adapted to lead it into inquiries, and give it knowledge of the heavens and the earth; when I perceive how every object around is constructed so as not only to maintain but to charm life, through many channels; when I perceive mutual dependencies, which necessarily excite certain affections, set by his own hand in the hearts of human creatures, I cannot do otherwise than believe that God. intended man to be a being, not only worship ing and believing him, but acquainted with the mysteries of his creation, enjoying pleasures of varied and extensive descriptions, and filled with love towards those with whom half his pleasures and powers find their development. This is a wide prospect for our eternity; and one which, if ad+ mitted, connects this world and the next closely together. Our world no longer stands isolated, re taining all we learn to enjoy during our first years of existence, and sending us away from them to begin our habits and desires afresh: it is the infancy of life, and that beyond is the maturity-what we learn faintly here, we shall there learn distinctly.