KNOWLEDGE OF A FUTURE STATE. 



109 



recollections will be carried along with us into 

 that future world, that our virtues or vices will 

 oe as immortal as ourselves, and influence our 

 future as well as our present happiness, and, 

 consequently, that every study in which we en 

 gage, every disposition we now cultivate, and 

 every action we perform, is to be regarded as 

 pointing beyond the present to an unseen and 

 eternal existence. 



If, then, we admit that the present state is con 

 nected with the future, and that the hour of death 

 is not the termination of our existence, it must 

 be a matter of the utmost importance, that the 

 mind of every candidate for immortality be tutor 

 ed in those departments of knowledge which have 

 a relation to the future world, and which will 

 tend to qualify him for engaging in the employ 

 ments, and for relishing the pleasures and enjoy 

 ments of that state. The following remarks are 

 ntended to illustrate this position. 



We may remark, in the first place, in general, 

 that the knowledge acquired in the present state, 

 whatever be its nature, will be carried along with 

 us when we wing our flight to the eternal world. 

 In passing into that world we shall not lose any 

 &amp;gt;f the mental faculties we now possess, nor shall 

 we lose our identity, or consciousness of being 

 the same persons we now feel ourselves to be ; 

 otherwise, we behoved to be a different order of 

 creatures, and consequently could not be the 

 subjects either of reward or of punishment for 

 any thing done in the present state. A destruc 

 tion of our faculties, or a total change of them, 

 or the loss of consciousness, would be equivalent 

 io an annihilation of our existence. But, if we 

 carry into the future state all our moral and in 

 tellectual powers, we must also, of necessity, 

 carry along with them all the recollections of the 

 present life, and all the knowledge, both physical 

 and moral, which these faculties enabled us to 

 acquire. We have an exemplification of this 

 in the parable of our Saviour respecting the rich 

 man and Lazarus, where Abraham is represent 

 ed as addressing the former in these words ; 

 &quot; Son, remember, that thou in thy lifetime re- 

 ccivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus 

 evil things ;&quot; evidently implying, that the rich 

 man retained the power of memory, that he pos 

 sessed a consciousness that he was the same 

 thinking being that existed in a former state, and 

 that he had a perfect recollection of the conduct 

 he pursued, and the scenes in which he was 

 placed in this sublunary world. If, then, it be 

 admitted, that we shall be, substantially, the 

 same intellectual beings as at present, though 

 placed in different circumstances, and that the 

 ideas and moral principles we now acquire will 

 pass along with us into futurity, and influence 

 our conduct and happiness in that state, it can 

 not be a matter of indifference whether the mind 

 of an immortal being be left to grope amidst the 

 mists of ignorance, and to sink into immorality, 



or be trained up in the knowledge of every thing 

 that has a bearing on its eternal destination. 

 On the contrary, nothing can be of higher value 

 and importance to every human being, consider 

 ed as immortal, than to be trained to habits of 

 reasoning and reflection, and to acquire that 

 knowledge of his Creator, of himself, of his duty, 

 and of the relations in which he stands to this 

 world and to the next, which will qualify him for 

 the society in which he is hereafter to mingle, 

 and the part he has to act in a higher scene of 

 action and enjoyment. For, as gross ignorance 

 is the source of immoral action, and as immoral 

 principles and habits unfit the soul for the plea 

 sures and employments of an immortal state, the 

 man who is allowed to remain amidst the natural 

 darkness of his understanding, can have little 

 hope of happiness in the future world since he 

 is destitute of those qualifications which are re 

 quisite in order to his relishing its enjoyments. 

 Scientific knowledge., as well as that which is 

 commonly designated theological, is to be con 

 sidered as having a relation to the future world. 

 Science, as I have already had occasion to no 

 tice, is nothing else than an investigation of the 

 divine perfections and operations as displayed 

 in the economy of the universe ; and we have 

 every ground to conclude, both from reason and 

 from revelation, that such investigations will be 

 carried forward, on a more enlarged scale, in 

 the future world, where the intellectual powers, 

 freed from the obstructions which now impede 

 their operation, will become more vigorous and 

 expansive, and a more extensive scene of divine 

 operation be presented to the view. There are 

 certain applications of scientific principles, in 

 deed, which may have a reference solely to the 

 condition of society in the present life, such as, 

 in the construction of cranes, diving-bells, speak 

 ing-trumpets, steam-carriages and fire-engines ; 

 but the general principles on which such ma 

 chines are constructed, may be applicable to 

 thousands of objects and operations in other 

 worlds with which we are at present unacquaint 

 ed. The views, however, which science has 

 opened of the wisdom and benevolence of the 

 Deity, of the multiplicity of ideas and concep 

 tions which have existed in his infinite mind, of 

 his almighty power, and of the boundless range 

 of his operations will not be lost when we enter 

 into the eternal world. They will prepare the 

 soul for higher scones of contemplation, for ac 

 quiring more expansive views of divine perfec 

 tion, and for taking more extensive and sublime 

 excursions through the boundless empire of Om 

 nipotence. The same may be affirmed of the 

 principles of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, conic 

 sections, and other departments of the mathe 

 matics, which contain truths that are eternal and 

 unchangeable, and that are applicable in every 

 mode of existence, and to the circumstances of 

 all worlds. Such knowledge may form the ground 



