KNOWLEDGE PREPARATORY TO A FUTURE STATE. 



113 



blooming gardens and flowery meads the unen- 

 fightened and unsanctified soul would feel itself 

 unhappy and imprisoned, as it were, even amidst 

 triumphant spirits, and the splendours of immor 

 tal day. Whereas the other, having ardently 

 longed for such a state, and having previously 

 undergone the requisite preparation for its en- 

 &amp;gt;oy merits, feels himself in a region suited to his 

 taste, mingles with associates congenial to his 

 disposition, engages in exercises to which he 

 was formerly accustomed, and in which he de 

 lighted, beholds a prospect, boundless as the 

 universe, rising before him, on which his facul 

 ties may be exercised with everlasting improve 

 ment and everlasting delight, and, consequently, 

 experiences a &quot; fulness of joy&quot; which can never 

 be interrupted, but will be always increasing 

 &quot; world without end.&quot; 



Such are the views we must necessarily 

 adopt respecting the state and enjoyments of 

 these two characters in the life to come ; and 

 there is no resisting of the conclusion we have 

 deduced respecting the ignorant and vicious 

 individual, without supposing that something, 

 equivalent to a miracle, will be performed in 

 his behalf, immediately after his entrance into 

 the invisible world, to fit him for the employ 

 ments of a state of happiness. But, for such 

 an opinion we have no evidence, either from 

 scripture or from reason. It would be contrary 

 to every thing we know of the moral government 

 of God; it would strike at the foundation of all 

 religion and morality ; it would give encourage 

 ment to ignorance and vice ; it would render 

 nugatory all the efforts of a virtuous character 

 to increase in knowledge and holiness during 

 the present life, and it would give the ignorant 

 and the licentious an equal reason for expecting 

 eternal happiness in the world to come, as the 

 most profound Christian philosophers, or the 

 most enlightened and pious divines. Besides, 

 we are assured by the &quot;Faithful and True 

 Witness,&quot; that, as in the future world, &quot;he 

 who is righteous shall remain righteous still,&quot; 

 so &quot; he who is unjust shall remain unjust still, 

 and he who is filthy shall remain filthy still ;&quot; 

 which expressions seem evidently to imply, that 

 no more opportunities will be granted for reform 

 ing what had been amiss, and recovering the 

 polluted and unrighteous soul to purity and rec 

 titude. * 



Whatever opinion we may form as to the doc 

 trine of Universal Restoration, it will be admitted, 

 even by the abettors of that, doctrine, that an unholy 

 and unenlightened soul is unfit for celestial happi 

 ness, on its first entrance into the future world, and 

 thousands or millions of years, or a period equiva 

 lent to what is included in the phrase, &quot;ages of 

 ages,&quot; may elapse before it is fit for being restored 

 to the dignity of its nature, and the joys of heaven. 

 Even on this supposition, (although it were war 

 ranted by Scripture) the preparation of human be 

 ings in the present life for a state of future happi 

 ness, nnust be a matter of the highest importance, 

 since it prevents the sufferings denoted by &quot; devour- 



If, then, it appears, that we shall carry the 

 knowledge and moral habits we acquire in thil 

 life along with us into the other world, and if a 

 certain portion of rational and religious informa-- 

 tion and moral principle is essentially requisite 

 to prepare us for the employments and felicities 

 of that state by refusing to patronise every 

 scheme by which a general diffusion of know 

 ledge may be promoted, we not only allow our 

 fellow-men to wander amidst the mists of super 

 stition, and to run heedlessly into numerous dan 

 gers, both physical and moral, we not only de 

 prive them of exquisite intellectual enjoyments, 

 and prevent the improvement of the arts and 

 sciences, but we deprive them, in a certain de 

 gree, of the chance of obtaining happiness in a 

 state of immortality. For as ignorance is the 

 parent of vice, and as vicious propensities and 

 indulgences necessarily lead to misery, both 

 here and hereafter, the man whose mind is left 

 to grope amidst intellectual darkness, can enjoy 

 no well-founded hope of felicity in the life to 

 come, since he is unqualified for the associa 

 tions, the contemplations, and the employments 

 of that future existence. As in the material 

 creation, light was the first substance created 

 before the chaos was reduced to beauty and 

 order, so, in the intellectual world, knowledge, 

 or light in the understanding, is the first thing 

 which restores the moral system to harmony and 

 order. It is the commencement of every pro 

 cess that leads to improvement, comfort, and 

 moral order in this life, and that prepares us for 

 the enjoyments of the life to come. But igno 

 rance is both the emblem and the prelude of 

 &quot; the blackness of darkness for ever.&quot; This is 

 one of the most powerful considerations which 

 should induce every philanthropist to exert every 

 nerve, and to further every scheme which has for 

 its object to diffuse liberty, knowledge and moral 

 principle among all the inhabitants of the earth. 



SECTION IX. 



ON THE UTILITY OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 

 IN RELATION TO THE STUDY OF DIVINE 

 REVELATION. 



OF all the departments of knowledge to which 

 the human mind can be directed, there is none 

 of greater importance than that which exhibits 

 the real character and condition of man as a 

 moral agent his relation to the Deity his eter 

 nal destiny the way in which he may be deli 

 vered from the effects of moral evil and the 

 worship and service he owes to his Almighty 

 Creator. On these and kindred topics, the 



ing fire, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth,&quot; 

 during the indefinite and lone-continued period at 

 &quot; ages of ages. - 



