16 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



Among the numerous and diversified tribes 

 that are scattered over the different regions of 

 the earth, that agree in scarcely any other senti 

 ment or article of religious belief, we here find 

 the most perfect harmony, in their recognition of 

 a Supreme Intelligence, and in their belief that 

 the soul survives the dissolution of its mortal 

 frame. And, as Cicero long since observed, 

 &quot; In every thing the consent of all nations is to 

 be accounted the law of nature, and to resist it, 

 is to resist the voice of God.&quot; For we can 

 scarcely suppose, in consistency with the divine 

 perfections, that an error, on a subject of so 

 vast importance to mankind, should obtain the 

 universal belief of all nations and ages, and that 

 God himself would suffer a world of rational 

 beings, throughout every generation, to be car 

 ried away by a delusion, and to be tantalized by 

 a hope which has no foundation in nature, and 

 which is contrary to the plan of his moral govern 

 ment. It is true, indeed, that several of the 

 opinions to which I have now adverted, and 

 many others which prevail among the uncivilized 

 tribes of mankind, in regard to the condition of 

 disembodied spirits, and the nature of future 

 happiness, are very erroneous and imperfect; 

 hut they all recognise this grand and important 

 truth, that death is not the destruction of the 

 rational soul, and that man is destined to an im 

 mortal existence. Their erroneous conceptions 

 in respect to the rewards and punishments of 

 the future world may be easily accounted for, 

 from a consideration of the imperfect concep 

 tions they have formed of the Divine Being, 

 and of the principles of his moral government ; 

 from their ignorance of those leading principles 

 and moral laws, by which the Almighty regulates 

 the intelligent universe ; from the false ideas they 

 have been led to entertain respecting the nature 

 of substantial happiness ; from the cruel and 

 absurd practices connected with the system of 

 pagan superstition; from the intellectual dark 

 ness which has brooded over the human race 

 ever since the fall of man ; and from the univer 

 sal prevalence of those depraved dispositions 

 and affections, which characterize the untutored 

 tribes on whom the light of revelation has never 

 shone. 



To whatever cause this universal belief of a 

 future existence is to be traced whether to a 

 universal tradition derived from the first parents 

 of the human race : to an innate sentiment ori- 

 (finally impressed on the soul of man ; to a divine 

 revelation disseminated and handed down from 

 one generation to another, or to the deductions of 

 human reason it forms a strong presumption, 

 and a powerful argument, in favour of the posi 

 tion we are now endeavouring to support. If it 

 is to be traced back to the original progenitors of 

 mankind, it must be regarded as one of those 

 truths which were recognised by man in a state 

 of innocence, when his affections were pure, and 



his understanding fortified against delusion and 

 error. If it be a sentiment which was origmaih 

 impressed on the human soul by the hand of its 

 Creator, we do violence to the law of our nature, 

 when we disregard its intimations, or attempt to 

 resist the force of its evidence. If it ought to be 

 considered as originally derived from Revelation, 

 then it is corroborative of the truth of ihe Sacred 

 Records, in which &quot; life and immortality&quot; ar 

 clearly exhibited. And, if it be regarded as like 

 wise one of the deductions of natural reason, we 

 are left without excuse, if we attempt to obscure 

 its evidence, or to overlook the important conse 

 quences which it involves. As the consent of all 

 nations has been generally considered as a pow 

 erful argument for the existence of a Deity, so 

 the universal belief of mankind in the doctrine of 

 a future state ought to be viewed as a strong pre 

 sumption that it is founded upon truth. The 

 human mind is so constituted, that, when left to 

 its native unbiassed energies, it necessarily in 

 fers the existence of a Supreme Intelligence, from 

 the existence of matter, and the economy of the 

 material world ; and, from the nature of the hu 

 man faculties, and the moral attributes of God, 

 it is almost as infallibly led to conclude, that a 

 future existence is necessary, in order to gratify 

 the boundless desires of the human soul, and to 

 vindicate the wisdom and rectitude of the moral 

 Governor of the world. These two grand truths, 

 which constitute the foundation of all religion, 

 and of every thing that is interesting to man as 

 an intelligent agent, are interwoven with the the 

 ological creed of all nations ; and, in almost every 

 instance, where the one is called in question, the 

 other is undermined or denied : so that the doc 

 trine of the immortality of man may be consi 

 dered as resting on the same foundation as the 

 existence of a Supreme Intelligence. 



It must indeed be admitted, that individuals 

 have appeared in every age, who have endeavour 

 ed to call in question, or to deny, this fundamen- 

 tal truth. But this circumstance forms no valid 

 objection to the force of the argument to which I 

 have now adverted. For the number of such 

 persons has been extremely small, when compar 

 ed with the mass of mankind ; and their opinions 

 on this subject have generally originated either 

 from wilful ignorance ; from an affectation of sin 

 gularity and of appearing superior to vulgar fears ; 

 or from indulging in a course of wickedness and 

 impiety, which has led them to wish, and if pos 

 sible to believe, that there are neither punish 

 ments nor rewards beyond the grave. If it ap 

 pear strange and unnatural that any man should 

 wish his soul to be mortal, Hierocles assigns the 

 true reason of it : &quot;A wicked man,&quot; says he 

 &quot; is afraid of his judge, and therefore wishes his 

 soul and body may perish together by death, 

 rather than it should appear before the tribunal 

 of God.&quot; If a number of fools should think fit 

 to put out their own eyes, to prevent them from 



