PROOFS FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE. 



since &quot; they desire a better country,&quot; and feel 

 assured that death will introduce them to &quot; an 

 exceeding great and an eternal weight of glory.&quot; 

 Since, then, it appears that the desire of im 

 mortality is common to mankind, that the soul is 

 incessantly looking forward to the enjoyment of 

 some future good, and that this desire has been 

 the spring of actions the most beneficent, and 

 heroic, on what principle is it to be accounted 

 for? 



Whence springs this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 

 This longing after immortality ? x 

 Or, whence this secret dread, and inward horror, 

 Of falling into nought 1 Why shrinks the soul 

 Back, on herself, and startles at destruction 2&quot; 



Wheneo proceeds the want we feel amidst the 

 variely of objects which surround us ? Whence 

 arises&quot; the disgust that so quickly succeeds every 

 enjoyment? Wherefore can we never cease 

 from wishing for something more exquisite than 

 we have ever yet possessed ? No satisfactory 

 answer can be given to such questions, if our 

 duration be circumscribed within the limits of 

 time , and if we shall be blotted out of creation 

 when our earthly tabernacles are laid in the 

 dust. The desires to which t now refer appear 

 to be an essential part of the human constitution, 

 and, consequently, were implanted in our nature 

 by the hand of our Creator; and, therefore, 

 we must suppose, either that the desire of im 

 mortality will be gratified, or that the Creator 

 takes delight in tantalizing his creatures with 

 hopes and expectations which will end in eternal 

 disappointment. To admit the latter supposi 

 tion, would be inconsistent with every rational 

 idea we can form of the moral attributes of the 

 Divinity. It would be inconsistent with his 

 veracity; for to encourage hopes and desires 

 which are never intended to be gratified, is the 

 characteristic of a deceiver, and therefore con 

 trary to every conception we can form cf the 

 conduct of &quot; a God of truth.&quot; It would be in 

 consistent with his rectitude; for every such de 

 ception implies an act of injustice towards the 

 individual who is thus tantalized. It would be 

 inconsistent with his wisdom ; for it would imply 

 that he has no other means of governing the in 

 telligent creation, than those which have a ten 

 dency to produce fallacious hopes and fears in 

 the minds of his rational offspring. It would 

 be inconsistent with his benevolence; for as &quot; the 

 desire accomplished is sweet to the soul,&quot; so 

 disappointed hopes uniformly tend to produce 

 misery. Yet the benevolence of the Deity, in 

 every other point of view, is most strikingly dis 

 played in all his arrangements in the material 

 universe, and towards every species of sensitive 

 existence. 



Whzc has been now stated in relation to desire 

 and hope, will equally apply to those fears and 

 apprehensions, which frequently arise in the 

 Blind in reference to the punishments of a future 



world. A Being possessed of perfect 

 lence cannot be supposed to harass his intelligent 

 creatures, and to render their lives bitter with 

 alarming apprehensions, for which there .it not 

 the slightest foundation. But, if there is no 

 state either of punishment or reward beyond the 

 grave, those desires of immortal duration, which 

 seem at first view to elevate man above the 

 other inhabitants of this globe, actually place 

 him below the level of the beasts, which bound 

 through the forests and lawns, and find their 

 chief enjoyment in browsing on the grass. They 

 are alive to present enjoyment, but appear to 

 have no anticipations of the future; they feel 

 present pain, but there is no reason to believe 

 that they are ever tormented with fears or fore 

 bodings of future punishment. They are con 

 tented with the organs with which Nature has 

 furnished them ; they appear fully satisfied with 

 ranging the fields and feasting on the herbage ; 

 their desires need no restraint, and their wishes 

 are completely gratified ; and. what pleased them 

 yesterday will likewis* give them pleasure to 

 morrow, without being harassed with insatiable 

 desires after novelty and variety. They live di 

 vested of those innumerable cares and anxieties 

 which harass and perplex the children of men, 

 and they never wish to go beyond the boundary 

 which nature prescribes. &quot; The ingenious bee 

 constructs commodious cells, but never dreams 

 of rearing triumphal arches or obelisks to deco 

 rate her waxen city.&quot; Through ignorance of 

 the future, they pass from life to death, with 

 as much indifference as from watching to sleep, 

 or from labour to repose. But man. amidst all 

 the enjoyments and prospects which surround 

 him, feels uneasy and unsatisfied, because he 

 pants after happiness infinite in duration. His 

 hopes and desires overstep the bounds of time 

 and of every period we can affix to duration, 

 and move onward through a boundless eternity. 

 And if he is to be for ever cut off from exist 

 ence when his body drops into the grave, how 

 dismal the continued apprehension of an ever 

 lasting period being put to all his enjoyments 

 after a prospect of immortality has been opened 

 to his view ! 



How, then, shall we account for these anoma 

 lies ? How shall we reconcile these apparent 

 inconsistencies ? In what light shall we exhibit 

 the conduct of the Creator, so as to render it 

 consistent with itself? There is but one con 

 clusion we can form, in consistency with the 

 moral attributes of God, which will completely 

 unravel the mystery of man being animated with 

 unbounded desires, and yet confined to a short 

 and limited duration in the present world, and 

 that is, that this world is not the place of our 

 final destination, but introductory to a more glo 

 rious and permanent state of existence, where 

 the desires of virtuous minds will be completely 

 gratified, and their hopes fully realized. I do 



