PROOFS FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE. 



will be destroyed, by the change which takes 

 piace at the moment of his dissolution. That 

 change, however great and interesting to the in 

 dividual, may be not more wonderful, nor more 

 mysterious than the changes which take place in 

 the different states of existence to which a ca 

 terpillar is destined. This animal, as already 

 stated, is first an egg, and how different does its 

 form appear when it comes forth a crawling 

 worm? After living some time in the cater 

 pillar state, it begins to languish, and apparently 

 dies ; it is incased in a tomb, and appears devoid 

 of life and enjoyment. After a certain period it 

 acquires new life and vigour, burst its confine 

 ment, appears in a more glorious form, mounts 

 upward on expanded wings, and traverses the 

 regions of the air. And, is it not reasonable, 

 from analogy, to believe, that man, in his pre 

 sent state, is only the rudiments of what he 

 shall be hereafter in a more expansive sphere of 

 existence? and that, when the body is dissolved 

 in death, the soul takes its ethereal flight into a 

 cek?stial region, puts on immortality, and be 

 comes &quot; all eye, all ear, all ethereal and divine 

 feeling?&quot; 



Since, then, it appears that annihilation forms 

 no part of the plan of the Creator in the material 

 world, is it reasonable to suppose, that a system 

 of annihilation is in incessant operation in the 

 world of mind? that God is every day creating 

 thousands of minds, endued with the most capa 

 cious powers, and, at the same time, reducing to 

 eternal destruction thousands of those which he 

 had formerly created ? Shall the material uni 

 verse exist amidst all its variety of changes, and 

 shall that noble creature, for whose sake the uni 

 verse was created, be cut off for ever in the infancy 

 of its being, and doomed to eternal forgetful- 

 ness ? Is it consistent with the common dic 

 tates of reason to admit, that matter shall have a 

 longer duration than mind, which gives motion 

 and beauty to every material scene ? Shall the 

 noble structures of St. Paul and St. Peter sur 

 vive the ravages of time, and display their beau 

 tiful proportions to successive generations, while 

 Wren and Angelo, the architects that planned 

 them, are reduced to the condition of the clods of 

 the valley ? Shall the &quot; Novum Organum &quot; of 

 Bacon, and the &quot;Optics&quot; and &quot;Principia&quot; of 

 Newton, descend to future ages, to unfold their 

 sublime conceptions, while the illustrious minds 

 which gave birth to these productions, are en 

 veloped in the darkness of eternal night? There 

 appears a palpable absurdity and inconsistency 

 in admitting such conclusions. We might al 

 most as soon believe that the universe would 

 continue in its present harmony and order, were 

 its Creator ceasing to exist. &quot; Suppose that the 

 Deity, through all the lapse of past ages, has 

 supported the universe by such miracles of power 

 and wisdom as have already been displayed 

 merely that he might please himself with letting 



it fall to pieces, and enjoy the spectacle of the 

 fabric lying in ruins &quot; would such a design be 

 worthy of infinite Wisdom, or conformable to 

 the ideas we ought to entertain of a Being eter 

 nal and immutable in his nature, and possessed 

 of boundless perfection? But suppose, farther, 

 that he will annihilate that rational nature for 

 whose sake he created the universe, while the 

 material fabric was still permitted to remain in 

 existence, would it not appear still more incom 

 patible with the attributes of a Being of unboun 

 ded goodness and intelligence? To blot out 

 from existence the rational part of his creation, 

 and to cherish desolation and a heap of rubbish, 

 is such an act of inconsistency, that the mind 

 shrinks back with horror at the thought of attri 

 buting it to the All-Wise and Benevolent Cre 

 ator. 



We are, therefore, necessarily led to tho fol 

 lowing conclusion : &quot; That, when the human 

 body is dissolved, the immaterial principle by 

 which it was animated, continues to think and 

 act, either in a state of separation from all body, 

 or in some material vehicle to which it is inti 

 mately united, and which goes off with it at 

 death ; or else, that it is preserved fay the Father 

 of spirits for the purpose of animating a body in 

 some future state.&quot; The soul contains no prin 

 ciple of disolution within itself, since it is an 

 immaterial uncompounded substance ; and, there 

 fore, although the material creation were to be 

 dissolved and to fall into ruins, its energies might 

 still remain unimpaired, and its faculties &quot; flou 

 rish in immortal youth, 



&quot; Unhurt, amidst the war of elements, 



The wrecks of matter and the crush of worlds.&quot; 



And the Creator is under no necessity to annihi 

 late the soul for want of power to support its 

 faculties, for want of objects on which to exer 

 cise them, or for want of space to contain the 

 innumerable intelligences that are incessantly 

 emerging into existence ; for the range of im 

 mensity is the theatre of his Omnipotence, and 

 that powerful Energy, which has already brought 

 millior.s of systems into existence, can as easily 

 replenish the universe with ten thousand millions 

 more. If room were wanted for new creations, 

 ten thousand additional worlds could be compri 

 sed within the limits of the solar system, while 

 a void space of more than a hundred and eighty 

 thousand miles would still intervene between the 

 orbits of the respective globes ; and the immea 

 surable spaces which intervene between our 

 planetary system and the nearest stars, would af 

 ford an ample range for the revolutions of mil 

 lions of worlds. And, therefore, although every 

 soul, on quitting its mortal frame, were clothed 

 with a new material vehicle, there is ample 

 scope in the spaces of the universe, and in the 

 omnipotent energies of the Creator, for the full 

 exercise of all its powers, and for every enjov- 



