46 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



ment requisite to its happiness. So that in 

 every point of view in which we can contemplate 

 the soul of man and the perfections of its Crea 

 tor, it appears not only improbable, but even 

 absurd in the highest degree, to suppose that the 

 spark of intelligence in man will ever be extin 

 guished. 



SECTION XI. 



ON THE GLOOMY CONSIDERATIONS AND AB 

 SURD CONSEQUENCES INVOLVED IN THE 

 DENIAL OF A FUTURE STATE. 



The denial of the doctrine of a future state in 

 volves in it an immense variety of gloomy con 

 siderations and absurd consequences. 



If the doctrine of a future existence be set 

 aside, man appears an enigma, a rude abortion, 

 and a monster in nature, his structure is inex 

 plicable, and the end for which he was created 

 on unfathomable mystery ; the moral world is a 

 scene of confusion, the ways of Providence a 

 dark impenetrable maze, the universe a vast, 

 mysterious, and inexplicable system, and the De 

 ity a Being whose perfections and purposes can 

 never be traced nor unfolded. 



Let us suppose, for a few moments, that there 

 is no state of existence beyond the grave, and 

 consequently, that the supposed discoveries of 

 Revelation are a mere delusion ; and consider 

 some of the gloomy prospects and absurd conse 

 quences to which such a supposition necessarily 

 loads. I shall suppose myself standing in an at 

 titude of serious contemplation, and of anxious 

 inquiry respecting the various scenes and objects 

 which surround me, and the events that pass un 

 der my review : 



I first of all look into myself, and inquire, 

 whence I came? whither I am going? who pro 

 duced me ? of what my body is composed ? what 

 is the nature of my senses ? of the thinking 

 principle I feel within me ? and for what purpose 

 was I ushered into being? I perceive in my body 

 a wonderful mechanism which I cannot compre 

 hend : I find by experience, that my will exerci 

 ses a sovereign power over my muscular system, 

 so that my hands, feet, arms, and limbs, are dis 

 posed to obey every impulse, and, at the signal 

 of a wish, to transport my body from one place 

 to another. 1 find my thinking principle inti 

 mately connected with my corporeal frame, and 

 both acting reciprocally on each other ; but I can 

 not fathom the manner in which these operations 

 are effected. I feel ardent desires after enjoy 

 ments in which I never shall participate, and ca 

 pacities for knowledge and improvement which I 

 never can attain. I feel restless and uneasy, 

 even amidst the beauties of nature, and the plea- 

 Bures of the senses. I ask whence proceeds the 



want I feel amidst all my enjoyments ? Where 

 fore can I never cease from wishing for something 

 in addition to what I now possess ? Whence 

 arises the disgust that so quickly succeeds every 

 sensitive enjoyment, and the want I feel even in 

 the midst of abundance? I ask why I was call 

 ed into existence at this point of duration, rather 

 than at any other period of that incomprehensible 

 eternity which is past, or of that which is yet to 

 corne ? why, amidst the vast, spaces with which 

 I am encompassed, and the innumerable globen 

 which surround me, I was chained down to this 

 obscure corner of creation from which I feel un 

 able to transport myself? why I was ushered 

 into life in Britain, and not in Papua or New 

 Zealand ? and why I was formed to walk erect 

 and not prone, as the inferior animals? To all 

 such inquiries I can find no satisfactory answers, 

 the whole train of circumstances connected 

 with my existence appears involved in impene 

 trable darkness and mystery. Of one thing 

 only I am fully assured, that my body shall, ere 

 long, be dissolved and mingle with the dust, and 

 my intellectual faculties, desires, and capacities 

 for knowledge be for ever annihilated in the tomb. 

 I shall then be reduced to nothing, and be as 

 though I never had been, while myriads of be 

 ings, like myself, shall start into existence, and 

 perish in like manner, in perpetual succession 

 throughout an eternity to come. 



I look backward through ages past I behold 

 every thing wrapped in obscurity, and perceive 

 no traces of a beginning to the vast system 

 around me, I stretch forward towards futurity, 

 and perceive no prospect of an end. All things 

 appear to continue as they were from generation 

 to generation, invariably subjected to the same 

 movements, revolutions, and changes, without 

 any distinct marks which indicate either a be 

 ginning or an end. I look around on the scene 

 of terrestrial nature I perceive many beauties 

 in the verdant landscape, and many objects the 

 mechanism of which is extremely delicate and 

 admirable I inhale the balmy zephyrs, am 

 charmed with the music of the groves, the splen 

 dour of the sun, and the variegated colouring 

 spread over the face of creation. But. I behold 

 other scenes, which inspire melancholy and ter 

 ror. The tempest, the hurricane and the tor 

 nado ; the sirocco, the samiel and other poisonous 

 winds of the desert ; the appalling thunder 

 cloud, the forked lightnings, the earthquake 

 shaking kingdoms, and the volcano pouring fiery 

 streams around its base, which desolate villages 

 and cities in their course. I behold in ono 

 place a confused assemblage of the ruins of na 

 ture in the form of snow-capped mountains, 

 precipices, chasms and caverns ; in another, 

 extensive marshes and immense deserts of bar 

 ren sand; and, in another, a large proportion of 

 the globe a scene of sterile desolation, and 

 bound in the fetters of eternal ice. I know not 



