48 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



to cilmb the steep ascent of science ; and when 

 we have arrived at the highest point which mor 

 tals have ever reached, we descry still loftier 

 regions which we never can approach, our foot 

 ing fails, and down we sink into irretrievable 

 ruin. If our progress in science here were in 

 troductory to a future scene of knowledge and 

 enjoyment, it would be worthy of being prose 

 cuted by every rational intelligence ; but to beings 

 who are uncertain whether they shall exist in the 

 universe for another day, it is not only superflu 

 ous, but unfriendly to their present enjoyments. 

 For, the less knowledge they acquire of the 

 beauties and sublimities of nature, and the more 

 brutish, ignorant and sottish they become, the 

 less they will feel at the moment when they are 

 about to be launched into non-existence. Let 

 Uie mass v of mankind, then, indulge themselves 

 tn whatever frivolous amusements they may 

 choose ; do not interrupt their sensual pleasures, 

 by vainly attempting to engage them in intellec 

 tual pursuits ; let them eat and drink. aYid revel 

 and debauch, for to-morrow they die. All that 

 is requisite, is, to entwine the chains of despo 

 tism around their necks, to prevent them from 

 aspiring after the enjoyments of their superiors. 

 In short, I endeavour to form some conceptions 

 of the attributes of that great unknown Cause 

 which produced all things around me. But my 

 thoughts become bewildered amidst a maze of 

 unaccountable operations, of apparent contradic 

 tions and inconsistencies. I evidently perceive 

 that the Creator of the universe is possessed of 

 boundless power, but I see no good reason to 

 conclude that he exercises unerring wisdom, un 

 bounded goodness and impartial justice. I per 

 ceive, indeed, some traces of wisdom, in the 

 construction of my body and its several organs 

 of sensation ; and of goodness, in the smiling 

 day, the flowery landscape, and the fertile plains ; 

 but I know not how to reconcile these with some 

 other parts of his operations. How can I attri 

 bute the perfection of wisdom to one who has 

 implanted in my constitution desires which will 

 never be gratified, and furnished me with moral 

 and intellectual faculties which will never be fully 

 exercised, and who has permitted the moral world 

 in every age to exhibit a scene of disorder? I 

 perceive no evidences of his benevolence in sub 

 jecting me to a variety of sorrows and sufferings 

 which accomplish no end but the production of 

 pain ; in tantalizing me with hopes, and alarming 

 me with fears of futurity which are never to be 

 realized, and in throwing a veil of mystery over 

 all his purposes and operations. Nor can I trace 

 any thing like impartial justice in the bestow- 

 ment of his favours, for disappointments and 

 sorrows are equally the lot of the righteous and 

 the wicked, and frequently it happens that the 

 innocent are punished and disgraced, while vil 

 lains and debauchees are permitted to glory in 

 Iheir crimes. All that I can plainly perceive, is, 



the operation of uncontrollable power, directed 

 by no principle but caprice, and accomplishing 

 nothing that can inspire ardent affection, or se 

 cure the permanent happiness of rational beings 



Such are some of the gloomy reflections of a 

 hopeless mortal whose prospect is bounded by 

 the grave ; and such are some of the horrible con 

 sequences which the denial of a future state ne 

 cessarily involves. It throws a veil of darkness 

 over ths scenes of creation, and wraps in impe 

 netrable mystery the purposes for which man was 

 created, it exhibits the moral world as a chaotic 

 mass of discordant elements, accomplishing no 

 end, and controlled by no intelligent agency, it 

 represents mankind as connected with each other 

 merely by time and place, as formed merely for 

 sensual enjoyment, and destined to perish with 

 the brutes, it subverts the foundations of moral 

 action, removes the strongest motives to the prac 

 tice of virtue, and opens the flood-gates of every 

 vice, it removes the anchor of hope from the 

 anxious mind, and destroys evey principle that 

 has a tendency to support us in the midst of suf 

 ferings, it throws a damp on every effort to raise 

 mankind to the dignity of their moral and intel 

 lectual natures, and is calculated to obstruct the 

 progress of useful science, it prevents the mind 

 from investigating and admiring the beauties of 

 creation, and involves in a deeper gloom the ruins 

 of nature which are scattered over the globe, 

 it terminates every prospect of becoming more 

 fully acquainted with the glories of the firma 

 ment, and every hope of beholding the plans of 

 Providence completely unfolded, it involves the 

 character of the Deity in awful obscurity, it de 

 prives Him of the attributes of infinite wisdom, 

 benevolence and rectitude, and leaves him little 

 more than boundless omnipotence, acting at ran 

 dom, and controlled by no beneficent agency. In 

 short, it obliterates every motive to the perform 

 ance of noble and generous actions, damps the 

 finest feelings and affections of humanity, leads to 

 universal scepticism, cuts off* the prospect of 

 every thing which tends to cheer the traveller in 

 his pilgrimage through life, and presents to his 

 view nothing but an immense blank, overspread 

 with the blackness of darkness for ever. 



Such being the blasphemous and absurd con 

 sequences which flow from the denial of the 

 doctrine of a future state of retribution the 

 man who obstinately maintains such a position, 

 must be considered as unworthy not only of tho 

 name of a philosopher, but of that of a rational 

 being, and as one who would believe againsl 

 demonstration, and swallow any absurdity, how 

 ever extravagant, which quadrates with his 

 grovelling appetites and passions. Mathema 

 ticians frequently demonstrate a truth by show- \ 

 ing that its contrary is impossible, or involves 

 an absurdity. Thus, Euclid demonstrates the 

 truth of the fourth proposition of the first book 

 of his Elements, bv showing that its contrar? 



