5* 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



that, since the soul is an uncompounded sub 

 stance, it cannot perish by a decomposition of 

 its parts ; and consequently, may exist , in a se 

 parate state, in the full exercise of its powers, af 

 ter its corporeal tenement is dissolved. But its 

 immortality cannot necessarily be inferred from 

 its natural capacity of existing in a state of se 

 paration from the body ; for that being who crea 

 ted it may, if he pleases, reduce it to annihilation, 

 since all the works of God, whether material or 

 immaterial, depend wholly on that power by which 

 they were originally brought into existence. Its 

 immortality depends solely on the will of its Cre 

 ator, without whose sustaining energy the whole 

 creation would sink into its original nothing. If 

 it could be proved that God will employ his 

 power to annihilate the soul, in vain should we at 

 tempt to demonstrate that it is naturally immor 

 tal. But whether God wills that the soul should 

 be destroyed at death, is a very different quest ion 

 from that which relates to its nature as an imma 

 terial substance. The whole train of argument 

 illustrated in the preceding pages, affords, I pre 

 sume, satisfactory evidence that the Creator will 

 never annihilate the human soul, but has destined 

 it to remain in the vigorous exercise of its noble 

 faculties to all eternity. 



Hence it follows, that it is a matter of trivial 

 importance, when considering the arguments 

 which prove our immortal destiny, whether we 

 view the soul as a material, or as an immaterial 

 substance. Suppose I were to yield to the scep 

 tic, for a moment, the position, &quot; that the soul 

 is a material substance, and cannot exist but in 

 connexion with a material frame,&quot; what would 

 he gain by the concession? It would not sub 

 tract a single atom from the weight of evidence 

 which has already been brought forward to prove 

 the immortality of man. For, if we can prove 

 that God has willed the immortality of the soul 

 and, consequently, has determined to interpose 

 his almighty power, in order to support its fa 

 culties throughout an eternal existence, in vain 

 hall he have proved that it is not immortal in 

 & naiurt. He who created the human soul and 



endued it with so many noble faculties, can coo 

 tinue its existence, through an unlimited esteni 

 of duration, in a thousand modes incomprehen 

 sible to us. If a material system of organic.v 

 powers be necessary for the exercise of its en 

 ergies, he can either clothe it with a fine ethe 

 real vehicle, at the moment its present tenement 

 is dissolved, or connect it, in another region of 

 the universe, witli a corporeal frame of more ex 

 quisite workmanship, analogous to that which 

 it now animates. For any thing we know to 

 the contrary, there may be some fine material 

 system, with which it is essentially connectedj 

 and which goes off with it at death, and serves 

 as a medium through which it may hold a direct 

 communication with the visible universe. Even 

 although its consciousness of existence were to 

 be suspended for thousands of years, its Creator 

 can afterwards invest it with a new organical 

 frame, suited to the expansive sphere of action 

 to which it is destined ; and the intervening pe 

 riod of its repose may be made to appear no 

 longer than the lapse of a few moments. In 

 short, if God has sustained the material universe 

 hitherto, and will, in all probability, continue it 

 for ever in existence, so that not a single atom 

 now existing, shall at any future period be anni 

 hilated the same Power and Intelligence can, 

 with equal ease, support the thinking principle 

 in man, whatever may be its nature or substance, 

 and however varied the transformations through 

 which it may pass. If the Creator is both able 

 and willing to perpetuate the existence of the 

 rational spirit through an endless duration, and 

 if his wisdom, benevolence and rectitude require 

 that this object should be accomplished, all diffi 

 culties arising from its nature or the mode of its 

 subsistence, must at once evanish. The pre 

 ceding arguments in support of a future state, 

 are, therefore, equally conclusive, whether we 

 consider the soul as a pure immaterial substance, 

 or as only a peculiar modification of matter ; so 

 that the sceptic who adopts the absurd idea of the 

 materiality of mind, cannot, even on this ground 

 invalidate the truth of man s eternal destination. 



