94 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



have been bestowed upon man, would be to set 

 bounds to the infinite wisdom and skill of the 

 Creator, who, in all his works, has displayed an 

 endless variety in the manner of accomplishing 

 his designs. While, in the terrestrial sphere in 

 which we move, our views are limited to the 

 external aspects of plants and animals organ 

 ized beings, in other spheres, may have the 

 faculty of penetrating into their internal (and to 

 us, invisible) movements of tracing an animal 

 from its embryo-state, through all its gradations 

 and evolutions, till it arrive at maturity of per 

 ceiving, at a glance, and, as it were, through a 

 transparent medium, the interior structure of an 

 animal, the complicated movements of its cu 

 rious machinery, the minute and diversified 

 ramifications of its vessels, and the mode in 

 which its several functions are performed of 

 discerning the fine and delicate machinery which 

 enters into the construction, and produces the 

 various motions of a microscopic animalculum, 

 and the curious vessels, and the circulation of 

 juices which exist in the body of a plant of 

 tracing the secret processes which are going on 

 in the mineral kingdom, and the operation of 

 chymical affinities among the minute particles 

 of matter, which produce the diversified pheno 

 mena of the universe. And, in fine, those senses 

 which the inhabitants of other worlds enjoy in 

 common with us, may be possessed by them in 

 a state of greater acuteness and perfection. 

 While our visual organs can perceive objects 

 distinctly, only within the limits of a few yards 

 or miles around us, their organs may be so mo 

 dified and adjusted, as to enable them to perceive 

 objects with the same distinctness, at the dis 

 tance of a hundred miles or even to descry the 

 scenery of distant worlds. If our powers of 

 vision had been confined within the range to 

 which a worm or a mite is circumscribed, we 

 could have formed no conception of the ampli 

 tude of our present range of view ; and it is by 

 no means improbable, that organized beings ex 

 ist, whose extent of vision as far exceeds ours, 

 as ours exceeds that of the smallest insect, and 

 that they may be able to perceive the diversified 

 landscapes which exist in other worlds, and the 

 movements of their inhabitants, as distinctly as 

 we perceive the objects on the opposite side of 

 a river, or of a narrow arm of the sea. 



After Stephen had delivered his defence be 

 fore the Sanhedrim, we are told &quot; he looked up 

 steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory r* 

 God, and Jesus standing at the right band uf 

 God ; and said, Behold I see the heavens open 

 ed, and the Son of man standing on the right 

 hand of God.&quot; Some have supposed that the 

 eyes of Stephen, on this occasion were so modi 

 fied or strengthened, that he was enabled to pe 

 netrate into that particular region where the glo 

 rified body of Christ more immediately resides. 

 But whether his opinion be tenable or not, cer 



tain it is, that angels arc endowed with senses 

 or faculties which enable them to take a minute 

 survey of the solar system, and of the greater 

 part of our globe, even when at a vast distance 

 from our terrestrial sphere ; otherwise, they cc .ld 

 not distinguish the particular position of our 

 earth in its annual course round the sun, in their 

 descent from more distant regions, nor direct 

 their course to that particular country, city, or 

 village, whither they are sent on any special 

 embassy. 



What has been now said in reference to the 

 organs of vision, is equally applicable to the 

 organs of hearing, and to several of the other 

 senses ; and since faculties or senses, such as 

 those I have now supposed, would tend to un 

 veil more extensively the wonderful operations 

 of the Almighty, and to excite incessant admi 

 ration of his wisdom and beneficence, it is rea 

 sonable to believe that he has bestowed them on 

 various orders of his creatures for this purpose 

 and that man may be endowed with similar 

 senses, when he arrives at moral perfection, .;nd 

 is placed in a higher sphere of existence. 



Besides the topics to which I have now ad 

 verted, namely, the gradation of intellect, and 

 the diversity of corporeal organization a still 

 more ample and interesting field of contempla 

 tion will be opened in the HISTORY of the nu 

 merous worlds dispersed throughout the universe, 

 including the grand and delightful, or the aw 

 ful and disastrous events which have taken place 

 in the several regions of intellectual existence. 



The particulars under this head which may 

 be supposed to gratify the enlightened curiosity 

 of holy intelligences, are such as the following: 

 the different periods in duration at which the 

 various habitable globes emerged from nothing 

 into existence the changes and previous ar 

 rangements through which they passed before 

 they were replenished with inhabitants the dis 

 tinguishing characteristic features of every spe 

 cies of intellectual beings their modes of exis 

 tence, of improvement, and of social intercourse 

 the solemn forms of worship and adoration 

 that prevail among them the laws of social, and 

 of moral order peculiar to each province of the 

 divine empire* the progress they have made. 



There are certain general laws which are com- 

 mon to all the orders of intellectual beings through 

 out the universe The IAVO principles which form 

 the basis of our moral law are of this nature : 

 &quot; Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine 

 heart, and with all thine understanding,&quot; and &quot;thou 

 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.&quot; &quot;For we can 

 not suppose the Deity, in consistency with the sanc 

 tity and rectitude of his nature, tn reverse these laws. 

 in relation to any class of intelligences, or to ex 

 empt them from an obligation to obey them; and. 

 therefore, they may be considered as the two grand 

 moral principles which direct the affections and 

 conduct of all holy beings throughout the immen 

 sity of God s empire, and which unite them to on* 

 another, and to their common Creator. But, in sub 

 ordination to these principles or laws, there may 

 be a variety of special moral Jaws, adapted to tlv* 



