THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



nicated to thenit for the purpose of enlarging 

 their views of God s moral dispensations, and 

 illustrating the rectitude and benevolence of his 

 government. In their intercourses and associ 

 ations, no discordant voice is ever heard, no 

 symptom of disaffection ever appears, no boister 

 ous passions ever disturb their tranquillity; but 

 all is harmony and order, peace and love. Their 

 progress in the knowledge of God, and of his 

 works, is rapid and sure, for they see clearly the 

 first principles of all reasoning and science ; and, 

 without once making a false step, or deducing an 

 erroneous conclusion, they trace them with rapi 

 dity and certainty, to all their legitimate conse 

 quences. Their acquaintance with natural and 

 moral facts is extensive and minute. For the 

 most sacred regard is attached to truth, which 

 was never once violated in that happy society ; 

 and, therefore, every discovery, every new doc 

 trine and fact which is brought to light by any 

 individual, is regarded by all others as an esta 

 blished truth which is never called in question, 

 and which serves to direct and facilitate all their 

 other researches. Unlike the exaggerations and 

 falsehoods which were once propagated by lying 

 travellers and sceptical philosophers, in your 

 former world, which tended to bewilder the anx 

 ious inquirer, and to obscure the radiance of 

 truth ; in yonder world truth is regarded as a 

 most sacred and invaluable treasure, as the basis 

 of the happiness of the moral universe, and the 

 foundation on which rests the throne of the eter 

 nal; and, therefore, being never violated by any 

 individual, every testimony and assertion is re 

 ceived with unhesitating confidence. By a rapid 

 mode of communication which has been esta 

 blished, their intercourses with each other are 

 frequent and delightful, and the discoveries which 

 are made of the operations of infinite wisdom and 

 benevolence, are quickly circulated through all 

 the intelligent ranks of that abode of felicity and 

 love. Beings from other worlds occasionally visit 

 them, and convey interesting intelligence, and 

 affectionate congratulations from the regions 

 whence they came ; and a glorious symbol of 

 the divine Majesty was lately displayed in their 

 firmament, from which was announced, in ma 

 jestic but mild and transporting language the 

 approbation of their Creator, and his purpose of 

 translating them, as a reward of their obedience, 

 to another region of his empire, to behold new 

 displays of his beneficence and power. 



&quot; This is a specimen of the moral order and 

 happiness which prevail among the greater part 

 of those worlds which shine from afar in yonder 

 firmament, but which are distinguished by a va 

 riety of peculiar circumstances, which shall be 

 unfolded on another occasion.&quot; 



Directing their view to another distant orb, 

 which appears like a dim ruddy speck in an ob 

 scure quarter of the firmament, he may thus 

 wrocoed : &quot; That, too, is a world on a different 



scale, and in a different condition. It is a thoii 

 sand times larger than the globe you once in 

 habited, and was originally arrayed with all that 

 magnificence and beauty which characterize the 

 works of the Creator. During a considerable 

 period its inhabitants retained their allegiance 

 to their Maker, and their affection for each other. 

 But certain individuals, whom a principle of 

 pride and ambition had led to desire stations of 

 pre-eminence, having dared to violate some of 

 the fundamental laws of their Creator, the 

 moral turpitude which this disposition and con 

 duct produced, gradually spread from one rank 

 to another, till the whole mass of its inhabitants 

 was completely contaminated, and plunged into 

 a gulph of misery. To such a dreadful length 

 has this depravity proceeded, that even the ex 

 ternal aspect of that world, which was once fair 

 as Eden, has assumed the appearance of a 

 gloomy waste, and a barren wilderness. The 

 rivers have been turned out of their course, by 

 these infatuated beings, that they might overflow 

 and change into a marsh the once fertile plains. 

 The earth has been dug into immense pits and 

 chasms, and the vegetable tribes have been torn 

 from their roots and stripped of their verdure, in 

 order to deface the primeval beauty of creation. 

 By these, and other horrible devastations, the 

 ethereal fluid in which they breathed, which 

 formerly diffused a delightful fragrance, has now 

 become the receptacle of noisome exhalations, 

 which nauseate and irritate every species of 

 sensitive existence. Its brilliancy has thereby 

 become obscured, so that their sun appears 

 lowering through its dense vapours, like a dusky 

 ball; and their nocturnal sky, which once pre 

 sented a splendid assemblage of shining orbs, is 

 now covered with blackness, and darkness, and 

 tempest, through which no celestial orb ever 

 transmits the least glimmering ray. For the 

 almighty Contriver of all worlds has so arranged, 

 proportioned, and adjusted every circumstance 

 in the constitution of nature, that the smallest 

 derangement, by malevolent beings, of the order 

 he has established, is always productive of dis 

 astrous effects. 



&quot; Instead of being animated with love to their 

 Creator, and to one another, which is the first 

 duty of all intelligent creatures, they hate their 

 Maker, and curse him on account of the exist 

 ence he has given them; and they hate each 

 other, with a perfect hatred. There exists 

 among them no peace, justice, sympathy, friend 

 ship, or confidence. Every one beholds and re 

 cognises another with the countenance of a fiend, 

 and is ever intent upon annoying him to the ut 

 most of his power. And, were it not that their 

 bodies are constructed on an immortal principle; 

 so that no power less than infinite can completely 

 destroy them, their ferocious passions would, 

 long ere now, have effected the utter extermina 

 tion of every individual in that populous bet 



