THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



their highest intellectual pleasures in Novels 

 and Romances, and in listening to tales of scan 

 dal, would experience any high degree of en 

 joyment in a world where there is nothing but 

 substantial realities, and where the inhabitants 

 are united in bonds of the purest affection? or, 

 that those whose minds never rise beyond the 

 pleasures of gambling, card-playing, and gossip- 

 ping chit-chat, would feel any relish for the re 

 fined enjoyments, the sublime contemplations, 

 and the enraptured praises of the heavenly in 

 habitants ? All the arrangements of the celes 

 tial state, behoved to be changed and overturned, 

 and angels, archangels, and redeemed men, 

 banished from its abodes, before such characters 

 could find entertainments agreeable to their 

 former habits and desires. Although they were 

 admitted into the mansions of bliss, they would 

 be miserably disappointed ; and would feel them 

 selves in a situation similar to that of a rude 

 savage or a Russian boor, were he to be intro 

 duced into an assembly of princes and nobles. 

 They would perceive nothing congenial to their 

 former pursuits ; they would feel an inward reluc 

 tance to the pure and holy exercises of the place, 

 and they would anxiously desire to fly away to 

 regions and to companions more adapted to 

 their grovelling views and affections. For, it is 

 the decree of Heaven a decree founded on the 

 moral laws which govern the intelligent universe, 

 and which, like the law of the Medes and Per 

 sians, cannot be changed. that &quot; IVithout holi 

 ness no man can see the Lord,&quot;&quot; and that &quot; no im 

 pure person that worketh abomination, ormaketh. 

 a lie, can enter within the gates of the Heavenly 

 Jerusalem. &quot; 



The foundation of felicity in the future state, 

 is substantially the same as that which forms the 

 basis of happiness in the present world. However 

 elevated the station in which an individual may 

 be placed, however much wealth he may possess, 

 and however splendid his rank and equipage, he 

 can enjoy no substantial felicity, while he remains 

 the slave of grovelling appetites and affections, 

 and while pride and envy, ambition and revenge, 

 exercise a sovereign control over his mind. 

 While destitute of supreme love to God, and be 

 nevolent affections towards man, and of the 

 Christian virtues which flow from these funda 

 mental principles of moral action, the mind must 

 remain a stranger to true happiness, and to all 

 those expansive views, and delightful feelings, 

 which raise the soul above the pleasures of sense, 

 and the trivial vexations and disappointments of 

 the present life. 



These positions could be demonstrated, were 

 it necessary, by numerous facts connected with 

 the moral scenery of human society. Whence 

 proceeds that ennui, which is felt in the fashion 

 able world, in the absence of balls, parties, ope 

 ras, and theatrical entertainments? Whence 

 arise those domestic broils, those family feuds 



and contentions, which are so common in th 

 higher, as well as in the lower ranks of life, anc 

 which embitter every enjoyment ? Whence does 

 it happen, that, in order to obtain gratification, 

 and to render existence tolerable,, so many thou 

 sands of rational beings condescend to indulga 

 in the most childish, foolish, and brutal diver 

 sions ? Even in the most polished circles of 

 society, many who pride themselves on their su 

 periority to the vulgar throng, are found deriving 

 their chief gratification, not only in scattering des 

 truction among the brutal and the feathered tribea 

 but in mingling among the motley rabble ofacock- 

 pit, and in witnessing a couple of boxers encoun 

 tering like furious fiends, and covering each other 

 with wounds and gore. Whence arise the torments 

 that are felt from wounded pride and disappointed 

 ambition ? and how does it happen that social 

 parties cannot enjoy themselves for a couple of 

 hours, without resorting to cards and dice, gam 

 bling and gossipping, and the circulation of tales 

 of scandal ? How is it to be accounted for, that 

 suicide is so frequently committed by persons in 

 the higher circles, who are surrounded with 

 luxuries and splendour; and that murmuring, 

 discontentment, and ingratitude, mark the dispo 

 sitions and conduct of the lower ranks of society ? 

 All these effects proceed from the absence of 

 Christian principles and dispositions, and from 

 the narrow range of objects to which the intel 

 lectual powers are confined. The man who is 

 actuated by Christian views and affections, looks 

 down with indifference and contempt, on the de 

 grading pursuits to which I have alluded : his soul 

 aspires after objects more congenial to his ra 

 tional and immortal nature ; and in the pursuit 

 of these, and the exercise of the virtues which 

 religion inculcates, he enjoys a refined pleasure 

 which the smiles of the world cannot produce, 

 and which its frowns cannot destroy. 



As in the present life there are certain mental 

 endowments necessary for securing substantial 

 happiness, so, there are certain moral qualifica 

 tions indispensably requisite in order to prepare us 

 for relishing the entertainments and the employ 

 ments of the life to come. The foundation of fu 

 ture felicity must be laid in &quot; repenlance towards 

 God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.&quot; 

 We must be convinced of our sin and depravity 

 as descendants of the first Adam, of the demerit 

 of our offences, of the spotless purity and eternal 

 rectitude of that Being whom \ye have offended, 

 and of the danger to which we are exposed as 

 the violators of his law. We must receive, with 

 humility and gratitude, the salvation exhibited 

 in the Gospel, and &quot; behold,&quot; with the eye of 

 faith, &quot; the Lamb of God who laketh away the 

 sins of the world.&quot; We must depend on the aid 

 of the Spirit of God to enable us to counteract 

 the evil propensities of our nature, to renew our 

 souls after the divine image, and to inspire luj 

 with ardent desires to abound all in those &quot; fruit* 



