THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. 



and bad thrown aside all considerations of mo 

 rality and decorum, the latent principles of 

 -rialignity burst forth in all their violence, till 

 they became a scourge and an execration to 

 mankind. So will it happen with those who now 

 harbour malicious and vindictive passions, under 

 a cloak of dissimulation and fashionable polite 

 ness, when they enter the invisible world under 

 the dominion of such affections. When the re 

 straints of society, of common decorum, and of 

 human laws, are completely removed ; when they 

 have lost all hopes of the divine mercy ; when 

 they find themselves surrounded by none but ma 

 lignant associates, and when they feel the effects 

 of their infernal malice and revenge those pas 

 sions, which sometimes lay dormant in this life, 

 will be roused into action, and rage with ungo 

 vernable fury against every one around, against 

 themselves, &quot; against the universe, and against 

 the Creator.&quot; 



Nor let it be imagined, that God will interpose 

 at the hour of death, and, by an exertion of his 

 power and benevolence, destroy the principles of 

 sin, and prepare such characters for the joys of 

 heaven. Such an interference, in every indivi 

 dual case, would imply a continued miracle, and 

 would be inconsistent with the established order 

 of the divine government; as it would supersede 

 the use of all those instructions, admonitions, 

 and moral preparations which God hath appoint 

 ed for rendering his people &quot; meet for the inherit 

 ance of the saints in light;&quot; and would prevent 

 the moral renovation of the world, which is now 

 gradually effecting by the exertions of those who 

 are &quot; renewed in the spirit of their minds.&quot; It 

 is true, indeed, that the mercy of God is infinite, 

 and that so long as there is life, there is hope ; 

 so that the most abandoned sinner has no reason 

 to despair, while he remains within the confines 



of the present state. But as for those who ptjn 

 from time into eternity, evidently under the 

 power of revengeful and depraved passions, we 

 have but slender grounds on which to hope that 

 they shall ever afterwards be prepared for the 

 felicity of heaven. 



From the whole of what I have stated in this 

 department of my subject, it is evident, that there 

 are two different states in the future world ; or, 

 in other words, a heavenand a hell ; a state of 

 happiness, and a state of misery. If human 

 beings are to exist at all in another region of 

 creation, and throughout an unlimited duration, 

 it is necessary that there be a separation effect 

 ed, on the ground of their leading dispositions 

 and characters. The nature of things, the moral 

 constitution of the universe, and the happiness 

 of the intelligent creation, as well as the decree 

 of the Creator, require, that such an arrangement 

 should take place. For it is altogether incom 

 patible with the laws of moral order, that pride, 

 hatred, malignity, and revenge, should dwell in 

 the same abode with humility, benevolence, 

 friendship, and love ; or, that beings, actuated by 

 principles and affections diametrically opposite 

 to each other, could engage with harmony in the 

 same employments, and relish the same pleasures. 

 Were such an incongruous association permitted, 

 the moral universe would soon become a scene 

 of universal anarchy, and happiness be banished 

 from all worlds. So that the two states of im 

 mortality revealed in Scripture, are equally ac 

 cordant with the dictates of reason, and with the 

 declaration of our Saviour, who has solemnly 

 assured us, that &quot; the wicked shall depart into 

 everlasting punishment, and the righteous into 

 life eternal.&quot; 



