MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



stated above, would appear convincing. But we can- 

 ? not regard this grand consummation with feelings of 

 indifference : it appears as a formidable evil and a ter- 

 rible catastrophe to every one who values the blessings 

 of life, or prizes the endearments of social intercourse ; 

 for all these must be surrendered ; and to remain en- 

 tirely unaffected under such prospects, would bespeak 

 more insensibility than sound philosophy. 



But this overpowering evil has a compensation in the 

 hopes of immortality which the light of nature taught 

 the more virtuous among the heathen to cherish, and 

 which Christianity has unfolded with the most com- 

 manding influence. The doctrine of the soul's immor- 

 tality is second only to the notions which we entertain 

 respecting the attributes of God, in its influence on the 

 conduct of moral agents. It is made subsidiary to the 

 laws in every state ; and we have never known any 

 nation under a regularly organized system of laws des- 

 titute of a belief of a future state. Warburton affirms 

 that the Jewish theocracy is an exception ; and because 

 the rewards of virtue, and the punishment of vice, un- 

 der the Mosaic economy, are all of a visible and ti in. 

 poral kind, he infers that there must have been an im- 

 mediate divine interference to encourage the righteous, 

 and keep in awe the wicked. The argument may not 

 bold in the full extent to which he carries it ; but we 

 have always thought it entitled to more attention than 

 it generally receives, and to be deserving of other praise 

 besides that of ingenuity and profound learning. 



We conclude our speculations on the existence of 

 evil, in the words of an American writer , whose views 

 on this subject coincide with our own. " It is difficult 

 to handle the aectttily of evil in such a manner as not 

 to stumble such as ere not above being alarmed at pro- 

 positions which have an uncommon sound. But if phi- 

 losophers will but reflect calmly on the matter, they 

 will find that, consistently with the unlimited power of 

 the Supreme Cause, it may be said, that, in the best 

 ordered system, <rv*Ys must have a place." " If the Au- 

 thor and Governor of all things be infinitely perfect, 

 then whatever is, is right. Of all possible systems he 

 hath choMn the Lett ; and consequently there is no all. 

 tolwte nil in the universe. This being the case, all the 

 seeming imperfections or evils in it, are such only in a 

 partial view ; and, with respect to the mhotc system, 

 they are poodi." " For if there be any evil in the sys- 

 tem that is not good with respect to the nholr, then is 

 the mhole not good, but evil, or at best very imperfect ; 

 and an author most be as bis workmanship is ; as is the 

 esTect, such is the cause. But the solution of this diffi- 

 culty is at hand, that there is no evil in the uni . 

 What ! Are there no pains, no imperfections? Is there 

 no misery, no vice, in the world? Or are not these 

 crib ? Evils indeed they are ; that is, those of CM 

 are hurtful, and those of the other sort are equally hurt- 

 ful and abominable ; but they are not evil or mischiev- 

 ous with respect to the mhole." 



It forms a natural part in every regular discussion 

 on moral science, to examine the foundation on which 

 the important doctrine of the soul's immortality rests, 

 with a view to ascertain its influence on human con- 

 duct. 



With regard to the origin of this doctrine, it seems 

 to stand math en the same footing as our belief in the 

 In inif of a God ; and the two together constitute the 

 whole of natural theology. We suspect, however, that 

 the doctrine of the soul's immortality is, in most cases, 

 where it has not been expressly revealed, the result of 

 ' information, rather than the offspring of rea- 



703 



son. It is true, indeed, that when once the doctrine is Marat 

 known, a thousand arguments may be adduced, both Philosophy, 

 from the nature of God, and the moral constitution of ' 

 man, to establish and confirm it ; but whether the na- 

 tural reason of man would have discovered it, is a ques- 

 tion that cannot possibly be solved, unless we can find 

 a nation cut off from all intercourse of knowledge both 

 with its contemporaries and predecessors. 



Most of the ancient philosophers, with the exception 

 of Epicurus and his followers, believed in the immor- 

 tality of the soul. But many of them held the doctrine 

 in a sense that rendered it inconsistent with a state of 

 rewards and punishments in a future world ; for they 

 conceived the soul to be essentially immortal, as being 

 an emanation from the divine nature, into which they 

 supposed that it was again absorbed, when separated 

 from its earth-born companion. Such an opinion as 

 this necessarily destroyed any influence which the doc- 

 trine of immortality could have in repressing vice, or 

 encouraging virtue, or alleviating misfortune; for if 

 the soul is to have no distinct consciousness and no se^ 

 parale existence after death, it couM not be more mate-, 

 rially affected even by annihilation ; and on these prin- 

 ciples we should be forced to subscribe to the opinion 

 of Lucretius, who strenuously endeavours to establish 

 the materiality and mortality of tbe human soul. 



Nam si untopere cst animi mutata potcstas, 

 Omnii ut actarum exciderit retinentia rerum ; 

 Xon , opinor, id ab letho jam longitcr crrat. 



All the ancient philosophers who held the immortality 

 of the soul, believed also in its pre- existence, or rather 

 in its self- existence and eternity ; having an idea that 

 if it had a beginning, it could not be necessarily im- 

 mortal. Modern philosophers have been affected by 

 this argument, and have, in consequence, been disposed 

 to give up the idea of the natural immortality of the 

 soul ; ascribing its indestructibility to the decree of its 

 Creator, and not to any quality inherent in itself. We 

 certainly are not disposed to affirm that the soul inhe- 

 rits immortality as an independent attribute. But we 

 have no hesitation in affirming that we can have no 

 idea, from any thing we observe in the visible world, 

 of the annihilation of any created substance. We see 

 dissolution, separation, or division of parts, or altera- 

 tion of form and figure ; but by no process to which 

 any material substance can be subjected, do we per- 

 ceive any tiling that approaches to annihilation. If a 

 miracle was necessary to call matter into existence, we 

 conceive that a miracle would be no less necessary to 

 produce its annihilation and extinction. 



On these principles, then, we do not think it quite 

 evident that every thing which is created must be ne- 

 cessarily mortal. We ought rather to infer, that it has 

 received an existence which nothing but a miraculous 

 interference of divine power can destroy. But what- 

 ever may be thought of the natural durability of mate* 

 rial substances, it is evident that the soul is not com* 

 posed of matter, and therefore cannot be affected by 

 any of the accidents which seem to dissolve or to de? 

 stroy it. The soul is conscious of feeling, thinking, 

 judging, reasoning, qualities which it is not even pos- 

 sible to conceive to belong to matter. All the proper- 

 ties of matter may be reduced to extension, figure, co- 

 lour, bulk, hardness, softness, and the like, which have 

 no more resemblance to any of the known properties 

 of mind, than a sunbeam has to the earth which it en- 

 lightens. Since, then, it is not possible to institute any 

 comparison between the properties of mind and matter, 



Turnbull. 



