142 
IMMORTALITY of the SOUL. 
Whether I fhould have entertained a belief that my foul will 
exid after death, had I been nourifhed by a wolf, and bred in 
a fored like a favage bead, I do not think eflential to enquire : 
let it fuffice that the free exercife of my reafon, as improved by 
fociety, furnifhes me with the means of arriving at the know- 
ledge of a truth fo eflential to my happinefs. As I now deliver 
my thoughts to you, I have read, and heard others talk on this 
fubjed. It is thus we mutually improve and aflid each other : 
mankind are not equally enlightened, nor have we all the fame 
opportunities of knowledge, but it is one of the focial duties to 
communicate our thoughts. 
Since it is fo repugnant to the didates of reafon, to believe 
that a man, after death, is no more than a dog ; fince it is fo 
natural to the foul to 
u Shrink back and Jlartle at dejl ruSlionf 
we mud hence alfo conclude, that it is immortal. But can 
we hedtate a moment to adopt the belief of what is fo expli- 
citly revealed by god himfelf in the fcriptures, and which, if 
we abandon, we fhall find ourfelves bewildered ? And what 
thought can fire the foul with a nobler ambition, than the de- 
fire of conquest, that we may live for ever; being assured 
of vidory if we exert our drength ; but if we do not combat, 
that we mud die, we mud be lod and undone for ever ? Afk 
yourfelf fairly, what can reason, what can the natural great- 
ness of the foul, defire more ? What dronger intimations of a 
future date can we wifh for, to animate our purfuits, than fuch 
as we have received ? Think ferioufly on this fubjed, and be 
as 
