the Kalmuc Tartars, the doctrine of a future state holds a conspicuous place. They believe that hell is situated in the middle region, between heaven and earth, and their devils are represented with all sorts of frightful forms, of a black and hideous aspect, with the heads of goats, hions, and unicorns. Their holy lames, who have obtained a victory over all their passions, are supposed to pass immediately into heaven, where they enjoy perfect rest, and exercise themselves in divine service. The Samoiediens of Northern Tartary believe, that there is one Supreme Being, that he is our all-merciful and Common Parent, and that he will reward with a happy state hereafter, those who live virtuously in this world. The Birmans believe in the transmigration of souls, after which, they maintain, that the radically bad will be sentenced to lasting punishment, while the good will enjoy eternal happiness on a mountain called Meru. The various tribes which inhabit the continent of Africa, in so far as we are acquainted with their religious opinions, appear to recognise the doctrine of a future state. "I was lately disCoursing on this subject," says Mr. Addison, in one of his Spectators, "with a learned person, who has been very much conversant among the inhabitants of the most western parts of Africa. Upon his conversing with several in that country, he tells me, that their notions of heaven or of a future state of happiness, is this-that every thing we there wish for will immediately present itself to us. We find, say they, that our souls are of such a nature that they require variety, and are not capable of being always delighted with the same objects. The Supreme Being, therefore, in compliance with this state of happiness which he has implanted in the soul of man, will raise up, from time to time, say they, every gratification which it is in the human nature to be pleased with. If we wish to be in groves or bowers, among running streams or falls of water, we shall immediately find ourselves in the midst of such a scene as we desire. If we would be entertained with music, and the melody of sounds, the concert arises upon our wish, and the whole region about us is filled with harmony. In short, every desire will be followed by fruition; and whatever a man's inclination directs him to, will be present with him."-The Negroes, and other inhabitants of the interior of Africa, according to the account of Mr. Park, believe in one Supreme Ruler, and expect hereafter to enter into a state of misery or felicity. The Gallas of Abyssinia, though they reject the doctrine of future punishment, admit the reality of a future state. The Mandingoes, the Jaloffs, the Feloops, the Foulahs, the Moors, and all the other tribes who have embraced the Mahometan faith, recognise the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and of future rewards in a celestial paradise. The natives of Dahomy entertain the same belief; and hence, it is a common practice with the sovereign of that country, to send an account to his forefathers of any remarkable event, by delivering a message to whoever may happen to be near him at the time, and then ordering his head to be chopped off immediately, that he may serve as a courier, to convey inteligence to the world of spirits.* The Persians are said to leave one part of their graves open, from a belief that the dead will be reanimated, and visited by angels, who will appoint them to their appropriate abodes in a future state. From a similar belief, thousands of Hindoo widows annually sacrifice themselves on the funerai piles of their deceased husbands, in the hope of enjoying with them the felicities of eternal life.-The Japanese believe, that the souls of men and beasts are alike immortal; that a just distribution of rewards and punishments takes place after death; that there are different degrees of happiness, as well as of punishment, and that the souls of the wicked transmigrate, after death, into the bodies of animals, and at last, in case of amendment, are translated back again into the human form. From a conviction of the reality of a future world, the Wahabee Arabs regard it as impious to mourn for the dead, who, they say, are enjoying felicity with Mahomet in paradise; and the Javanese make several feasts, on the decease of their friends and relations, to commemorate their entrance into a world of bliss.-The North American Indians believe that, beyond the most distant mountains of their country, there is a wide river; beyond that river a great country; on the other side of that country, a world of water; in that water are a thousand islands, full of trees and streams of water, and that a thousand buffaloes, and ten thousand deer, graze on the hills, or ruminate in the valleys. When they die, they are persuaded that the Great Spirit will conduct them to this land of souls. Thus it appears, that not only the philosophers of antiquity, and the most civilized nations presently existing on the globe, have recognised the doctrine of the immortality of man, but that even the most savage and untutored tribes fortify their minds in the prospect of death, with the hope of a happiness commensurate to their desires, in the regions beyond the grave. "E'en the poor Indian whose untutor'd mind M'Leod's Voyage to Africa, 1820, p. 64. Thunberg's Travels. Among the numerous and diversified tribes that are scattered over the different regions of the earth, that agree in scarcely any other senti ment or article of religious belief, we here find the most perfect harmony, in their recognition of a Supreme Intelligence, and in their belief that the soul survives the dissolation of its mortal frame. And, as Cicero long since observed, "In every thing the consent of all nations is to be accounted the law of nature, and to resist it, is to resist the voice of God." For we can scarcely suppose, in consistency with the divine perfections, that an error, on a subject of so vast importance to mankind, should obtain the universal belief of all nations and ages, and that God himself would suffer a world of rational beings, throughout every generation, to be carried away by a delusion, and to be tantalized by a hope which has no foundation in nature, and which is contrary to the plan of his moral govern ment. It is true, indeed, that several of the opinions to which I have now adverted, and many others which prevail among the uncivilized tribes of mankind, in regard to the condition of disembodied spirits, and the nature of future happiness, are very erroneous and imperfect; but they all recognise this grand and important truth, that death is not the destruction of the rational soul, and that man is destined to an immortal existence. Their erroneous conceptions in respect to the rewards and punishments of the future world may be easily accounted for, from a consideration of the imperfect conceptions they have formed of the Divine Being, and of the principles of his moral government; from their ignorance of those leading principles and moral laws, by which the Almighty regulates the intelligent universe; from the false ideas they have been led to entertain respecting the nature of substantial happiness; from the cruel and absurd practices connected with the system of pagan superstition; from the intellectual darkness which has brooded over the human race ever since the fall of man; and from the univer sal prevalence of those depraved dispositions and affections, which characterize the untutored tribes on whom the light of revelation has never shone. To whatever cause this universal belief of a future existence is to be traced-whether to a universal tradition derived from the first parents of the human race; to an innate sentiment originally impressed on the soul of man; to a divine revelation disseminated and handed down from one generation to another, or to the deductions of human reason-it forms a strong presumption, and a powerful argument, in favour of the position we are now endeavouring to support. If it is to be traced back to the original progenitors of mankind, it must be regarded as one of those truths which were recognised by man in a state of innocence, when his affections were pure, and error. his understanding fortified against delusion and if it be a sentiment which was originally impressed on the human soul by the hand of its Creator, we do violence to the law of our nature, when we disregard is intimations, or attempt to resist the force of its evidence. If it ought to be considered as originally derived from Revelation, then it is corroborative of the truth of the Sacred Records, in which " life and immortality" are clearly exhibited. And, if it be regarded as likewise one of the deductions of natural reason, we are left without excuse, if we attempt to obscure its evidence, or to overlook the important consequences which it involves.-As the consent of all nations has been generally considered as a powerful argument for the existence of a Deity, so the universal belief of mankind in the doctrine of a future state ought to be viewed as a strong presumption that it is founded upon truth. The human mind is so constituted, that, when left to its native unbiassed energies, it necessarily infers the existence of a Supreme Intelligence, from the existence of matter, and the economy of the material world; and, from the nature of the human faculties, and the moral attributes of God, it is almost as infallibly led to conclude, that a future existence is necessary, in order to gratify the boundless desires of the human soul, and to vindicate the wisdom and rectitude of the moral Governor of the world. These two grand truths, which constitute the foundation of all religion, and of every thing that is interesting to man as an intelligent agent, are interwoven with the theological creed of all nations; and, in almost every instance, where the one is called in question, the other is undermined or denied: so that the doetrine of the immortality of man may be considered as resting on the same foundation as the existence of a Supreme Intelligence. It must indeed be admitted, that individuals have appeared in every age, who have endeavoured to call in question, or to deny, this fundamen tal truth. But this circumstance forms no valid objection to the force of the argument to which 1 have now adverted. For the number of such persons has been extremely small, when compared with the mass of mankind; and their opinions on this subject have generally originated either from wilful ignorance; from an affectation of singularity and of appearing superior to vulgar fears; or from indulging in a course of wickedness and impiety, which has led them to wish, and if possible to believe, that there are neither punishments nor rewards beyond the grave. If it ap pear strange and unnatural that any man should wish his soul to be mortal, Hierocles assigns the true reason of it: "A wicked man," says he, "is afraid of his judge, and therefore wishes his soul and body may perish together by death, rather than it should appear before the tribunal of God." If a number of fools should think fit to put out their own eyes, to prevent them front feeling the effects of light, as Democritus, the ancient philosopher, was said to bave done, it would form no argument to prove that all the rest of the world was blind. And, if a few sceptics and profligates endeavour to blind the eyes of their understanding by sophistry and licentiousness, it cannot prevent the light of reason, which unveils the realities of a future world, from shining on the rest of mankind, nor constitute the slightest argument to prove the fallacy of the doctrine they deny. SECTION II. 05 THE DESIRE OF FUTURE EXISTENCE IMPLANTED IN THE HUMAN MIND. Those strong and restless desires after future existence and enjoyment, which are implanted in the soul of man, are a strong presumptive proof that he is possessed of an immortal na ture. There is no human being who feels full satis faction in his present enjoyments. The mind is for ever on the wing in the pursuit of new acquirements, of new objects, and, if possible, of higher degrees of felicity, than the present moment can afford. However exquisite any particular enjoyment may sometimes be found, it soon begins to lose its relish, and to pall the intellectual appetite. Hence the voracious desire, apparent among all ranks, for variety of amusements, both of a sensitive, and of an intellectual nature. Hence the keen desire for novelty, for tales of wonder, for beautiful and splendid exhibitions, and for intelligence respecting the passing occurrences of the day. Hence the eager ness with which the daily newspapers are read by all ranks who have it in their power to procure them. However novel or interesting the events which are detailed to-day, an appetite for fresh intelligence is excited before to-morrow. Amidst the numerous objects which are daily soliciting attention, amidst the variety of intelligence which newsmongers have carefully selected for the gratification of every taste, and amidst the fictitious scenes depicted by the novelist and the poet"the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing." Hence, too, the insatiable desires of the miser in accumulating riches, and the unremitting career of ambition, in its pursuit of honours and of fame. And hence the andour with which the philosopher prosecutes one discovery after another, without ever arriving at a resting-point, or sitting down contented with his present attainments. When Archimedes had discovered the mode of determining the relative quantities of gold and silver m Hiero's crown, did he rest satisfied with this new acquirement? No. The ecstacy he felt at the discovery, when he leaped from the bath, and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse, crying, "I have found it, I have found it”— soon subsided into indifference, and his mind pushed forward in quest of new discoveries. When Newton ascertained the law of universal gravitation, and Franklin discovered the identity of lightning and the electric fluid, and felt the transports which such discoveries must have excited, did they slacken their pace in the road of scientific discovery, or sit down con ented with their past researches ? No. One discovery gave a stimulus to the pursuit of another, and their ca. reer of improvement only terminated with their lives. After Alexander had led his victorious armies over Persia, Babylonia, Syria, Egypt, and India, and had conquered the greater part of the known world, did he sit down in peace, and enjoy the fruit of his conquests? No. His desires after new projects, and new expeditions, remained insatiable; his ambition rose even to madness; and when the philosopher Anaxarchus told him, there was an infinite number of worlds, he wept at the thought that his conquests were confined to one. These restless and unbounded desires are to be found agitating the breasts of men of all nations, of all ranks and conditions in life. If we ascend the thrones of princes, if we enter the palaces of the great, if we walk through the mansions of courtiers and statesmen, if we pry into the abodes of poverty and indigence, if we mingle with poets or philosophers, with manufacturers, merchants, mechanics, peasants, or beggars; if we survey the busy, bustling scene of a large city, the se questered village, or the cot which stands in the lonely desert-we shall find, in every situation, and among every class, beings animated with desires of happiness, which no present enjoy ment can gratify, and which no object within the limits of time can fully satiate. Whether we choose to indulge in ignorance, or to prosecute the path of knowledge; to loiter in indolence, or to exert our active powers with unremitting energy; to mingle with social beings, or to flee to the haunts of solitude,-we feel a vacuum in the mind, which nothing around us can fill up; a longing after new objects and enjoyments, which nothing earthly can fully satisfy. Regardless of the past, and unsatisfied with the present, the soul of man feasts itself on the hope of enjoy. ments which it has never yet possessed "Hope springs eternal in the human breast; That the desire of immortality is common, and natural to all men, appears from a variety of actions, which can scarcely be accounted for on any other principle, and which prove that the mind feels conscious of its immortal destiny. Why, otherwise, should men be anxious about their reputation, and solicitous to secure their names from oblivion, and to perpetuate their fame, after they have descended into the grave? To accomplish such objects, and to gratify such desires, poets, orators, and historians, have been flattered and rewarded to celebrate their actions; monuments of marble and of brass have been erected to represent their persons, and inscriptions engraved in the solid rock, to convey to future generations a record of the exploits they had achieved. Lofty columns, triumphal arches, towering pyramids, magnificent temples, palaces, and mausoleums have been reared, to eternize their fame, and to make them live, as it were, in the eyes of their successors, through all the future ages of time. But, if the soul be destined to destruction at the hour of death, why should man be anxious about what shall happen, or what shall not happen hereafter, when he is reduced to a mere non-entity, and banished for ever from the universe of God? He can have no interest in any events that may befall the living world when he is cancelled from the face of creation, and when the spark of intelligence he possessed is quenched in everlasting night. If any man be fully convinced that the grave puts a final period to his existence, the only consistent action he can perform, when he finds his earthly wishes and expectations frustrated, is to rush into the arms of death, and rid himself at once of all the evils connected with his being. But we find the great majority of mankind, notwithstanding the numerous ills to which they are subjected, still clinging with eagerness to their mortal existence, and looking forward, with a certain degree of hope, to a termination of their sorrows. "They rather choose to bear those ills they have Than fly to others that they know not of." There is, I presume, no individual in a sound state of mind, who can entirely throw aside all concern about his posthumous reputation, and about the events that may happen in the world after his decease. And if so, it clearly demonstrates, not only that he does not wish, but that he does not even suppose that his existence will be for ever extinguished at death. The idea of the shame of being exposed naked after their death, produced such a powerful effect upon the minds of the Milesian virgins, that it deterred them from putting an end to their lives, after all other arguments had been tried in vain.* The desire of existence-and of existence, too, which bas no termination, appears to be the foundation "I beseech men for God's sake, (says Hale,) that if at any time there arise in them a desire or a wish that others should speak well of their death; then at that time they would seriously consider, whether those motions are not from some spirit to continue a spirit, after it leaves its earthly habitation, rather than from an earthly spirit, a vapour which cannot act, or imagine, or desire, or fear things beyond its continuance." of all our desires, and of all the plans we form in life. Annihilation cannot be an object of desire to any rational being. We desire something that is real, something that is connected with happiness or enjoyment, but non-existence has no object nor concern whatever belonging to it. When a wicked man, under a consciousness of guilt, indulges a wish for annihilation after death, it is not because non-existence is in itself an object of desire, but he would choose it as the least of two evils: he would rather be blotted out of creation, than suffer the punishment due to his sins in the eternal world. It may also be remarked, that the desire of immortality, however vigorous it may be in ordinary minds, becomes still more glowing and ardent in proportion as the intellect is cultivated and expanded, and in proportion as the sou! rises to higher and higher degrees of virtue and moral excellence. It forms a powerful stimulus to the performance of actions which are noble, generous, public-spirited, benevolent, and humane, and which have a tendency to promote the intellectual improvement, and the happiness of future generations. Hence the most illustrious characters of the heathen world, the poets, the orators, the moralists and philosophers of antiquity, had their minds fired with the idea of im mortality, and many of them were enabled to brave death without dismay, under the conviction that it was the messenger which was to waft their spirits to the realms of endless bliss. When Demosthenes had fled for shelter to an asylum from the resentment of Antipater, who had sent Archias to bring him by force, and when Archias promised upon his honour that he should not lose his life, if he would voluntarily make his personal appearance :-"God forbid," said he," that after 1 have heard Xenocrates and Plato discourse so divinely on the immortality of the soul, I should prefer a life of infamy and disgrace to an honourable death." Even those who were not fully convinced of the doctrine of immortality, amidst all their doubts and perplexities on this point, earnestly wished that it might prove true, and few, if any of them, absolutely denied it. Hence, too, the noble and disinterested actions which Christian heroes have performed, under the influence of unseen and everlasting things. They have faced dangers and persecutions in every shape; they have endured "cruel mockings, scourgings, bonds, and imprisonments;" they have triumphed under the torments of the rack, and amidst the raging flames; they have surmounted every obstacle in their benevolent exertions to communicate blessings to their fel low-men; they have braved the fury of the raging elements, traversed sea and land, and pushed their way to distant barbarous climes, in order to point out to their benighted inhabitants the path that leads to eternal life. Nor do they think too dear to sacrifice their lives in such services, "Whence springs this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or, whence this secret dread, and inward horror, Of falling into nought?-Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction?" Whence proceeds the want we feel amidst the variety of objects which surround us? Whence arises the disgust that so quickly succeeds every enjoyment? Wherefore can we never cease from wishing for something more exquisite than we have ever yet possessed? No satisfactory answer can be given to such questions, if our duration be circumscribed within the limits of time; and if we shall be blotted out of creation when our earthly tabernacles are laid in the dust. The desires to which I now refer appear to be an essential part of the human constitution, and, consequently, were implanted in our nature by the hand of our Creator;-and, therefore, we must suppose, either that the desire of immortality will be gratified, or that the Creator takes delight in tantalizing his creatures with hopes and expectations which will end in eternal disappointment. To admit the latter supposition, would be inconsistent with every rational idea we can form of the moral attributes of the Divinity. It would be inconsistent with his veracity; for to encourage hopes and desires which are never intended to be gratified, is the characteristic of a deceiver, and therefore contrary to every conception we can form of the conduct of a God of truth." It would be inconsistent with his rectitude; for every such deception implies an act of injustice towards the individual who is thus tantalized. It would be inconsistent with his wisdom; for it would imply that he has no other means of governing the intelligent creation, than those which have a tendency to produce fallacious hopes and fears in the minds of his rational offspring. It would be inconsistent with his benevolence; for as "the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul," so disappointed hopes uniformly tend to produce misery. Yet the benevolence of the Deity, in every other point of view, is most strikingly displayed in all his arrangements in the material universe, and towards every species of sensitive existence. What has been now stated in relation to desire and hope, will equally apply to those fears and apprehensions, which frequently arise in the mind in reference to the punishments of a future world. A Being possessed of perfect benevolence cannot be supposed to harass his intelligent creatures, and to render their lives bitter with alarming apprehensions, for which there is not the slightest foundation. But, if there is no state either of punishment or reward beyond the grave, those desires of immortal duration, which seem at first view to elevate man above the other inhabitants of this globe, actually place him below the level of the beasts, which bound through the forests and lawns, and find their chief enjoyment in browsing on the grass. They are alive to present enjoyment, but appear to have no anticipations of the future; they feel present pain, but there is no reason to believe that they are ever tormented with fears or forebodings of future punishment. They are contented with the organs with which Nature has furnished them; they appear fully satisfied with ranging the fields and feasting on the herbage; their desires need no restraint, and their wishes are completely gratified; and what pleased them yesterday will likewise give them pleasure tomorrow, without being harassed with insatiable desires after novelty and variety. They live divested of those innumerable cares and anxieties which harass and perplex the children of men, and they never wish to go beyond the boundary which nature prescribes. "The ingenious bee constructs commodious cells, but never dreams of rearing triumphal arches or obelisks to decorate her waxen city." Through ignorance of the future, they pass from life to death, with as much indifference as from watching to sleep, or from labour to repose. But man, amidst all the enjoyments and prospects which surround him, feels uneasy and unsatisfied, because he pants after happiness infinite in duration. His hopes and desires overstep the bounds of time and of every period we can affix to duration, and move onward through a boundless eternity. And if he is to be for ever cut off from existence when his body drops into the grave, how dismal the continued apprehension of an everlasting period being put to all his enjoyments after a prospect of immortality has been opened to his view! How, then, shall we account for these anomalies? How shall we reconcile these apparent inconsistencies? In what light shall we exhibit the conduct of the Creator, so as to render it consistent with itself? There is but one con clusion we can form, in consistency with the moral attributes of God, which will completely unravel the mystery of man being animated with unbounded desires, and yet confined to a short and limited duration in the present world, and that is, that this world is not the place of our final destination, but introductory to a more glorious and permanent state of existence, where the desires of virtuous minds will be completely gratified, and their hopes fully realized. I do |