influence of that faith which is "the confident expectation of things hoped for, and the conviction of things which are not seen," and which realizes to the mind, as if actually present, the glories of the invisible world! If we really believe the doctrine of immortality, it will manifest itself in our thoughts, affections and pursuits. It will lead us to form a just estimate of the value of all earthly enjoyments. For, in the light of eternity, all the secular pursuits in which men now engage, appear but as vanity, and all the dazzling objects which fascinate their eyes, as fleeting shadows. A realizing view of an eternal state dissipates the illusion which the eye of sense throws over the pageantry and the splendours of this world, and teaches us that all is transitory and fading, and that our most exquisite earthly enjoy. ments will ere long be snatched from our embrace. For, not a single mark of our sublunary honours, not a single farthing of our boasted treasures, not a single trace of our splendid possessions, nor a single line of the beauty of our persons, can be carried along with us to the regions beyond the grave. It will stimulate us to set our affections on things above, and to indulge in heavenly contemplations. "Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also." Rising superior to the delights of sense, and to the narrow boundaries of time, we will expatiate at large in those boundless regions which eye hath not seen, and contemplate, in the light of reason and of revelation, those scenes of felicity and grandeur, which will burst upon the disembodied spi. rit, when it has dropped its earthly tabernacle in the dust. Like Seneca, when he contemplated, in imagination, the magnitude and beauty of the orbs of heaven, we will look down, with a noble indifference, on the earth as a scarcely distinguishable atom, and say, "Is it to this little spot that the great designs and vast desires of men are confined? Is it for this there is such disturbance of nations, so much carnage, and so many ruinous wars? O folly of deceived men! to imagine great kingdoms in the compass of an atom, to raise armies to divide a point of earth with their swords! It is just as if the ants should divide their molehills into provinces, and conceive a field to be several kingdoms, and fiercely contend to enlarge their borders, and celebrate a triumph in gaining a foot of earth, as a new province to their empire." In the light of heaven all sub. lunary glories fade away, and the mind is refined and ennobled, when, with the eye of faith, it penetrates within the veil, and descries the splendours of the heaven of heavens. Again, if we believe the doctrine of immortality, we will be careful to avoid those sins which would expose us to misery in the future world, and to cultivate those dispositions and virtues which will prepare us for the enjoyment of eternal felicity. Between virtue and vice, sin and holiness, there is an essential and eternal distinction; and this distinction will be fully and visibly displayed in the eternal world. He whose life is a continued scene of vicious indulgence, and who has devoted himself to "work all manner of uncleanness with greediness," becomes, by such habits, " а vessel of wrath fitted for destruction ;" and, from the very constitution of things, there is no possibility of escaping misery in the future state, if his existence be prolonged. Whereas, he who is devoted to the practice of holiness, who loves his Creator with supreme affection, and his neighbour as himself, who adds to his faith "virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly-kindness, and charity," is, by such graces, rendered fit for everlasting communion with the Father of spirits, and for delightful association with all the holy intelligences that people his immense empire. Again, the belief of a future world should excite us to the exercise of contentment, and reconcile our minds to whatever privations or afflictions Providence may allot to us in the present world. "For the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which is to be revealed." If we believe that the whole train of circumstances connected with our present lot, is arranged by Infinite Wisdom and Benevolence, every thing that befalls us here must have a certain bearing on the future world, and have a tendency to prepare us for engaging in its exercises and for relishing its enjoyments. In short, if we recognise the idea of an immortal life, we will endeavour to acquire clear and comprehensive views of its nature, its pleasures, and its employments. We will not rest satisfied with vague and confused conceptions of celestial bliss; but will endeavour to form as precise and definite ideas on this subject as the circumstances of our sublunary station will permit. We will search the Oracles of Divine Revelation, and the discoveries of science, and endeavour to deduce from both the sublimest conceptions we can form of the glories of that "inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, which is reserved in heaven for the faithful." In a word, if our minds are as deeply impressed with this subject as its importance demands, we shall experience feelings similar to those which affected the mind of Hye. ronymus when he contemplated the dissolution of the world, and the solemnities of the last judgment.- "Whether I eat or drink, or in whatever other action or employment I am engaged, that solemn voice always seems to sound in my ears, Arise ye dead and come to judgment !'--As often as I think of the day of judgment, my heart quakes, and my whole frame trembles. If I am to indulge in any of the pleasures of the present life, I am resolved to do it in such a way, that the solemn realities of the future judgment may never be banished from my recollection.'* 6 * Sive comedam, sive bibam, sive aliquid aliud faciam, semper vox illa in auribus meus sonare videtur: Surgite Mortui, et venite ad judicium. Quotius diem judicii cogito, totus corde et corpore contremisco. Si qua enim præsentis vitæ est lætitiæ, ita agenda est, ut nunquam amaritudo futuri judicii recedat a memoria. PART II. ON THE CONNEXION OF SCIENCE WITH A FUTURE STATE. A GREAT outcry has frequently been made, by many of those who wish to be considered as pious persons, about the vanity of human science. Certain divines in their writings, and various descriptions of preachers, in their pulpit declamations, not unfrequently attempt to embellish their discourses, and to magnify the truths of Scripture, by contrasting them with what they are pleased to call "the perishing treasures of scientific knowledge.' "The know. ledge we derive from the Scriptures," say they, "is able to make us wise unto salvation; all other knowledge is but comparative folly. The knowledge of Christ and him crucified will endure for ever; but all human knowledge is transitory, and will perish for ever when this world comes to an end. Men weary themselves with diving into human science, while all that results to them is vanity and vexation of spirit. Men may become the greatest philosophers, and have their understandings replenished with every kind of human knowledge, and yet perish for ever. What have we to do with the planets and the stars, and whether they be peopled with inhabitants? Our business is to attend to the salvation of our souls." Now, although some of the above, and similar assertions, when properly modified and explained, may be admitted as true, the greater part of them, along with hundreds of similar expressions, are either ambiguous or false. But, although they were all admitted as strictly true, what effect can the frequent reiteration of such comparisons and contrasts have on the mass of the people to whom they are addressed, who are already too much disinclined to the pursuit of general knowledge-but to make them imagine, that it is useless, and in some cases dangerous, to prosecute any other kind of knowledge than what is derived directly from the Scriptures? And what is the knowledge which the great majority of those who attend the public services of religion have acquired of the contents of the sacred oracles? It is too often, I fear, exceedingly vague, confused and superficial; owing, in a great measure, to the want of those habits of mental exertion, which a moderate prosecution of useful science would have induced. Such declamations as those to which I have now ad verted, obviously proceed from a very limited sphere of information, and a contracted range of thought. It is rather a melancholy reflection, that any persons, particularly preachers of the gospel, should endeavour to apologize for their own ignorance, by endeavouring to undervalue what they acknowledge they never have acquired, and therefore, cannot be supposed to understand and appreciate. For, although several well-informed and judicious ministers of religion, have been led, from the influence of custom, and from copying the expressions of others, to use a phraseology which has a tendency to detract from the utility of scientific knowledge, yet it is generally the most ignorant, those whose reading and observation have been confined within the narrowest range, who are most forward in their bold and vague declamations on this topic. We never find, in any part of the Sacred Records, such comparisons and contrasts as those to which I allude. The inspired writers never attempt to set the word of God in opposition to his works, nor attempt to deter men from the study of the wonders of his creation, on the ground that it is of less importance than the study of his word. On the contrary, they take every proper opportunity of directing the attention to the mechanism and order, the magnificence and grandeur of the visible world; and their devotional feelings are kindled into rapture by such contemplations. When the Psalmist had finished his survey of the different departments of nature, as described in the civ. Psalm, he broke out into the following devotional strains: "How manifold are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is : full of thy riches, so is the great and wide sea. The glory* * That is, the display of the Divine perfections in the material world, as the connexion of the passage plainly intimates. |