Elysian fields, where the souls of the virtuous rest secure from every danger, and enjoy perpetual and uninterrupted bliss. And as the nations of antiquity recognised the doctrine of a future state of existence, so there is scarcely a nation or tribe of mankind, presently existing, however barbarous and untutored, in which the same opinion does not prevail. The natives of the Society Isles believe, that after death, there is not only a state of conscious existence, but degrees of eminence and felicity, according as men have been more or less pleasing to the Eatova, or Deity, while upon earth. The chiefs of the Friendly Islands believe in the immortality of their soul, which, at death, they say is immediately conveyed in a fast-sailing canoe, to a distant country, called Doobludha, which they describe as resembling the Mahometan paradise,-that those who are conveyed thither are no more subject to death, but feast on all the favourite productions of their native soil, with which this blissful abode is plentifully furnished. The New Zealanders believe, that the third day after the interment of a man, the heart separates itself from the corpse, and that this separation is announced by a general breeze of wind, which gives warning of its approach, by an inferior divinity that hovers over the grave, and who carries it to the clouds. They believe that the soul of the man whose flesh is devoured by the enemy, is doomed to a perpetual fire, while the soul of the man whose body has been rescued from those that killed him, and the souls of all who die a natural death, ascend to the habitations of the gods. The inhabitants of the Pelew Islands, according to the account of Captain Wilson, although they have few religious rites and ceremonies, believe in one Supreme Being, and in a future state of rewards and punishments. In the religion of 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, lions, and unicorns. Their holy Lamas, 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 Samoiedians 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 intelligence 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 funeral 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 buffalos, 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 an * McLeod's Voyage to Africa, 1820, p. 64. †Thunberg's Travels. tiquity, 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 re. gions beyond the grave. "Even the poor Indian whose untutor'd mind POPE. Among the numerous and diversified tribes that are scattered over the different regions of the earth, that agree in scarcely any other sentiment 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 dissolution 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 de. lusion, and to be tantalized by a hope which has no foundation in nature, and which is contrary to the plan of his moral government. 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 universal 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 his understand. ing fortified against delusion and error. 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 its 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 doc |