of human beings have been sacrificed, and hundreds of eminent patriots exiled from their native land,-the Inquisition torturing its unhappy victims,-the Romish church thundering its anathemas against all who are opposed to its interests, the various sectaries of Protestants engaged in mutual recriminations and contentions,--and the princes and sovereigns on the Continent almost all combined to oppose the progress of liberty, and to prevent the improvement of the human mind.

If we come nearer home, and take a view of the everyday scenes which meet our eye, what do we behold? A mixed scene of bustling and confusion, in which vice and malevolence are most conspicuous, and most frequently triumphant. When we contemplate the present aspect of society, and consider the prominent dispositions and principles which actuate the majority of mankind, the boundless avaricious desires which prevail, and the base and deceitful means by which they are frequently gratified—the unnatural contentions which arise between husbands and wives, fathers and children, brothers and sisters--the jealousies which subsist between those of the same profes sion or employment-the bitterness and malice with which law-suits are commenced and prosecuted-the malevolence and caballing which attend electioneering contests-the brawlings, fightings, and altercations which so frequently occur in our streets, ale-houses, and taverns-and the thefts, robberies, and murders, which are daily committed,--when we contemplate the haughtiness and oppression of the great and powerful, and the insubordination of the lower ranks of society when we see widows and orphans suffering injustice; the virtuous persecuted and oppressed; meritorious characters pining in poverty and indigence; fools, profligates, and tyrants, rioting in wealth and abundance; generous actions unrewarded; crimes unpunished: and the vilest of men raised to stations of dignity and honour-we cannot but admit, that the moral world presents a scene of discord and disorder, which mar both the sensitive and intellectual enjoyments of mankind.

Such, then, are the moral aspects of our world, and the disorders which have prevailed during every period of its history. They evidently present a striking contrast to the beauty and harmony which pervade the general constitution of the material system-to the majestic movements of the planetary orbs, the regular succession of day and night, and

the vicissitudes of the seasons; the changes of the moon; the ebbing and flowing of the sea; the admirable functions of the human system: and the harmonious adaptations of light and heat, air and water, and the various objects in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms to the wants and the comfort of animated beings. And can we, for a moment, suppose that this scene of moral disorder and anarchy was the ultimate end for which the material system was created? Can we suppose that the earth is every moment impelled in its annual and diurnal course by the hand of Omnipotencethat it presents new beauties every opening spring-brings forth the treasures of autumn, and displays so many sublime and variegated landscapes-that the sun diffuses his light over all its regions, that the moon cheers the shades of night, and the stars adorn the canopy of the sky, from one generation to another-merely that a set of robbers and desperadoes, and the murderers of nations, might prowl over the world for the purpose of depredation and slaughter, that tyrants might gratify their mad ambition, that vice might triumph, that virtue might be disgraced, that the laws of moral order might be trampled under foot, and that the successive gencrations of mankind might mingle in this bustling and discordant scene for a few years, and then sink for ever into the shades of annihilation? Yet such a conclusion we are obliged to admit, if there is no future state in which the present disorders of the moral world will be corrected, and the plan of the Divine government more fully developed. And if this conclusion be admitted, how shall we be able to perceive or to vindicate the wisdom of the Creator in his moral administration? We account it folly in a human being when he constructs a machine, either for no purpose at all, or for no good purpose, or for the promotion of mischief. And now can we avoid ascribing the same imperfection to the Deity, if the present state of the moral world be the ultimate end of all his physical arrangements? But his wisdom is most strikingly displayed in the adaptations and arrangements which relate to the material system, -and a Being possessed of boundless intelligence must necessarily be supposed to act in consistency with himself, He cannot display wisdom in the material system, and folly in those arrangements which pertain to the world of mind. To suppose the contrary would be to divest him of his moral attributes, and even to call in question his very existence.

We are therefore necessarily led to conclude, that the present state of the moral world is only a small part of the great plan of God's moral government-the commencement of a series of dispensations to be completed in a future scene of existence, in which his wisdom, as well as all his other attributes, will be fully displayed before the eyes of his intelligent offspring. If this conclusion be admitted, it is easy to conceive, how the moral disorders which now exist may be rectified in a future world, and the intelligent universe restored to harmony and happiness, and how those moral dispensations which now appear dark and mysterious, will appear illustrative of Divine Wisdom and Intelligence, when contemplated as parts of one grand system, which is to run parallel in duration with eternity itself. But, if this be rejected, the moral world presents to our view an inextricable maze, a chaos, a scene of interminable confusion, and no prospect appears of its being ever restored to harmony and order. The conduct of the Deity appears shrouded in impenetrable darkness; and there is no resisting of the conclusion, that imperfection and folly are the characteristics of the Almighty-a conclusion from which the mind shrinks back with horror, and which can never be admitted by any rational being who recognises a Supreme Intelligence presiding over the affairs of the universe.

SECTION IX.

On the unequal distribution of Rewards and Punishments in the present state.

The unequal distribution of rewards and punishments in the present state, viewed in connexion with the justice and other attributes of the Deity, forms another powerful argument in support of the doctrine of a future state.

It is admitted, to a certain extent, that "virtue is its own reward, and vice its own punishment." The natural tendency of virtue, or an obedience to the laws of God, is to produce happiness; and were it universally practised, it would produce the greatest degree of happiness of which human nature in the present state is susceptible. In like manner, the natural tendency of vice is to produce misery; and were its prevalence universal and uncontrolled, the world would be transformed into a society of demons, and every specious of happiness banished from the abodes of men. By connecting happiness with the observance of

his laws, and misery with the violation of them, the Governor of the world, in the general course of his providence, gives a display of the rectitude of his character, and the impartiality of his allotments towards the subjects of his

government.

But, although these positions hold true, in the general course of human affairs, there are innumerable cases in which the justice of God, and the impartiality of his procedure, would be liable to be impeached, if this world were the only scene of rewards and punishments. We behold a poor starving wretch, whom hunger has impelled to break open a house, in order to satisfy his craving appetite, or to relieve the wants of a helpless family, dragged with ignominy to the scaffold, to suffer death for his offence. We behold, at the same time, the very tyrant by whose order the sentence was executed, who has plundered provinces, and murdered millions of human beings, who has wounded the peace of a thousand families, and produced universal consternation and despair wherever he appeared-regaling himself in the midst of his favourites, in perfect security from human punishments. Instead of being loaded with fetters, and dragged to a dungeon, to await in hopeless agony the punishment of his crimes, he dwells amidst all the luxuries and splendours of a palace; his favour is courted by surrounding attendants; his praises are chanted by orators and poets; the story of his exploits is engraved in brass and marble; and historians stand ready to transmit his fame to future generations. How does the equity of the Divine government appear, in such cases, in permitting an undue punishment to be inflicted on the least offender, and in loading the greatest miscreant with unmerited enjoyments?

Again, in almost every period of the world, we behold men of piety and virtue who have suffered the most unjust and cruel treatment from the hands of haughty tyrants and Flood-thirsty persecutors. It would require volumes to describe the instruments of cruelty which have been invented by these fiend-like monsters, and the excruciating torments which have been endured by the victims, of their tyranny, while justice seemed to slumber, and the perpetrators were permitted to exult in their crimes. The Waldenses who lived retired from the rest of the world, among the bleak recesses of the Alps, were a people distinguished for piety industry, and the practice of every moral virtue

Their incessant labour subdued the barren soil, and prepared it both for grain and pasture. In the course of two hundred and fifty years they increased to the number of eighteen thousand, occupying thirty villages, besides hamlets, the workmanship of their own hands. Regular priests they had none, nor any disputes about religion; neither had they occasion for courts of justice; for brotherly love did not suffer them to go to law. They worshipped God according to the dictates of their conscience and the rules of his word, practised the precepts of his law, and enjoyed the sweets of mutual affection and love. Yet this peaceable and interesting people became the victims of the most cruel and bloody persecution. In the year 1540, the parliament of Provence condemned nineteen of them to be burned for heresy, their trees to be rooted up, and their houses to be razed to the ground. Afterwards a violent persecution commenced against the whole of this interesting people, and an army of banditti was sent to carry the hellish purpose into effect. The soldiers began with massacring the old men, women, and children, all having fled who were able to fly; and then proceeded to burn their houses, barns, corn, and whatever else appertained to them. In the town of Cabriere sixty men and thirty women, who had surrendered upon promise of life, were butchered each of them without mercy. Some women who had taken refuge in a church, were dragged out and burnt alive. Twenty-two villages were reduced to ashes; and that populous and flourishing district was again turned into a cheerless desert.-Yet, after all these atrocities had been committed, the proud, pampered priests, at whose instigation this persecution was menced, were permitted to live in splendour, to exult over the victims of their cruelty, to revel in palaces, and to indulge in the most shameful debaucheries.—If the present be the only state of punishments and rewards, how shall we vindicate the rectitude of the Almighty in such dispensations?

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In the reign of Louis XIV. and by the orders of that despot, the Protestants of France were treated with the most wanton and diabolical cruelty. Their houses were rifled, their wives and daughters ravished before their eyes, and their bodies forced to endure all the torments that ingenious malice could contrive. His dragoons who were employed in this infamous expedition, pulled them by the hair of their heads, plucked the nails of their fingers and