immortal; and that the earth, that has once been honoured with
such a guest as an immortal foul, should be preferved as long as may
be from oblivion? In regard to us, who profess ourselves difciples
of the blessed Jefus, this article of human vanity, I mean the above
mentioned funeral folemnities has this very good excufe for it: we
look upon
fuch as by death take their laft farewel of us, as those
who are removed to another ftate, who have depofited their bodies
in the bofom of their mother earth, in order to resume them again,
when they shall be full ripe for immortality.

It would be almost unpardonable, in this place, where the intro-
duction of it is so easy and natural, to pass over that glorious illuf-
tration of a resurrection, which is made ufe of by the great Apoftle of
the Gentiles. Obferve, fays he, the common course of nature; do
not ALL THINGS die, in order to revive again? The grain of corn,
which you fow in the ground, is not quickened, except it die; and
when once rotted in the ground, does it not spring to life again
with ten fold vigour? Why then should it be incredible with you,
that these bodies, when fown and diffolved in the ground, fhould
revive again with a greater degree of power life and spirit ?—But to
return from this digreffion; for fuch it may be thought; fince the
refurrection of the body is a truth we have gained from Revelation;
and our prefent business is only to prove a future ftate from the
glimmering light of reason, and to fhew that the foul will affured-
ly live, though the body muft perish. But before we proceed
give me leave to fet this matter before you in the fublime con-
ceptions of St. Paul. "So alfo is the refurrection of the dead.---
"It is fown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is fown
"in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is fown in weakness, it is
"raised in power: it is fown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
'body. There is a natural body, and there is a fpiritual body.
"And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living foul,
"the last Adam was made a quickning fpirit. Howbeit that was

66

not

not firft which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and after"ward that which is fpiritual. The first man is of the earth, ear"thy: the fecond man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, "such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, fuch are they also that are heavenly. And as we have born the image of the earthy, we shall alfo bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I fay, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the king"dom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Be"hold, I fhew you a mystery; we fhall not all fleep, but we fhall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the laft trump,-for the trumpet fhall found, and the dead fhall be raised incorruptible, and we fhall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put "on immortality. So when this corruptible fhall have put on incorruption, and this mortal fhall have put on immortality, then "shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is fwal"lowed up in victory. O death where is thy fting? O grave where is thy victory?—The sting of death is fin; and the strength of fin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the vic"tory, through our Lord Jefus Chrift. Therefore my beloved "brethren, be ye ftedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the "work of the Lord, forafmuch as ye know that your labour is not "in vain in the Lord."

166

NOW to pursue our argument-Who can long after immortality that has not fome idea of what immortality is? And is it not reasonable to believe, that he who conceives the happiness of fuch a state, must be capable of attaining it? No one defires to be eternal, that is without beginning; because no man is, or can be fo; nor can he frame any adequate idea of eternity; but every one has the courage to defire to be immortal: even they who do not believe,

that

that they are naturally capable of immortality, endeavour to make themselves fo by art and industry; and the moft ignorant perfons believe an immortality in the general, and eafily entertain a proper notion of it. Our fouls are not eternal, but had their beginning from the breath of God, and therefore they can have no notion of eternity; but they were created immortal, and can therefore frame some idea of immortality. And why is this defire of it universal, if it be not natural? And how can it be natural, if it be not only fruitless and ineffectual, but fills the mind with uneafiness and anxious thoughts?—But to come a little more closely to the point; let me appeal to your fenfe and obfervation, whether you do not perceive, through the whole creation, the utmost regularity; every thing formed for fome wife purpose and defign. Is there any thing you can discern that is without its ufe? Have the brutal part of the Creation any powers and faculties, but what are of service, and fend to their nourishment and preservation? They have no fears, no hopes of a future ftate; they have no irregular paffions; but all their actions are governed by the instinct, or sense, common to all their species: they have no defires beyond the gratification of their hunger; no farther views than fuch as tend to the securing them from dangers; but man has paffions, appetites, and a longing defire after immortality: and fince God never made any thing in vain, we must be convinced, that we were defigned for something more than this mortal life; for, if this were to be the only stage we were to appear upon; if we had nothing farther to be careful for, but this body; how fuperfluous were reason? Would not mere sense, such as the brutes are endowed with, have better answered our purpose ?—What need had we of any notion of a God, or the least inclination to pry into the motions of the heavenly bodies, or to dive into the secrets of nature, had we nothing else to do, but to indulge our fenfes; to eat and drink, and laugh: and then to die, and be no more? Nay, our very doubts concerning our mortality will go a

VOL. III.

L

great

great way to evince the contrary. We call man a rational creature, because he knows what is agreeable to reason, and what not; his very conferences about his rationality, would demonstrate him to be a rational creature, because he would advance fome arguments in vindication of what he thought fit to affert; he is likewise fenfible of the difference between mortal things, and things immortal, which therefore, is a strong presumption that he himself is immortal; and the very reasons which he might urge against it would be a demonstration of his error. He would be apt to infift, that if the foul was immortal, it would act with freedom, and be altogether independant on the body. Do but turn your eyes inward, and confider whether your foul acts thus, or not. Befides, if you are mortal, what reason can you alledge for fuch your knowledge of immortality? Your mind, if ever you have entertained any ferious thoughts about the matter, will convince you, that your foul is immortal, fince it cannot help dreading what its lot must be when the body dies; and whatever men may prefumptuously affert, while they are in health and vigour, a fevere fit of sickness feldom fails to extort from the most obftinate infidel, an acknowledgement of this great truth. And indeed, what arguments can be framed so strong, so convincing as those which may be derived from an Atheist's bearing witness to the truth of this doctrine, and of his own accord making an honeft though no fuitable reparation of the injury he had done to his rational nature, by acknowledging his fatal mistake, and dying full of the most dreadful apprehenfions of the punishment due to his former demerits? At fuch a time as this, he would act according to the dictates of his cool thoughts; whereas before, he was perhaps intoxicated with wine, or diffolved in fenfual pleasures. That we have not wanted fufficient evidence of this fort, you may be fully convinced by a little enquiry. Almost all the difbelievers of a future ftate, in former ages, recanted their illgrounded opinion on their death-beds; and, in our own nation,

among

among many others, one of the most facetious, and at the fame time the most abandoned and daring infidel that ever lived, was as remarkable for his penitence, as he had been before notorious for his contempt of religion.

66 Know infidels,-unapt to know!
""Tis IMMORTALITY your nature folves;
"Tis IMMORTALITY decyphers man,
"And opens all the myst'ries of his make.
"Without it, half his INSTINCTs are a riddle;
"Without it, all his VIRTUES are a dream.
"His very CRIMES atteft his dignity;
"His fateless thirst of pleasure, gold, and fame,
"Declares him born for bleffings infinite:
"What lefs than infinite, makes un-abfurd
"Paffions, which all on earth but more inflames?
"Fierce paffions, so mis-measur'd to this scene,
"Stretcht out, like eagle's wings, beyond our neft,
"Far, far beyond the worth of all below,
"For EARTH too large, prefage a nobler flight,
"And evidence our title to the SKIES."

DR. YOUNG.

SECTION V.

I have shewn you in a former Section that we have a VEGETABLE, SENSITIVE, and RATIONAL LIFE; that is, the life of a plant, a brute, and a man. So long as an infant is in his mother's womb, he only lives, and grows; his foul is, as it were, afsleep, and his senses in a slumber; during which time he appears to be no more than a plant. But, if we confider his eyes, ears, tongue, fenfes, and all his various motions, we fhall eafily perceive, that ke was not created to live always in that gloomy ftate of confinemen

L 2

where