Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

tion of Enoch, God gave a manifest proof of a future state, a proof that the self-consciousness of man in his soul, his living principle, is never to cease ; and as this must have been known to Noah, he could not have been ignorant of the life to come, and undoubtedly must have instructed his posterity in a point of so much importance.

This which is plainly intimated concerning the Antediluvian Patriarchs, becomes still more clear with respect to Abraham, and the other Patriarchs after the flood; as any one may see, who will consider what is said in Hebrews xi. concerning them. To which it may be added, that St. Paul seems to refer to some very ancient promise or revelation concerning this matter, where he speaks of God's having "promised eternal life before ancient times;" or as others render it, " of old time before the beginning of ages."

From the concurrent opinions then of so many Heathen writers of the greatest intellectual power; and from the ideas universally found amongst barbarous nations, both anciently and recently discovered, it appears, that the notion of the soul's surviving the body in a state of perfect self-consciousness, has always been so indelibly imprinted on the hearts and minds of almost all mankind, that from this very circumstance, an irresistible argument of its truth may fairly be drawn. It is only sur

prising, that any person could ever for a moment feel inclined to doubt that, which is not only so abundantly proved, but which is a source of the greatest, often of the only, consolation the heart of man can receive in the time of sorrow and most bitter affliction.

CHAPTER II.

SHERLOCK-ADDISON.

HAVING seen what those writers who had scarcely any light to guide them, save that of their own natural intellect, thought in their most enlightened moments, on the question of the immortality of the soul, we will proceed to examine the opinions of Christian writers on the same subject. And it is a strong proof of the universal belief in this doctrine, that by few comparatively has it been considered necessary to be distinctly mentioned. It appears generally to have been thought a fact so commonly admitted, that it might be assumed as granted. Thus Sherlock, in his treatise on Death, where we might have expected a separate disquisition on the subject, says only this; which, however, plainly enough declares his opinion, on which, in fact, he grounds his work :-" When we die, we do not fall into nothing, or into a profound sleep; a state of silence and insensibility until the resurrection; but our souls and spirits still live in an invisible state. I shall not go about to prove these things, but take it for granted that you all believe them; for that we leave this world, and that our bodies rot and putrify in the grave, needs no proof, for we see it with our eyes; and that our souls cannot die, but are by nature immortal, has been the belief of all mankind. The Gods which the heathens worshipped, were most of them no other than dead men. Therefore, they believed that the soul survived the funeral of the body, or they could never have made Gods of them. Nay, there is such a strong sense of immortality imprinted in our natures, that very few men, how much soever they may have debauched their natural sentiments, can wholly deliver themselves from fears of another world. But we have a more sure word of prophecy than this; since 'life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel.' For this is so plainly taught in Scripture, that no man who believes that, needs any other proof. My business, therefore, shall only be, to shew you how such thoughts as these ought to affect our minds: what that wisdom is which the thoughts of death will naturally teach us; how that man ought to live, who knows that he must die, and leave his body behind him to rot in the grave, and go himself into a new world of spirits."

The opinion of such a man as Sherlock will surely command attention and respect. And he must have no slight idea of his own wisdom who

does not feel inclined to pay equal deference to the following sentiments of Addison on this subject:

" I am fully persuaded," says this excellent man, " that one of the best springs of generous and worthy actions is, the having generous and worthy thoughts of ourselves. Whoever has a mean opinion of the dignity of his nature, will act in no higher a rank than he has allotted himself in his own estimation. If he considers his Being as circumscribed by the uncertain term of a few years, his designs will be contracted into the same narrow span he imagines is to bound his existence. How can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great and noble, who only believes that after a short turn on the stage of this world, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for ever?

"For this reason I am of opinion, that so useful and elevated a contemplation, as that of the soul's immortality, cannot be resumed too often. There is not a more improving exercise to the human mind, than to be frequently reviving it's own great privileges and endowments; nor a more effectual means to awaken in us an ambition raised above low objects and little pursuits, than to value ourselves as heirs of eternity.

"It is a very great satisfaction to consider the best and wisest of mankind in all nations and ages

« ÎnapoiContinuă »