only consolation is, that they have a Father in heaven, who both loves them, and manifests himself to them! How many, who, after bearing their adverse lot with resignation and contentment, though no eye has seen them, and no ear has heard them, have had ample cause to say, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." The great argument of Job, in his long and painful conflict with disease, and his still more aggravated conflict with his friends, was drawn from this view of Providence. He considered suffering, not as an act of retributive justice in God;-not as the exact portion of desert which a man ought to receive under the sun, but as an inevitable result of the present mixed state of things, neither impeaching the divine mercy, nor declaring the divine sentiments respecting men. He contended, that as evils fell indiscriminately upon all, without respect to character, and that the righteous were often as great, or even greater sufferers than the wicked, this life, was never meant to be a scene of recompense, but that its inequalities declared its imperfections, and plainly pointed out to man, a just and permanent hereafter. The more we examine Job's reasoning, the more clearly shall we discern his strong and invincible proofs of a future state; and if we reflect, that his whole argument rests upon what is called natural religion, and that he never once refers to any written testimony of God, we shall be struck with the force of those proofs for the immortality of the soul, which he deduces from nature. If, then, the inadequacy of the enjoyments of this world, in their most perfect state, to the natural feelings and desires of the soul of man;-if the disproportion of the ages to which mankind severally attain;—if the inequality of conditions, and the variety of sufferings without respect to merit, all point out the necessity of an hereafter, for the vindication of God's providence, we may safely conclude, that the immortality of the soul, and its existence in a final state of rewards and punishments, is a fact, proveable to demonstration, independent of the suffrage of Scripture. It does not appear, without a future state being admitted, how God's justice can be reconciled with his dispensations towards man, or how man can be made responsible, as a moral agent, for any of his actions. Take away the immortality of the soul, and the conduct of man is not only without any check to guide and restrain it, but his life is without an object suitable to his faculties and circumstances. The best condition that ever was, does not furnish an equivalent to its pains and uncertainties. Since, then, reason itself suggests to man the moral certainty of an hereafter, and nature, amid all her wants, and all her struggles, feels herself forcibly drawn on to this conclusion, we have only to let in the light of revelation, and the great truths will be manifest at once. The Jewish religion, though it did not expressly promise a future life to its professors, is, nevertheless, built upon this foundation; and the great doctrine of the soul's immor T tality, and its responsibleness to God for all its actions, is plainly implied in every letter of that sacred institution. Accordingly, we find the more pious part of their communion, looking forward with the eye of faith, and adjusting their lives with a view to a better resurrection; and, indeed, it seems impossible that any one who read the Law, and understood its spirit, could do otherwise than live and die in hope. St. Paul enumerates a long list of characters gathered from various ages of the Church, who received this welcome doctrine, and the names of those worthies may serve as a specimen of the general opinion of the Church upon it. But, when, to the Jewish economy we add the better dispensation of the Gospel; when, in addition, to the arguments drawn from nature, and from the dawn of celestial glory which Moses and the Prophets introduced, we unvail the sanctuary of heaven, and point out, to the enraptured eye, Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, the day-spring from on high is rendered fully visible, and life and immortality are indeed brought to light. We then see, not only that the soul, but the body likewise shall live, and we have an example, in the blessed Jesus, of this delightful and marvellous truth. For as he was in all things made like unto his brethren, and came to be a pattern to us of all that shall hereafter befall us, the immortality of his soul proves the eternity of ours, and the resurrection and glorification of his body, is a first-fruits and prelude, to the raising up of ours. For "if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Seeing, then, that man, as a rational and accountable agent, is destined by God for a future world, and made, both in his body and in his spirit, agreeably to such an end, it behoves him, above all things that can be named, to direct his life and conversation accordingly, and, by a constant course of rigid discipline, to fit himself for the great object of his creation. If in his worldly life he cannot be prosperous or happy without a perfect conformity of himself to those particular rules by which happiness and prosperity are produced;-if the mind, in order to be vigorous and healthful, must submit to certain restraints of discipline;-if in short, it obtains throughout every department of nature, that the animal must be adapted to the sphere in which it is to live; he who desires to attain unto a better resurrection, and to dwell with Christ and the saints and angels of heaven, must qualify himself by previous exercise in the ways necessary to fit himself for such blessedness. His life must be holy, for "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." His manners must be simple, for God resisteth the proud. His desires must be heavenly, for the friendship of the world is enmity with God. His disposition must be spiritual, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. Thus |