that there is a future state, as with no convincing proof to the contrary. If it be objected, that it is rather slender ground upon which to stand, merely that we cannot prove the contrary, or the falsehood of the thing; we may answer, that it is not intended to be ground to rest on ;-it is intended to set us in motion; and the evidence will grow in proportion to the earnestness and sincerity to ascertain the point. Now, is there not a moral fitness in this,-that evidence should be progressive, and that in proportion to the singleness of eye and the diligence with which it is sought and investigated? And does it not appear particularly becoming the Divine Majesty that this should be the case in all inquiries respecting his works and dispensations? and that he who enters upon the investigation in a presumptuous, careless, or profane state of mind, should be confounded? In this point of view, also, may be regarded the objections made by some to the insufficiency of the evidence in proof of a state of future punishment: it may be answered,-Are you duly affected by the bare surm se-by the mere whisper, that there is such a state? Does it excite that degree of concern and inquiry which it ought? And if it does not, is it not a proof that there is something more than a mere want of evidence concerned in your unbelief? Is there any thing improbable in the supposition, that the Almighty may proportion the evidence to the degree of sincere earnestness manifested in the inquiry ?—and that when the earnestness is proportioned to the object, the evidence shall be proportioned to the earnestness?

In order to give an idea of the way in which the truth may grow upon a man, we may speak of the growing conviction arising from the constant observation of the artlessness and simplicity of the style of the divine writings, as an evidence of their truth, and that arising from the self-application of the t. uths and principles of the Gospel, until at length a man shall experience what Scripture intimates, "The witness in himself;" which passage alone shews, that the Scripture.

itself declares the witness shall be greater after the attainment of the Christian spirit, than at the beginning of a cold investigation. Is there any thing unbecoming in this? The conduct of the people of Sychar may serve as an illustration, John, iv. 39, &c. It may also be observed, that it is a grand test of truth, that the more it is examined, the clearer it appears. Thus, too, the apparent contradictions of Scripture are reduced to harmony by examination, as the apparent irregularities of nature by the microscope.

The analogy in favour of our future state, founded on the various changes that we and other animals undergo, is of considerable weight. It might be, perhaps,

little weakened by the consideration that these changes are all attended with sensible proofs; and that therefore we could not draw as strong a conclusion, by analogy, in favour of one that should not be attended with them. It might at the same time be replied, that unless we draw the conclusion that there are no changes but what we have faculties to witness, the objection is of no weight. It might also be answered, that there may be very sufficient proof of our existence after death to beings capable of receiving it, though not to those of the same species: as we have abundant proof of the changes of worms into flies, while perhaps the worms of the same species, until their change arrives also, have no idea, and no proof of it,-perhaps have not senses to witness it.

The credibility of a future state of existence is fully sufficient to become a practical principle, however low the evidence may appear: for, at the very lowest, we cannot prove the negative.

But further, that a being should be formed of such a nature as man, and placed in such a situation as to try this most momentous question, and feel an interest in its determination, and yet never be able to arrive at a satisfactory negative, is not only a practical proof, but perhaps a stronger evidence of the actual truth of the thing, than would at first be imagined. This state of

doubt and perplexity upon the most important and interesting of all subjects, is a curious moral phenomenon-and where are we to look for the solution? It is solved by revelation :-for, taking the two principles, the immortality and the fall of man, nothing is so conceivable as that the fall, in destroying so much of the moral excellence of man, carried off many of the proofs of his immortality along with it,-proofs, many of which, it is natural to suppose, were of a moral character, perhaps the greatest of them, a moral fitness for it.

From Bishop Butler's observations on "Divine Punishments," there may be ready and experimental answers deduced to many of the common-place and popular objections advanced against the reality or severity of future punishments. One favourite plea is the character of the Divine Being: "He is too merciful and benevolent to visit human infirmity with such rigorous severity." But what is the fact? He only allows men "to make themselves as miserable as ever they please." He gives them faculties to inquire and discover consequences; and if, by either not exerting them, or not complying with their rational dictates when exercised, they incur pain and misery, it is their own doing, and he leaves them to "eat the fruit of their own devices." Thus if we consider the Deity as merely passive in the business, and we observe men from want of sufficient consideration (for they generally bestow more or less upon their worldly concerns) bringing on themselves disease, misery, and ruin,-what an awful state is his who has never seriously and earnestly given himself to the consideration of the things of another world! Nor is it very likely that, when want of consideration (a fault of little, magnitude in the estimation of men, and even dignified by some with virtuous titles and epithets) can produce such tremendous results here,-the consequences of sin, spiritual and external, (although men overlook and despise them,) will be so very light or so very inconsiderable, as they would fondly persuade them

selves they are, in another world. And hence too we see the folly, in general, of pleading ignorance or sincerity as our excuse for carelessness or sin; for we find thoughtlessness and neglect often produce as disastrous consequences as vice itself: and the sin here is plain; for a creature not only gifted with, but distinguished, in a great degree, from the rest of the creation, by powers of deliberation and observation, is bound to use them; and if he shoves aside a subject, the most important upon which those powers can be employed, on which his happiness chiefly depends, and one which is often forced upon his attention by outward events and circumstances, without full, deliberate meditation, and without arriving at any well-grounded conclusion upon the matter, what shall be said of that man's sincerity ? There is an evident dishonesty and unfairness evinced in shutting his eyes to what he is absolutely bound to contemplate, and he must take the consequences: and such is the case of all those who have not seriously, earnestly, and deliberately considered the things that belong unto their peace. They may not be guilty of hypocrisy towards their fellow-creatures, but they act the hypocrite to God and to themselves.

The inefficiency of repentance (in the common acceptation) may be enforced by considering a man on a bed of pain and sickness, to which he has been brought by his own folly or wickedness. Do we find that floods

of tears, and protestations of amendment, ever produce any improvement in that man's bodily state ?-What reason have we to conclude, from precedent or analogy, that they will relieve his soul?

Repentance, in its fullest sense, a change from a state of enmity to a state of love to God, one would think is ever acceptable: but this is always the work of the Spirit given through Jesus Christ, and never appears to be the meaning attached to it by the careless or the ungodly, or even apprehended by them; and therefore it does not enter into the present question.

The profligate argument, that if God gave us such

and such passions, he gave them to be enjoyed without restraint, is here immediately answered: If God gave us such and such faculties, he gave them to be used, and their use is to control those passions; and we daily see the woful consequences of not exercising them, by actual observation. If the offence, by which the passion is gratified, is committed against ourselves, perhaps we should come to a different conclusion.

Man is gifted with powers of looking to the future, and evidently for the purpose of mainly preferring it to the present: he is therefore a creature made to look forward, and to what, is the question. Some men madly fasten upon the present moment, and shut their eyes to what is naturally to follow; and accordingly they reap the fruit of their folly in due season: others, who are either of a more calculating, or a more enterprising, or a more ambitious disposition, look forward to various futurities at various distances; but death comes equally upon all, and their futurities are no more to them. To what, then, is man made to look forward? There are here also to be taken into account the multiplied uncertainties attending the success of the various projects, arising out of unnumbered events and circumstances which it is beyond the power of the natural faculties to foresee or avert. This may be urged in contrast to revelation.

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Such reflections as these may tend to shew that his faith was not the offspring of mere feeling,-that the doctrines of Christianity were not embraced by him simply from their congeniality to his pure and fervid imagination; but that he applied himself with all the sober calculation of common sense, and all the powers of a clear and reasoning mind, to the examination of the important subject. His religion was the conviction of the understanding, as well as the persuasion of the heart. With a firm assurance of the truth and importance of the great principles of the Gospel as they are interpreted and maintained by the Church of England, he entered upon the arduous duties of the ministry.