then, may not the wicked and the enemies of God burn like these?"

How far the misery of the eternal state will be corporeal, and how far mental, I pretend not to decide: but I will extract for your perusal a sentence or two from Dr. Hartley, who, you will recollect, was a Universalist, though much too sincere a lover of truth to run the length in support of the "restoration" hypothesis which some later writers have gone. "With respect to the punishment of the wicked in a future state (says he) we may observe, that these may be corporeal, though the happiness of the blessed should not be so. For sensuality is one great part of vice, and a principal source of it. It may be necessary, therefore, that actual fire should feed upon the elementary body, and whatever else is added to it after the resurrection, in order to burn out the stains of sin. The elementary body may also, perhaps, bear the action of fire for ages, without being destroyed. Like the caput mortuum, or terra damnata of the chemists. For this terra damnata remains after the calcination of vegetable and animal substances by intense and long continued fires. The destruction of the world by fire, spoken of both in the Scriptures and in many profane writings, the phenomena of comets, and of the sun and fixed stars, those vast bodies of fire which burn for ages, the great quantity of sulphureous matter contained in the bowels of the earth, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone, alluded to in the New Testament, the representation of future punishment under the emblem of the fire of Gehenna, and, above all, the express passages of Scripture, in which it is declared that the wicked shall be punished by fire, even everlasting fire, confirm this position concerning the corporeal nature of future punishment, as well as give light to one another.

"But if the punishments of another world should be corporeal in some measure, there is still the greatest reason to believe, that they will be spiritual also; and

HH

that by selfishness, ambition, malevolence, envy, revenge, cruelty, profaneness, murmuring against God, infidelity, and blasphemy, men will become tormentors to themselves, and to each other; deceive and be deceived; infatuate and be infatuated; so as not to be able to repent and turn to God, till the appointed time comes, if that should EVER be.

"But we are not to suppose that the degree, probably not the duration of future punishment, corporeal or mental, will be the same to all. It may also perhaps be, that there may be some alleviating circumstances, or even some admixture of happiness. Only the Scriptures do NOT authorize any such conjectures; and therefore we ought to proceed with the utmost caution, lest we lead ourselves or others into a fatal mistake. And, indeed, if the happiness of the blessed be pure and unmixed, as the Scriptures seem to declare, and give reason to hope, then may the misery of the wicked be unmixed also 36">

Such is the language of Dr. Hartley; from which you will perceive that his expectations of future punishment being any thing short of everlasting unmitigated anguish and despair, were very faint indeed. Happy would it be for the interests of religion and the extermination of vice, if all subsequent defenders of similar opinions had proceeded with equal diffidence and candour. I regret that the length to which it has been necessary to carry my reasonings, and the number of texts I have been obliged to select in order to show the fallacy and danger of their theory, prevent my expatiating, as I intended, upon the indefinite and perpetual extension of the intellectual and moral faculties, which will be experienced by the " spirits of the just made perfect" in the heavenly world; where, although the happiness of each will be so entirely replete that he will have no conception of any felicity greater than his own; yet the understanding will be eternally occupied with such an infinity of truth as it may be exploring, 36 Hartley on Man, vol. ii. prop. 89.

and contemplating, and delighting in, for ever,-while the affections will be eternally charmed with such an infinity of goodness and love, as will excite an everlasting reciprocation of love to Him" who first loved us." That you may not lose any thing, however, but gain considerably by this omission, permit me to close the present letter by referring you to the second of Dr. Watts's discourses in his work on "Death and Heaven:" a discourse which contains the most fascinating and inspiring description of the employments, the holiness, and the happiness of glorified saints I have ever perused; and which no one, I conceive, who has any pretensions to taste and sensibility, to say nothing of piety, can read without surprise and delight.

LETTER XXII.

On Christian Duties.

I remain, &c.

LACTANTIUS, an ancient father of the church, in one of his appeals to the adversaries of true religion, drew a bold, but not unfaithful, picture of the genuine effects of the Gospel upon the heart and conduct of sincere Christians" Give me (says he) a man who is choleric, abusive in his language, headstrong, and unruly; and with a very few words (the words of God) he shall be rendered gentle as a lamb.-Give me a greedy, avaricious, close-fisted man, and I will presently return him to you a generous creature, freely bestowing his money by handsful.-Give me a cruel, blood-thirsty wretch, instantly his ferocity shall be transformed into a truly mild and merciful disposition.-Give me an unjust man, a foolish man, a sinful man; and on a sudden he shall become honest, wise, and virtuous. In one laver (the laver of regeneration), all his wickedness shall be washed away. So great is the efficacy of the Divine Wisdom, that when once admitted into the

human heart, it expels folly, the parent of all vice; and in accomplishing this great end, there is no occasion for any expense, no absolute need of books, or deep and long study or meditation. The benefit is conferred gratuitously, easily, expeditiously; provided the ears and the heart thirst after wisdom. Did any, or could any of the heathen philosophers accomplish such important purposes as this1?"

This language of the Christian Cicero (as he was usually denominated) conveys no vain and empty boast; nor does it, under pretence of exalting Religion, insult and trample upon reason and philosophy. The effects here ascribed to religion have been frequently produced by it, and will always be produced when it is allowed its genuine and complete operation. And with respect to the supposed insult offered to reason, there can be no such thing, unless that be an insult to reason, which renders its real nature palpable, and guards against the abuse of it while it teaches its proper use. Reason has been termed, and not improperly, "the EYE of the soul" for as the eye cannot see without light, so neither can reason know without instruction. The progress of mankind in learning and science has been made, strictly speaking, by groping, by feeling out one truth after another, and adding it to the general stock; except, indeed, when some grand discoveries have been struck out once in a century, or perhaps less, by the force of genius; but even these, whatever benefits may have resulted from them, have not been discoveries of such truths or propositions, as are developed in Revealed Religion. Reason can no more instruct itself, because it knows by instruction, than the eye can give light to itself, because it sees by the light. This observation applies peculiarly to religious matters; and you may safely infer from it, that man may as well take a view of things upon earth in a dark night, by the light of his own eye, as pretend to

1 Lactan. lib. iii. de fals. sapient. c. 26, p. 328, ed. 1660.

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discover the things of heaven, in the night of nature, by the light of his own reason 2. Upon these points, says a very powerful reasoner, Bishop Horsley," the evidence of Holy Scripture is, indeed, the only thing that amounts to proof. The utmost that reasoning can do, is to lead to the discovery, and by God's grace, to the humble acknowledgment of the weakness and insufficiency of reason; to resist her encroachments upon the province of faith; to silence her objections, and cast down imaginations, and prevent the innovations and refinements of philosophy and vain deceit.”

The grand attributes of reason are, its capability of receiving, and, when properly disciplined, of retaining, whatever is communicated to it, and its power of discriminating, when it has suitable data, between truth and falsehood, or between fitness and want of fitness to accomplish certain purposes. And these attributes are possessed in the highest perfection, when, as Paul expresses it," the eyes of our understanding (7ηs diavolas, the faculty of separation or discernment) being enlightened, we may know what is the hope of our calling, and what the riches of the glory of our inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe." Now, if these faculties of the soul be duly exercised, it will be seen that the religion of Jesus Christ is all it professes to be, and is capable of effecting all that its advocates ascribe to it; that it is conformable to the highest reason, and is, therefore, deserving of the warmest admiration and of the most cordial reception. The religion we are taught in the Gospel leads inevitably to the exaltation and perfection of our noblest faculties: it requires us to use the things of this life as in reason they ought to be used, to cherish such tempers and dispositions as are the glory of intelligent creatures, to avoid such conduct as would degrade and debase our nature, to walk in such wisdom as exalts our character, to practise such piety as will raise us above the world and elevate us to God. 3 Eph. i 18, 19.

2 Bishop Horne.