is the principle to which I appeal. Let me illustrate. You are placed in this world by a kind Father. He created you for happiness. He planted certain laws in your nature, and revealed them more plainly in his word so that you may secure the grand object of your creation. You are destined to survive the dissolution of the body and live forever in a spiritual world. Your rational and moral nature undergoes no change except through your own exertions and the influence of circumstances. I therefore use every possible motive to induce you to obey these laws so as to secure real happiness both for time and eternity. Obedience may sometimes produce great suffering, require great selfdenial, expose to great persecution; but the future recompense comes in here as a support and stimulus to exertion. If this life has no connexion with another, then this misery might in many cases be avoided by disobedience. In my estimation therefore you appeal wholly to the principle of selfishness, for you advise people to secure the greatest possible degree of earthly happiness, without any regard to the future existence. You teach that every man is fully and equitably rewarded and punished on earth; and thus give license for as much injury to our neighbors as will yield us more satisfaction than misery at the present time. If this is not gross selfishness then I know nothing of the subject. So that your objection applies more especially to your own system.

2. Now do we not appeal to the principle of self-love in our dealings with those under our authority? Do we ever appeal really to any higher principle? You exhort your children to be virtuous. Why?. Simply that they may be happy. You entreat your pupils to be industrious. Why? Simply that their increased knowledge may increase their happiness. We beseech our hearers

to be righteous. Why? Simply that their goodness may qualify them for higher degrees of felicity. Now is there not something more pure, noble, elevated, in laboring for a future existence in connexion with the present, than in confining our views to this short pilgrimage? Which is the most direct appeal to selfishness, to tell a man his christian goodness will effect his enjoyment only in this life, or in assuring him that its consequences will be endless? I leave you to decide these questions. I think you will find that the charge of selfishness belongs peculiarly to your system.

3. Have we not scriptural authority for such appeals? Read the promised rewards of our Savior. Did they not extend beyond the grave? Take those which I have. already quoted as a sample. Did he not himself look for joy beyond the crucifixion? Was not the hope of this reward a powerful motive, in inducing him to submit to the suffering and ignominy of the cross? Was it not this expectation which supported the apostles under all their trials and persecutions, nerved them for conflict and for martyrdom? And what has sustained the afflicted children of God in every age and country? The expectation of a heavenly reward. Take this away and you destroy the strongest incentive to great and noble deeds. I say then to all, be holy. Why? That you may be happy now, happy in death, happy in another existence. And if this is an appeal to selfishness, then I am supported by the example and authority of the divine Savior.

VI. A sixth objection to a future righteous retribution máy be thus stated. "A good father will not punish his children without giving them ample warning; many have no satisfactory evidence that the wicked will be hereafter punished; consequently they must escape future torment

because God is a father of infinite goodness." In reply I will submit three observations.

1. Look at the punishments of transgression in this world. Your neighbor accidentally swallows poison. Sickness the most excruciating follows. This is the punishment of his disobedience to one of the laws of his nature. Was his physical suffering any the less on account of his innocence and ignorance? Did he have full and ample warning of the approaching calamity? You expose yourself to great fatigue and danger. To preserve your health you drink stimulating liquor. You are not aware of the strength of your potation, and become thoroughly intoxicated. Is your bodily pain any the less on account of your innocence and ignorance? You are caught abroad in a thunder storm. You do not understand the principles of natural philosophy. You seek shelter under the largest tree in the vicinity. Its very height attracts the lightning, and you are instantly killed. Is the consequence of your disobedience to the laws of nature any the less severe on account of your innocence and ignorance? No. I could produce hundreds of similar examples. You find persons often severely punished without the slightest warning.

learn from experience to avoid the causes of misery. Your objection then applies to the punishments of the present world in its full force.

2. Now I believe that christians have more evidence of future punishment than is given in many instances in this world. The sense of accountableness is implanted in your nature. Sin produces a fear of some mysterious retribution. The murderer carries a hell in his own bosom. It does not burn less fiercely as he draws towards the close of his mortal pilgrimage. And on the bed of death its torments are painful beyond description.

On your ground he should now rejoice that the hour of deliverance had arrived. So in other cases. Let a man be sincere in his views of the gospel, let him lead a conscientious and christian life, and he will remain calm and undisturbed in his last earthly moments. It is not essential to this result, that he should embrace one particular form of christianity; there have been happy death-beds in all denominations. But let a person live a wicked life, and no system of faith can give him comfort in the hour of departure, if he remains impenitent. There is a feeling of accountableness which cannot be silenced. Now if your doctrine be correct the most abandoned sinner need feel no uneasiness in his last moments. He need not repent of his iniquity, because he has already received his full punishment. He need not fear any thing beyond the grave, for nothing but unmingled happiness awaits his entrance into eternity. Such should be his condition if your theory is correct. How different is the testimony of facts. Not an individual who reads these pages will regret any of his good deeds when on the bed of death; nor rejoice in any of his deviations from the path of rectitude. Not an individual who neglects his duties and lives a sinful life, if he retains the full exercise of his reason in his last moments, but will fear future misery. The warnings therefore of future torment are greater than are given in cases of temporal retribution.

3. I confine these remarks to those who have been blessed with christian instruction. I believe future retribution will be perfectly equitable. Those who have sinned without law must be judged without law. Allowances will be made for all necessary deficiencies. An omniscient Father is able to make each one realize that perfect justice has been executed. We are told that Jesus will judge the world in righteousness. The secrets

of all hearts shall be laid open. It will then appear how much warning each one received of future retribution. Can he who was early taught his accountableness to an omnipresent governor; can he who felt deep compunctions of conscience for every deviation from the path of rectitude; can he who has read the instructions of our Savior; can he who has witnessed the inequalities of the present condition; can he who has been called by the providence of God to severe afflictions; can such a person affirm that he received no clear intimations of future rewards and punishments? Can he rid himself of a feeling of accountableness to some higher power? Can he divest himself of the fear of future judgment? Can he forget his various transgressions? Can he worship his Father without a love of holiness? No. Every sinner carries in his own bosom an unanswerable argument for the certainty of a righteous retribution. Many have professed to disbelieve this truth, but when aroused to repentance and reformation, they have declared that they could never make themselves really believe what they pretended. I have no doubt this is now the case with many. So that your objection is turned against your own system.

VII. A seventh objection to a future righteous retribution may be expressed in the following language. "Is it not most reasonable that the sinner should be punished in the same state in which he commits his crimes? Is it not most unreasonable that he should be recompensed in a second existence for the conduct of the first? On this supposition may not a person suffer in a third life for the wickedness of the second?" In answer I offer three observations.

1. How is divine retribution administered in this world? Precisely on this objectionable principle. Take as many examples as you please. Childhood is a preparation for