hands are the reigns of Government, and whose "threatening look dries up the sea and makes the mountains fall?" Or, at the least, should we not look for his allotment in life to be more afflictive than that of the character briefly sketched above?

But is this really the case? Are the treasures of this world handed out to these sons of Belial according to the demerit of their conduct? Are the workers of iniquity bereft of life's comforts? Are the most pious exempted from its sorrows? Does a brighter sun shine on their dwelling, gild the atmosphere in which they breathe, or enlighten the path in which they walk? Let it be carefully remarked, that I speak here only of temporal good, and go on the supposition, that the pious have no future existence, that the soul feels no religious enjoyment,and possesses no immortal hopes; for they who deny the immortality of the soul, reject also the com→ forts of the Holy Ghost, and the happiness arising from pious conduct. Do richer showers fertilize his possessions, does a greater produce wave in his fields, or a more fruitful harvest erown his expensive toils, and does greater prosperity attend his pursuits? Generally, I believe, this is not the case. Nay, are we not informed in the Book of the Lord, that in these things one event happeneth to all?" Does not the bright: lamp of day impartially scatter his beams on the just and the unjust? and does not the Author of mercy cause the fruitful showers to descend with equal benefit on the evil and the g good? Is not this the decision of plain common sense, founded upon daily observation, and drawn from solid matter of fact?

But this is not all. Not only have the pious and the wicked similar natural benefits, but frequently their allotments are widely different; and, supposing the present to be our only state of existence, the difference is ofteu decidedly in favour of him who insults his Creator, and abuses his own mercies. How many sinful, ungrateful beings are rolling in plenty!

监

How many pious souls are groaning under the pressure of extreme poverty! Have we not beheld a proud and har dened sinner, who, while he indulged himself in almost every species of wickedness, and horridly blasphemed the Author of his being and mercies, has, nevertheless, possessed his vast estates, his full coffers, his magnificent residence, his splendid furniture, his gorgeous apparel, his delicious diet, his increase of substance, and an uninter⇒ rupted state of good health? On the other hand, we often see the pious man without one foot of land, perhaps not one penny which he can call his own. His house, if he has one, made of mud and straw. His furniture marks him as a son of poverty. In some instances, like Lazarus, he begs from door to door. He earnestly asks for the needed morsel, but sometimes asks in vain. His body half naked, and shivering by reason of the cold; pined with hunger, fatigued with toil, putrid with sores, or debilitated with numerous afflictions. Amidst all this pain and suffering, he is decidedly pious, is trying to glorify Godzin all he thinks, speaks, and does; is praying without ceasing, and, amidst so many difficulties, which tend to make him murmur, he is, in all things, giving thanks! But who can account for this, if there be no existence → beyond the grave?

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In addition to these remarks, there is another thought which claims particular regard here. We often see the enemies of God, and of those who are good, pos sessed of great political power, while they prostitute that power to the worst of purposes, by employing it in the punishment of those that do well. They endeavour to diminish the quantity of their comforts, and take a fiend- like pleasure in increasing the bitter ingredients in their cup of suffering. In support of this truth many striking · facts might be stated, but one must suffice.It is the case of the Waldenses.. They resided in the bleak recesses of the

Alps, and lived retired from the rest of the world." They were a people distinguished for piety, industry, and the practice of every moral virtue. Their incessant labours subdued the barren soil, and prepared it for both grain and pasture. In the course of two hundred and fifty years they increased to the number of eighteen thousand; occu→ pying thirty villages, besides hamlets, the workmanship of their own hands. Regular priests they had none, nor any disputes about religion. They had no occasion for courts of justice, for brotherly love did not s suffer them to go to law. They worshipped God according to the dictates of their conscience and the rules of his word. They prac→ ticed the precepts of his law, and enjoyed the sweets of mutual affection and love. Yet this peaceable and inter esting people became the victims of the most cruel and bloody persecution. In the year 1540, the parliament of Province condemned nineteen of them to be burnt for heresy, their trees to be rooted up, and their houses to be rased to the ground. Afterwards a violent persecution arose against the whole of this interesting people, and an army of banditti was sent to carry the hellish purpose into effect. The soldiers began by massacreing the old men, women, and children, all having fled who were able to fly. They then proceeded to burn their houses, barns, corn, and ' whatever else appertained to them. In the town of Car-briere, sixty men and thirty women, who had surrendered upon promise of life, were murdered without mercy. Some women, who had taken refuge in a church, were dragged out and burnt alive. Twenty-two villages were reduced to ashes, and that populous and flourishing neighbourhood was again turned into a cheerless desert. Yet, after all these atrocities had been committed, the persons, at whose instigation this persecution was commenced, were permitted to live in splendour, to exult over the victims of their cruelty, to revel in palaces, and indulge in the most shameful debaucheries!"

But if the present world be the only scene of man's existence, who can account for his strange allotment in the peculiarly unequal distribution of its contents? While we see vast numbers of pious persons evidencing great moral worth, and endeavouring to answer the best designs of their Creator, who are nevertheless groaning in poverty, surrounded with difficulties, and the subjects of severe and long continued afflictions;-while we behold a peaceable, prosperous, and inoffensive population, who are diligently serving God according to the light which they possess, beset by infuriated and villainous neighbours, smitten with the rod of oppression, and crushed by the hand of tyranny, their country pillaged, their houses destroyed, and their blood shed like water, without regard to age or sex ;* while we see the most wicked and hardened wretches almost strangers to bodily affliction, and living in ease and affluence, and the perpetrators of the most unjust and cruel actions, crowned with human honours, surrounded with luxuries, and living in the greatest splendour; where do we discover the traces of infinite justice, wisdom, and goodness?—where do we find that harmonious and consistent management of the rational and moral world, which exists in such exact proportion in the affairs of material things? and where do we find the steady interference of that great and glorious Being, to whom alone rational intelligences can look for help and redress, and to whom alone they can fly as their last refuge and final resort? Hence the obvious conclusion is, that there must be a future state of existence for man, where these difficulties will be cleared, and these irregularities adjusted, and where rational agents will be treated according to their genuine" character and moral worth.

The arguments derived from the world continued.— The natural evils which discommode and punish its rational Rossessors. ——— The vast mass of crime committed in it for which while here the delinquents receive no adequate pu nishment. —The obstructions which it possesses to the full exercise of man's powers, and the barriers which it furnishes to prevent the perfection of his soul. The evidence summed up, its force acknowledged, and the arguments from the world closed.

bobHaving, in the two preceding lectures, considered the evidence derived from this world, in favour of the immortality of the soul, by noticing the design of its origin, the beauty and harmony which it possesses, the changes through which it passes, without any part being annihilated, the moral disorders, and irregularities of which it is the theatre, and the unequal distribution of its contents, I now proceed to consider,

6. The natural evils which discommode and punish its rational possessors. That we are placed in a world where natural evil exists, is one of these truths that demands no proof; for it can plainly be traced through every part of the earth. Air, water, earth and fire, are all pregnant with ills, and frequently display the evil qualities they possess, in a most awful and alarming manner. That these evils are, in numerous instances, the means of inconvenience and suffering to man, is a truth which possesses the quality of a moral demonstration.-Sometimes