such a thing existing as immaterial substance we know it not: nor are we in the least degree acquainted with its nature and properties, or the laws by which it is governed. Let us confess our ignorance, and not pretend to know what we have not faculties to explore. For any thing which the greatest and wisest philosopher can prove to the contrary, immaterial substance may be naturally more frail, more corruptible, more perishable, than material, and may be equally dependent upon external support. The truth is, that we know nothing about it, nor have we the means of attaining any information upon the subject. And, if we have sense to know our own ignorance, and honesty to confess it, we shall be ready to acknowledge that we have no medium from which we can draw any conclusion in the case. Of one thing we are fully assured: that it is equally in the power of God to annihilate an immaterial, or to immortalize a material being: He is the sole arbiter of life and death. And the only hope which unassisted reason can afford of a future life, must rest wholly upon the evidence we possess, that it is the will of the Sovereign Maker and Lord of all, that we shall exist hereafter, and not upon any metaphysical and unintelligible subtleties, concerning the nature of the human soul. If God wills it, we shall exist and be happy in the life to come: for why should it seem a thing incredible to us that God should raise the dead? And God forbid that I should be understood as asserting that he has left this important conclusion wholly without evidence, even where the light of revelation hath not yet dawned. If there be a future reward for the righteous, and a just judgment reserved for the wicked, the index of nature, if properly attended to, will be found to point towards this interesting and momentous consummation. And this inquiry, if carefully pursued, will beautifully illustrate the wisdom and goodness of God in his moral dispensations to mankind. In the mean time, we thankfully acknow ledge that it is the gospel of Jesus, and that alone, which dispels the impenetrable cloud, and diffuses a glorious radiance over the vale of death. This is that precious corner stone, that sure foundation, upon which rests the hope of an immortal existence; and none who build upon it shall be disapppointed. SERMON XX. A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PRECEDING AND THE PRESENT AGE WITH RESPECT TO THE ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN TO THEOLOGICAL IN QUIRY. ECCLESIASTES, VII. 10. Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. It is a just remark of the celebrated Lord Bacon, "that remote antiquity was the childhood of the world: that the present times are the ancient times when the world is ancient, and not those which we account ancient by a computation backward from ourselves."* To talk therefore as some persons do of the wisdom of our ancestors, as though their judgment in all cases were infallible, and their plans and systems inca * Bacon on the Advancement of Learning, p. 63, Mallet's edit. pable of improvement, would be, in the estimation of this prince of philosophers, much the same as for a man to talk of the wisdom of his childhood, and to refuse to profit by age and experience. Such likewise appears to have been the judgment of Solomon. Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these, for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this." To inquire how it comes to pass that former days were wiser and better than the present, is to suppose that they were actually wiser and better, and till this fact is ascertained, which is by no means probable, and ought not to be assumed, it is certainly unwise to inquire into the cause. It is however equally, if not more erroneous, to reject principles and customs for no other reason than because they were transmitted to us from our forefathers, and to adopt novelties in theory or practice, merely because they are novelties. How absurd and contemptible would it appear, in a person just arrived at maturity, to dis |