Ebook The Philosophy of a Future State

When we look back into the inexplorable abyss of that eter nity which is already past, when we look forward to the im measurable extent, and the unfathomable depths, of eternity to come; when we behold Time, and all its circling years, ap' pearing only like a point on the surface of that vast and bound less ocean; when we consider the immense spaces of the universe with which we are surrounded, and the innumerable worlds which lie dispersed in every direction throughout the immeasurable tracts of creation; when we consider, that our existence, as thinking beings, may run parallel with intermina ble ages; and that, in the revolutions of eternity, we may exist in regions of Space immeasurably distant from our pre' sent habitation, associate with other orders' of intelligent beings, and pass through new scenes and changes in distant worlds; and when we consider that our relation to time may be dissolved, and our connection with eternity commence, within the space of a few months or years, or even before the sun shall have described another circuit around the earth; no inquiry can appear so momentous and interesting, as that which leads to the determination of our future and eternal destiny, and of those realities which await us beyond the tomb. To remain insensible to the importance of such an inquiry, and unaffected at the prospect of the result to which it may lead, while we are feelingly alive to all the paltry conce as and little ills of life, would argue the most unaccountable stu pidity, inconsistency, and infatuation.