eyes on all below the fun. As we brought nothing with us. into the world, we can carry nothing out of it. "Wise men "die, likewife the fool and the brutish person, and leave their "wealth to others." But when the body dies, and the world and its honors and pleasures are no more, the foul is as capable of existence as ever. It is not fubject to corruption and decay like material things. It is a spirit and immaterial, having no corruptible principles in its constitution. There is no tendency in its nature to extinction or death; neither can this be effected by its own will, nor by the will of any other creature. None but God who gave the foul exiftence, can extinguish it. His power is only adequate to this effect, and we are fure, he never will exert his power for any fuch purpose. As God made the foul capable of an eternal existence, so we are affured by himself, he defigned it should endure forever. There wilk be no end of its duration. The fun and moon and stars must ceafe, the world with all its works must be burnt up, but the foul will exist immortal and forever. When millions of milli. ons of ages are run out, the foul's capacity of existence will be the fame. When as many millions more will be finished, it will be ftill as diftant from any end of its duration, as remote from any tendency to non-exiftence, as the first moment is began.

The facred pages abound with confirmation of this truth, that God made and defigned the foul of man for an everlasting duration. When the body returns to duft, the foul returns to God who gave it. Not to have an end put to its existence, but to be fixed in an unalterable ftate of happiness or misery forever, according to its character as being righteous or wicked. For on these two characters depends the eternal destiny of eve. ry foul of man. There is no third character among the hu man race. As a perfon is of one or other of thefe when he dies, fo will his eternal ftate be, unspeakably happy or miferable.

The rich man we are told died. Is this an end of his exift ence? No-immediately he lift up his eyes being in tormentWhile his body was taken care of fuitably to his rank in life, while perhaps with the utmost funeral pomp and folemnity they convey it to the vault of his ancestors, his foul is fuffering the pains of eternal death. While hireling orators it may be are pouring forth upon him the finest eulogiums, celebrating him for every focial and divine virtue, and in their wanton charity enrolling him among the bleffed above, he is wailing under the execution of divine justice in the infernal regions, where a drop of water cannot be adminiftered to allay the anguish of his burning tongue.

In like manner when Lazarus dies, we find his foul still in existence after the death of his body. It was conveyed by an gels to Abraham's bofom. But there would be no end of citing authorities to prove the future existence of the foul, or retailing the evidence of its being formed by God for an eternal duration. Let it be obferved, that the whole fyftem of revealed religion supposes the endless existence of the fouls of men, as one of its effential grounds. Did not the foul live forever, there would have been no neceffity for divine revelation, for law or gofpel, for the incarnation and death of Chrift, for ministers, fabbaths, or ordinances; but the foul will interminably exist, therefore this laid an important foundation for the whole of that religion taught us in the oracle of God.

Now if these things be weighed in our ferious thoughts, what comparison is there between the riches and treasures of the world, and the foul, in point of value, preciousness and impor. tance? Does not even reason reject the idea, of any equality or competition between them? Is not the difference as great as between a point and eternity, as between finite and infinite? And yet is there need of labour and pains to convince men of the fuperior precioufnefs of their fouls? Muft there be line upon

line, precept upon precept, argument upon argument, and perfuafion upon perfuafion for this purpofe? And yet after all thoufands and tens of thousands remain unconvinced to their dying day, manifefting by the whole of their conduct, that they esteem the treasures of this world beyond their fouls. Do they by fome fuperior fagacity difcern a mistake in the calculation, and fo are confident that riches are of the highest value--hence act the part they do? Nay, this is far from the cafe; for the more closely men attend to the pofition, with brighter evidence it appears. And nothing hinders men from receiving the convic. tion of their fouls being infinitely more valuable than the things of time, but the blindnefs of their minds and conception of their hearts. The gloomy god of this world hath fo perverted their judgments and darkened their understandings, that they do not receive the evidence of the plaineft truth in religion.

Secondly, the foul is capable of inconceivable felicity or fuffering throughout the whole of its eternal duration. That our fouls are capable of happiness and mifery, or pain and pleasure, we are affured from experience. All capacity of this kind which we find in ourselves, originates from and depends upon our fouls. To the body, nor to any other fyftem of mere matter, does fuch a capacity belong. Our bodies indeed, in this prefent state of union, are subject to innumerable pains and pleasures, but it is evident, this arifes entirely from their connection with our fouls, and depends upon it For let this union be diffolved, and our bodies are immediately as infufceptible of these impreffions, as any other maffes of mat ter whatever.

In the fame way of experience we are likewife fure, that our fouls are capable of happinefs and mifery to a very high degree. There are none who have lived many years in this world, but must have had abundant evidence of this truth, either by experience in themfelves, or by obfervation of others.

Every age and almost every year, produces inftances of the exceeding greatnefs of mifery and pain the foul is capable of. The diftrefs of heart in fome arifes to that degree, that they not only wish they had never been born, but even curfe the day of their birth. Nay, fo exquifite is their anguifh, that they are brought to be utterly weary of life, and their mifery becomes so intense, that they put an end to themselves. They perform that awful act, which is the utmost exertion of their will and power, to extinguifh forever that existence, which they can no longer endure.

On the other hand, the felicity of fome have become fo great that their frail bodies have been incapable of fuflaining the extafy. It is wrought up fo high that the body finks and faints. The joy and rapture of the foul caufes it to burst its way through the clay tabernacle, and rejoice unincumbered with the droffy mass.

What thefe inftances are produced for, is to fhow the greatnefs of the pain and pleasure, or happiness and mifery, of which our fouls are capable. But this is not the state any of these matters arrive at their highest degree of perfection. This is not the cafe with respect to fin or holiness, so neither with refpect to happiness or mifery. The prefent is a state of great imperfection in regard to all the concernments of our fouls. The fin and holiness, and the happiness and mifery of the prefent, are as nothing compared with that future ftate into which we are paffing. Thus the apostle Paul speaks of the felicity of believers in heaven, "That eye hath not feen, 66 nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the "things which God hath prepared for them that love him." Some christians have felt as much of the joys of the Holy Ghost as their prefent condition of mortality could bear, yet all this is as nothing in comparison of the felicity they will experience in the celeftial world.

Thus likewife the fcriptures fpeak of the miseries of the wicked in a future ftate. "Is there not a ftrange punishment "to the workers of iniquity?" That is, there remains a punishment, mifery and anguifh to the wicked, unknown and unexperienced in this life. The torments of the damned have not entered into the heart of man to feel or conceive. And yet men have felt fuch mifery that they could endure life no longer, and their existence has become quite infupportable.

These reflections ferve to convince us that our capacity of happiness and mifery is vaftly large; that the degrees of pain and pleasure our fouls are capable of are exceedingly great. For if in the present state of imperfection and weakness our felicity and wretchedness may rise to such a height, how inconceivably great must they be in that world where all things will be in a state of perfection.

It is impoffible for us either to afcertain or conceive the extenfiveness of the measure of pain or pleasure which fouls experience in the future state. Thus much is evident, that the foul's capacity of happiness or misery is beyond the power of numbers to calculate, and the force of words to exprefs.

These things muft fet the worth and value of the foul very high to one who seriously realifes them. They exalt its falva. tion far above all the riches and treafures of the world. But what is the effect produced upon the minds of the most of mankind, when the amazing extent of the capacity of their fouls is exhibited before them? When men hear what vaft degrees of happiness and mifery of which their fouls are capable, does it move them?-does it awaken their serious attention and confi deration?--does it caufe them to fet a high value upon their falvation? Or are they filled with a deep folicitude how to efcape the one and obtain the other? No: quite the reverfe of all this. Notwithstanding it is laid before them by the