weight of glory."-How well do these words of the apostle harmonize with the advice of his blessed master, Jesus, delivered at a time, when, to confess him, and to suffer death, were almost inevitably connected with each other-" Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."* If the soul be doomed, as the materialist believes, to a temporary state of non-existence, perishing with the body in the dust, it surely is not immortal; immortality implying life without cessation, and without end: and, with such a principle of vitality, He, in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, here declares the soul to be gifted : with whose declaration the sentiments of sages, in the heathen world, are in perfect agreement. These, it is true, prove nothing in the present question, except in that subordinate degree, in which we proposed to place them. Yet, as it cannot but give pleasure to the humble believer *Matt. X. 28. in Gospel truth, to discern so striking an harmony between reason and revelation, let us consider the following classical authorities, as evidences of the general prevalence of such a belief. HOMER declares "It is certain that man, though dead, continues to retain part of his former self. His immortal mind subsists, independently of the body, an aërial semblance, or spiritual shade."* SENECA says, "What else canst thou call the soul, except God, dwelling in a human body?”† CICERO says, " I believe the immortal God to have infused souls into human bodies: nor can any one persuade me that those souls, which live while they are in mortal bodies, die when they go out of them." Nay, still farther, much farther, * Il. lib. XXIII. 1. 103. + Quid aliud voces hunc, quam Deum, in corpore humano hospitantem? Credo Deum immortalem sparsisse Animos in humana corpora. Mihi quidam nunquam persuadere potuit, animos, dum in corporibus essent mortalibus, vivere, cum exîssent exiis, emori. does this shining light of heathenism pierce, with the beams of truth, the darkness which surrounded him. Declaring a firm conviction "that certain great departed characters are still living the life alone worthy of being called existence," he exclaims, with an animation nobly suited to so grand a theme, "O glorious day! when, quitting this troubled and degenerate scene of things, I shall go to join the divine council and assembly of spirits! " Who perceives not a resemblance between the style of this Roman model of eloquence and that of the great Christian orator, St. PAUL, where the latter says, in glowing anticipation of a future union with the wise and good in the realms of bliss, "ye are not come unto the mount that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest; but unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.' "It may be an error," again says CICERO, " which I embrace; but, if I err in believing the souls of men to be immortal, I am pleased with my error; nor will I suffer it to be extorted from me so long as I live." That the mind of SOCRATES was enlightened and cheered by the same sublime convictions, the following, among many other incidents, plainly prove. When advised, before his trial, to adopt every means in his power to preserve his life, for the sake of his friends and children, he said, "As for my children, the God who gave them, will take care of them and as for my friends, I shall, in the other world, find the like, or perhaps better, while those I here leave, will soon follow me." After his condemnation, the language he addressed to his judges, shewed that he expected his soul would pass, immediately after death, to another state of being. 3 * Heb. XII. A similar expectation, we know, was entertained by PLATO, whose sentiments, on the immortality of the soul, have been finely expressed in our language by an excellent writer of our own country. * From these learned luminaries in the pagan world, we may be taught to know what are the natural deductions of reason: and their testimony has been here adduced to demonstrate how great was, in the most capacious minds, the accordance of human reason with divine revelation; compared, however, with whose "greater light," to rule the day of grace, the former were only as "lesser lights, to govern the night" of heathenism. * It must be so: Plato thou reason'st well: Else, whence this pleasing hope-this fond desireThis longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread and inward horror "Tis Heav'n itself, that points out an hereafter, ADDISON'S CATO. |