perfections deeply impressed upon your mind. You will meditate upon the various displays of his goodness in the world around. You will contemplate his unspeakable love in appearing for the salvation of a perishing world. You will examine the descriptions given of his paternal character by your divine Savior. You will call to mind the favors you have received at his hands. You will often raise your thoughts to him in spiritual devotion. You will aim to see him in every thing and every thing in him. In this way you will acquire a pure and ardent love for the only true God. And this affection will give rise to all your conduct; will sustain you under the greatest afflictions; will animate you in the discharge of incumbent duties; will console you under the heaviest afflictions, and will render you happy in some degree at all times. All this and much more is the natural consequence of your love; the divine reward for your obedience to the laws which were given to regulate your affections. And can these consequences be prevented from extending to the other existence? Can he who has blasphemed the name of his maker, despised his providence, disregarded his commands, join at once with those who have learned by long practice to love and worship their heavenly father? Impossible. I have thus given you a few illustrations of the duties which we owe to our Creator. I might make similar remarks concerning the remainder did my limits permit; but enough has been said to explain the first division of my subject.

Thus, my dear sir, have I given you a few brief illustrations of the natural rewards of obedience, and the natural punishments of transgression. Now if you could prove that the laws of your nature are perfect in their operation; if you could prove that the obedient always enjoyed a full and equitable reward; if you could prove

that the wicked always suffered a full and equitable punishment; still the argument for a future retribution would remain unaffected. For you know that the consequences of both goodness and wickedness extend far beyond the period of action. You know that the consequences of a virtuous or dissipated youth extend through the whole of mortal life. Now before you can convince me that there is to be no future retribution, you must establish the three following positions. You must prove that the present life has no connexion whatever with the next existence; and is not this supposition contrary to both reason and revelation? You must also prove that we shall have no remembrance in the next life of what took place on earth; and is not this also contrary to truth and scripture? You must likewise prove that we experience a moral change in our passage from this world to the other; and is not this likewise most absurd? As these positions never have been proved true, I trust they never will while sound reasoning is respected. But you cannot prove the first particular, that the laws of your nature are perfect in their operation. No; this cannot be accomplished. It is perfectly evident that various causes exist to modify their effects, so that the wicked are not always and fully punished, nor the righteous always and fully rewarded. Consequently a future retribution seems to my mind absolutely necessary to justify the ways of God to man. But as these topics will be more fully discussed hereafter I forbear, and request your continued attention to the remainder of the present subject.

II. I will now direct your attention to some instances of happiness and misery which are not generally considered to be the natural consequences of obedience and transgression. Some of these are undoubtedly caused by the miraculous interposition of our Father in favor of

goodness and against wickedness. Some are evidently the natural consequences of human conduct either wholly or in part, and the necessary results of the ordinary operations of the natural laws of the Creator. And some are neither the natural consequences either of observing or disregarding the divine commands, nor the miraculous interpositions of Deity either for reward or punishment. Let me give you a few brief illustrations of these several assertions.

1. I will first notice some of those instances in which our heavenly Father has miraculously interfered to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. All the examples of this character which are mentioned in the bible I receive as certain facts; for I find sufficient evidence to satisfy my mind that the scriptures contain the record of a divine revelation. There may have been other cases of a similar nature which are not contained in the sacred writings; but as I have no convincing proof of a miraculous interference in any given instance, I must withhold my assent from all such relations.

In the first place, look at some of the instances in which our heavenly Father interfered miraculously for the preservation and happiness of his obedient children. Enoch and Elijah were translated to heaven without passing through the pangs of a temporal death. Joseph received supernatural aid to interpret dreams which paved the way for his future greatness and glory. Daniel remained unharmed in a den of lions. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were uninjured in the midst of a burning fiery furnace. The Hebrews were conveyed through the Red Sea in safety. Manna from heaven was given them for food. Constant use diminished not the widow's oil. Many of the believing received favors through the commissioned Savior. The prison doors were opened to the persecuted apostle. Now we must

consider these and all similar cases recorded in scripture as miraculous interpositions of our Father, not merely to manifest his approbation of moral goodness, but to furnish satisfactory evidence of a divine revelation. Are the rewards of obedience equitably distributed in this world? Why then have not the righteous when in extreme danger and distress oftener received supernatural assistance? Here is surely strong indications of partiality, if this is the only state of retribution.

In the second place, look at some of those instances in which our Father has miraculously interfered to punish the wicked. The antedeluvians were destroyed with a flood. The Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea. The cities of the plain were overwhelmed with fire and brimstone. Korah and his company were swallowed by an earthquake. Ananias and Sapphira were instantly levelled with the dust. These and all similar examples recorded in the sacred writings must be considered miraculous interpositions of heaven. But for what purpose As a punishment of the disobedient. Such is the declaration of revelation. But if your belief of no future retribution be true, these judgments cannot be called punishments. On the contrary I should consider them as miraculous rewards conferred on the depraved. Take the inhabitauts of Sodom for an example. They were exceedingly wicked. Of course they were truly wretched. They were suddenly destroyed. They were thus saved from the many miserable hours which they must have experienced had they continued on earth. They escaped those severe compunctions of conscience which a review of their wasted and profligate life must have produced. They were relieved from the pains and agonies of a lingering and unhappy death. From these and other temporal sufferings they were taken by a momentary destruction. Now if this was the end of their

sins and miseries; if they are never to endure another moment's pain and wretchedness; if they are to be pure and happy the instant they enter upon the next conscious existence, what did they lose by the overwhelming calamity? Nothing but punishment. What did they gain? A release from torment and an admission to unspeakable felicity. If this be the fact as you believe, must we not consider their destruction from the face of the earth a special favor of heaven? Surely it can be considered in no other light. What then do the scriptures mean by calling such events divine punishments? Not only so. On your own ground you cannot prove an acquitable retribution in this world. Why are so many cities which are equally wicked not specially favored with a sudden translation from degradation and indescribable suffering to celestial happiness? I have thus given you a specimen of what revelation pronounces divine rewards and punishments. Consider them in what light you please, and I believe you must admit that they furnish an unanswerable argument in proof of a future righteous retribution.

2. I will now notice some of those instances of preservation and destruction which individuals have denominated special or miraculous interpositions of our Father, but which I consider to be nothing more than the common results of the ordinary operations of the natural laws of our Creator. In order to convince me that any such occurrence is supernatural, you must first prove that the event could not have occurred in the ordinary course of Providence, such for instance as the raising to life of a dead man; and then you must also prove that some valuable purpose is to be answered by the interposition, such for example as establishing the truth of divine revelation. I do not think it will be possible to prove these two positions in any of those constantly occurring cases which people call special mercies and