and bruises would be presented to the view in every city, and village, and rural scene. When one had finished a house to shelter him from the storm, a number of desperadoes, in horrid combination, would overturn the mansion, and crush him among the ruins. When one had planted vines and fruit-frees, others would seize the opportunity, when they were beginning to bud and blossom, to tear them up by the roots; persons who sowed the seed in spring could have no confidence that they would ever reap the fruits in autumn; and no one could have the least security that the wealth and property he possessed to-day would be his to-morrow. No one could feel secure for a single hour, that his life was not in danger from the sword of the murderer or the assassin; every man would live in continual fear and alarm; no pleasing prospects nor hopes of future enjoyment would ever calm the tumultuous passions, or cheer the distracted mind; all confidence between man and man would be completely destroyed; falsehood in every shape would walk triumphant; the mind would be distracted amidst its ignorance of the scenes and events that were happening around it; for no intelligence could be believed, and no one could certainly know the reality of any object or event, unless he beheld it with his own eyes. Schools, seminaries of learning, universities, and academies would have no existence, and no one could gain an acquaintance with any principle or fact in the universe around him, except in so far as he had made the investigation by means of his own senses and powers. Tormented by tumultuous passions raging within, in continual alarm from desperadoes, plunderers, and assassins raging around, looking back on the past with horri ble recollections, and contemplating the future with terror and dismay, the mind would feel itself fixed in a scene of misery and wretchedness, which no words could describe nor pencil deli

neate.

If we could suppose a number of such beings leagued together for the purpose of carrying the schemes of malevolence more completely into effect, one of their employments would be to set fire to houses and villages, in order that they might enjoy the infernal pleasure of seeing their fellow-creatures deprived of every shelter, and of beholding men, women, and children roasting in the flames. Another employment would be to poison the springs of water, that they might behold one after another, from the sucking child to the hoary head, seized with excruciating pains, and sinking into the agonies of death. Another gratification of malevolence would be to dam up the rivers in their rapid course, that they might overflow the circumjacent plains, in order that they might feast their eyes on the scenes of devastation and ruin that would thus be created, and on the terror and destruction of the wretched inhabitans. The conflagration of a city, with

1

all its accompaniments, the crash of falling houses, and of palaces tumbling into ruin; the terror and confusion of its inhabitants, the wailings of women and children, and the groans of the burning victims, would be a feast to the eyes and music to the ears of such malignant beings, as they once were to Nero, when, from the top of a high tower, he beheld Rome wrapt in the flames which he himself had kindled, and sung on his lyre the destruction of Troy. Even in the midst of the ocean such revolting scenes would be frequently realized. When two ships descried each other, a diabolical onset would ensue. To set on flames the respective vessels, to sink them in the deep, or to cause them to burst with a horrid explosion, would be the object of both the crews; that they might feast their malevolence on the spectacle of wounds and carnage, of drowning wretches covered with blood and scars, fighting with the billows, and scrambling for safety among the shattered fragments of the wreck.

Were it possible that discoveries in art and science could be made by intelligences actuated by such malignant passions, they would be all applied to subserve the applied to subserve the purposes of malevolence. The force of gunpowder would be employed to blow ships and houses to atoms, to shake populous cities to their foundations, and to create among their inhabitants universal horror and alarm; the force of steam would be employed in producing destructive explosions, and in propelling the instruments of death and devastation among a surrounding populace. Air balloons would be employed for enabling them to carry their malignant schemes, in relation to distant tribes, more speedily into effect; for hurling down upon towns and villages stones, and bullets, and darts; and for enabling them to escape in safety when they had finished the work of destruction. The discovery of the nature of lightning, and its identity to the electrical fluid, instead of being applied for the protection of persons and of buildings from the stroke of that terrific meteor, would be destined to the purpose of devastation and destruction. The electricity of the atmosphere and the lightnings from the clouds would be conducted and directed so as to set on fire stacks of corn, to shatter lofty buildings, and lay groups of men and cattle prostrate with the dust. Every mechanical power, and all the combinations of physical forces which art can produce, would be applied to the framing of engines for torture, devastation, and massacre; and on the front of every new invention would be displayed, as if engraved in legible characters -TERROR, MISERY, AND DESTRUCtion.

Could we suppose for a moment such beings occasionally combining together on a large scale, for the purpose of more extensively glutting their malevolence, their conduct towards each other as nations, and the contests in which they would be

engaged in this capacity, would be tremendous and horrible beyond the power of description. Every malevolent affection would be brought into action; every infernal passion would be raised to its highest pitch of fury; every one, stimulated by his associates, would breathe nothing but revenge, execrations, slaughter, and utter extermination against opposing armies; every engine of human destruction which ingenuity could invent would be brought into the scene of action; the yell of demons would accompany the fierce and sanguinary onset; and a scene of horror would ensue beyond the power of imagination to conceive, which would not terminate till the one class of combatants had exterminated the other; till they had trampled down and destroyed the fruits of their ground, and turned their land into a wilderness; till they had burned their villages to ashes, and tumbled their cities into a heap of ruins; till they had drenched their fields with blood, and strewed them with skulls, and limbs, and the mangled carcasses of thousands and ten thousands of men, women, and children, thrown together in horrible confusion. But it is needless to dwell on such scenes; since the history of all nations-since even the history of modern Europe presents us with spectacles of horror, scarcely inferior to those I have now described, and with moral agents who bear too striking a resemblance to those whose actions are completely subversive of the second commandment of the law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

Such, then, would be some of the dreadful effects which would flow from a subversion of the second principle of the moral law, if we could suppose that organical intelligences, not endowed with immortal bodies, could exist for any length of time amidst such scenes of depravity and wretchedness. But it is more than probable that such a state of society could not long subsist in such a world as we now inhabit, and among rational beings, whose corporeal organization is constructed after the model of the human frame. The whole mass of society in every land would soon be transformed into one boundless scene of anarchy and confusion; every one would flee from his neighbour as from an infernal fiend; a war of universal extermination would commence; nothing would be beheld over all the regions of the globe but spectacles of rapine, devastation, and destruction; and nothing would be heard among all the eight hundred millions of its inhabitants but the voice of execration, and the yells of lamentation, and mourning, and wo, till at length every beauty which now adorns the face of nature would be effaced, every fertile field transformed into a desert, every human habitation overturned, and every inhabitant of the earth sunk into oblivion.* This is one of the most

• Whether such scenes as some of them now de. scribed may be realized in the future state of pu

terrible representations we can form of the hor rors of the future state of punishment, where malevolent passions rage without control; and the considerations now stated demonstrate, that the man who is actuated by a principle of hostility towards his neighbour, is training and preparing himself for becoming an inhabitant of that miserable and dreary region, "where the worm dieth not, and the fire" of malevolence and revenge "is never quenched." We are thus instructed, that if there be a future state at all, it must, from the very nature and constitution of things, be a state of misery and horror to every man whose mind is under the unrestrained dominion of depraved affections and malignant passions; so that there is no possibility, in such a case, of escaping the "wrath to come," unless the moral constitution of the intelligent universe were entirely subverted.

If, then, it appears that such dismal consequences would flow from the subversion of this principle or law, it is obvious that the law itself must be "holy, just, and good," and calculated to promote the perfection and happiness of all created intelligences, among whom it is found in full operation. And in a world such as ours, where this law is partially violated, the consequent misery which is suffered will be nearly in proportion to the extent to which this violation is carried, and to the number of individuals who are actuated by a principle of opposition to its requirements.

In like manner, it might be shown, that the most dismal effects would be produced, were the first principle of the moral law reversed, and the malevolence of intelligent beings directed towards their Creator. In this case, instead of assembled multitudes joining in solemn adorations of the divine character and perfections, the God of heaven would be blasphemed, and his name abhorred in every land. Instead of reverence and profound humility in the presence of Jehovah, a spirit of pride and independence, and an impatience of control, would pervade every mind. Instead of thanksgivings for the bounties of his providence, the basest ingratitude would be manifested, and the most marked contempt of all his favours. Instead of cordial submission to his wise arrangements, nothing but murmurings and repinings would be heard, and the most presumptuous decisions uttered against all the dis

nishment, or whether the principles of the moral law will be entirely subverted among the miserable beings who are subjected to that punishment, it becomes not us positively to determine. But we can scarcely conceive a more horrible idea than that of intelligent beings acting uniformly from principles of pure malevolence, and at the same time endowed with immortal bodies, capable of sensations similar to those we now feel. In this case, every accumu. lated wound received from malignant associates would be an additional source of pain and miserv which would continually increase. without any prospect of relief from the stroke of death

pensations of his providence. Instead of complacency and delight in his character and operations, insults and reproaches would burst forth at every display of his wisdom, justice, and omnipotence. Instead of admiration of the beauty and grandeur of his wonderful works in heaven and earth, feelings of contempt and disdain would be mingled with all their surveys of the operations of nature. His omnipotence would be disregarded, his benevolence called in question or despised, and his wisdom and intelligence arraigned. Like Alphonso, king of Castile, they would not hesitate to affirm, "If we had been of God's privy council when he made the world, we would have advised him better." Under the influence of such diabolical dispositions, the harmony of the visible creation would be attempted to be deranged, and its beauties defaced, in so far as their limited powers would be able to effect. The fields would be stripped of their verdure; the forests would be torn up by the roots, and strewed in shapeless masses along the plains; the vegetable beauties which now diversify the rural landscape would be effaced; the rivers would be turned out of their courses to overflow the adjacent plains, and to transform them into stagnant marshes and standing pools; the air would be impregnated with pestilential vapours; and the grand, and beautiful, and picturesque scenes of nature would be stripped of their glory, leaving nothing but naked rocks and barren deserts, covered with the wrecks of nature, to mark the operations of malevolence.

Such would be the dispositions and the conduct of intelligent beings were the first principle of the moral law reversed, and their actions regulated by a principle of malevolence: and such, in a greater or less degree, are the dispositions of every man in whose heart the love of God has never taken up its residence. Revolting as the scenes now supposed must appear to every mind possessed of moral feeling, they must be admitted to be the necessary results of malignant passions raging without control. And if there be any region of creation in which pure malevolence actuates its inhabitants, we must suppose the restraining influence of the Almighty interposed, to preserve their malignant operations within those bounds which are consistent with the plans of his moral government and the general happiness of the intelligent universe. That principles and practices have existed among mankind, which, if left to operate without restraint, would produce all the effects now supposed, appears from the description which the apostle Paul gives of the character of the Gentile world, and even of that portion of it which had been brought into a civilized state. He declares that "they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, but changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and

to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things," that they were "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, cove "full teousness, maliciousness;" that they were of envy, murder, deceit, malignity, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents ¦ without understanding, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Were practices and passions of this description, which are all directly opposed to the principle of benevolence, to operate without control, the universe would soon be transformed into a boundless scene of devastation and sterility, of misery and horror, of lamentation and wo.

Turning our eyes from such revolting scenes, I shall now direct the attention of my readers to a more pleasing picture, and endeavour to delineate some of the happy effects which would naturally result from a complete conformity in thought and action to the principles of the divine law.

SECTION V.

EFFECTS WHICH WOULD FLOW FROM THE
WHICH
FULL OPERATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF
LOVE TO GOD AND TO MAN.

WERE this divine principle in full operation among the intelligences that people our globe, this world would be transformed into a paradise, the moral desert would be changed into a fruitful field, and "blossom as the rose," and Eden would again appear in all its beauty and delight. Fraud, deceit, and artifice, with all their concomitant train of evils, would no longer walk rampant in every land. Prosecutions, lawsuits, and all the innumerable vexatious litigations which now disturb the peace of society, would cease from among men. Every debt would be punctually paid; every commodity sold at its just value; every article of merchandise exhibited in its true character; every promise faithfully performed; every dispute amicably adjusted; every man's character held in estimation; every rogue and cheat banished from society; and every jail, bridewell, and house of correction, would either be swept away, or transformed into the abodes of honesty, industry, and peace. Injustice and oppression would no longer walk triumphant through the world, while the poor, the widow, and the fatherless were groaning under the iron rod of those who had deprived them of every comfort. No longer would the captive be chained to a dungeon, and doomed to count, in sorrow and solitude, the many long days and years he has been banished from the light of day

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The tongue of the slanderer and the whisperings of the backbiter would no longer be heard in their malicious attempts to sow the seeds of discord and contention among brethren. Falsehood in all its ramifications, with the numerous train of evils it now produces, would be banished from the intercourses of society; nor would treachery prove the ruin of families and societies, and interrupt the harmony of the commercial and the moral world. No longer should we hear of the embezzling of property by unfaithful servants, nor the blasted hopes, the cruel disappointments, and the ruin of credit and of reputation now produced by the votaries of falsehood. "The lips of truth would be established for ever,” and the liar and deceiver would be hissed to the shades of hell. Our property would remain sacred and secure from the thief and the midnight robber, and our persons from the attacks of the murderer and the assassin. We should no longer hesitate to prosecute our journeys by day or by night for fear of the foot-pad or the highwayman, but should recognize every passenger as a friend and protector. Plunder and devastation would cease from the earth; "violence "violence would no more be heard in our land; nor wasting nor destruction in all our borders." Exe. crations and malicious insults would never harrow up the feelings of our fellow-men, nor would a single instance of revenge he heard of among all the inhabitants of the earth.

Pride, which now stalks about with stately steps and lofty looks, surveying surrounding intelligences with feelings of contempt, would be for ever banished from the world. Ambition would no longer wade through slaughter to a throne, nor trample on the rights of an injured people. Wars would cease to the ends of the carth, and the instruments of human destruction

would be beaten into ploughshares and pruninghooks. That scourge which has drenched the earth with human gore-which has convulsed every nation under heaven-which has produced tenfold more misery than all the destructive elements of nature, and which has swept from existence so many millions of mankind—would be regarded as the eternal disgrace of the human character, and the most shocking display of depravity in the annals of our race. No longer should we hear "the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war," the confused noise of "the horseman and the bowman," and of the mighty armies encamping around" the city of the innocent," to hurl against its walls the instruments of destruction. No longer should we behold the fires blazing on the mountain tops, to spread the alarm of invading armies nor the city, which was once full of inhabitants," sitting solitary, without a voice being heard within its dwellings but the sighs of the disconsolate and the groans of the dying. Human wolves thirsting for the blood of nations, would cease to prowl among men. 'Nation would not lift up sword against nation, neither would they learn war any more. The instruments of cruelty, the stake, the rack, the knout, and the lash, would no longer lacerate and torture the wretched culprit; cannons, and guns, and swords, and darts would be forged no more; but the influence of reason and affection would preserve order and harmony throughout every department of society. The traveller, when landing on distant shores, and on the islands of the ocean, would no longer be assailed with stones, spears, arrows, and other instruments of death, and be obliged to flee from the haunts of his own species, to take refuge in the lion's den, or on the bosom of the deep; but would be welcomed as a friend and a messenger of of peace. The animosities which now prevail among religious bodies would cease; the nicknames by which the different sects of religionists have been distinguished, would be erased from the vocabulary of every language; Christians would feel ashamed of those jealousies and evil surmisings which they have so long manifested towards each other, and an affectionate and harmonious intercourse would be established among all the churches of the saints.

These, and a thousand other evils, which now render this world a vast wilderness of perturba tion, wretchedness, and sorrow, would be com pletely eradicated, were the principle of holy love in incessant operation; and in their place a scene of loveliness and moral beauty would burst upon the view, which would diffuse joy and ecstatic delight through every bosom.

Every family would become a mansion of peace and love-a temple consecrated to the God of heaven, from which the incense of prayer, and praise, and pious aspirations, would daily ascend in sweet memorial to the throne above.