permanent principles of the body, shall be separated, and separated for ever; and, although no additional particles should succeed to supply their places; yet as the principle of identity is still the same that it ever had been, nothing can be said to be removed from it, which was capable of moral action; or which is now capable either of reward or punishment, because incapable of joy or pain; and which consequently, cannot involve the justice of God.

The particles, which have been separated from their former connection, during any part of the process of nature, either in life, or during the repose of the grave can feel no interest whatsoever in the changes which they have undergone; or in the future purpose to which they may be applied. To "float in the breeze, or shiver in the grass," to roll in the ocean, or to become stationary in the rock, must be of equal indifference; because, removed from their union with that principle of vitality with which they were once connected, they must be incapable of all sensation. They can only possess those essential properties which are inseparable from the substance of matter, to which rewards and punishments cannot apply. The Divine justice is not therefore involved in the question before us; nor is it bound to collect together the numerical particles, which, at any given period of existence, were united with the principle of identity, which shall be preserved for ever, from all mutation and decay.

SECTION IV.

Probable Arguments, That the Changes through which our Bodies have already passed, are a Groundwork of future expectations; and ensuré, upon principles of Analogy, the Resurrection of the Human Body.

THIS portion of matter which constitutes the identity of the body, being forsaken by its immaterial partner at the hour of death, and separated from those gross materials which were found adhering to it in the present life; must commence at the period of its resurrection, a form of life which we cannot adequately comprehend. We are, therefore, about to enter a region, in which comparative analogy must be our only guide.

That there are in the human soul new faculties, which have not yet unfolded themselves, we have much reason to believe; when we turn our thoughts to what is past. And, from finding those faculties which we have in the present state of our existence, exactly suited to the station which God has called us to sustain; we are led to conclude that those faculties which shall be unfolded hereafter, will possess an appropriate relation to those objects with which we shall be conversant; and be peculiarly adapted to those regions which we shall then inhabit. Why then may we not infer from just analogy that the same or similar changes will take place in its material partner, though the ways and modes in which these changes shall be accomplished in both,

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are alike unknown? In our present state, we discover in the soul those faculties which are suitable to its present condition; and from what is unfolded we calculate upon what lies concealed. And, from those bodily powers which we possess, we presume upon those which are reserved to put forth their vigour, when the process of the grave shall be pass ed away, and time shall conduct us to the regions of eternity.

These analogical conclusions are warranted to us by our contemplations of what has already taken place in man, both in his material and intellectual powers. The astonishing changes which all human beings undergo, from their first formation in the womb, till they reach the zenith of their material and intellectual powers, are facts which bid defiance to comparative calculations; they outsoar all our conjectures, and even arrest impossibility in its infinite distance from us.

In the womb, we discover nothing higher than a organic or vegetative life. But the change of station produces a change in condition, which is at once astonishing and incomprehensible. Organic, or vegetative life immediately subsides, and gives place to that which is animal, the instant that an infant enters the world; and respiration, which was perfectly unknown before, becomes now essentially necessary to future animal life. These are facts, which are self-evident. If then, the change of our station from the womb to the present life, be productive of changes in our manner of existence ;-if we, from organic or vegetative life, proceed tọ

that which is animal, and from animal to that which is rational; why may we not justly infer, when a similar or a greater change shall pass upon us at death, which will totally alter our manner of exis tence, that a similar or greater change will take place in those bodily powers, as well as mental faculties which we possess?

In our embryo state, our faculties and powers were exactly suited to our vegetative situation; all was dormant, sluggish, inactive, and almost unknown. In our present station those faculties which had ripened through our infant process, put forth their powers; and are evidently accommodated to the station which we now occupy, and which they were destined to fill. And such, in all probability, may be the nature of their constitution, that nothing but the process of the womb, the vegetative manner of life, and the animal condition through which we have passed, could call forth these powers into their present state of partially mature existence.

Every thing, which is produced by God, is the result of the most consummate wisdom; the order of nature cannot be inverted, nor can human inge nuity amend the plan which we behold. The book of nature affords us an exposition of these truths ; but in no branch does infinite wisdom appear with more conspicuous lustre, than in the formation of man; and in those progressive steps, through which he is obliged to pass, from organic or vegetative existence to the maturity of the present life..

If our reasoning powers had been bestowed upon us, while we were confined within the womb, they would evidently have been in that state, bestowed in vain. And if that vegetative life, which we then possessed, had been withholden, life itself would have been impossible, according to all our modes of reasoning. In like manner, if vegetative life had been communicated to man in his mature state, even animation would be an affliction; and if, in this mature state, our reasoning powers had been denied, life itself would be little better than an intolerable burden. Thus then, the powers which God has bestowed, both mental and bodily, are exactly fitted to those stations which he has called us to occupy; and we are obliged by the force of unquestionable evidence, to acquiesce in this con clusion, That God in all his works has manifested perfection, and that he has not made any thing in

vain,

The remarks, which have been made in the preceding paragraph, are founded upon a supposition, that such an inversion was possible as that which has been stated; and in the conclusions, which have been drawn, we see the fatal consequences which would ensue if that possibility were reduced to fact. But, that such events are even possible in all their parts, I am far from admitting. The progress of those gradations, through which we have passed, was without all doubt necessary, to call our faculties and powers from their immature to their present state; and on that account, it formed a necessary step to