Considerations of the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul, with…

Now that such Peace and Joy are the effects of conscious integrity, that such disquiets and fears arise from guilt, is a convincing Argument that the Divine Providence is concerned in the Good and Evil done here; and consequently that the comforts of Holy Souls are ⟨p. 233⟩the first fruits of eternal Happiness, and the terrors of the Wicked, are the gradual beginnings of sorrows that shall never end.

Now that such Peace and Joy are the effects of conscious integrity, that such disquiets and fears arise from guilt, is a convincing Argument that the Divine Providence is concern'd in the Good and Evil done here; and consequently that the comforts of Holy Souls are ⟨p. 233⟩the first fruits of eternal Happiness, and the terrors of the Wicked, are the gradual beginnings of sorrows that shall never end.

Before I finish this Discourse it will be requisite to answer two Objections that Infidels are ready to make. 1. They argue against the reality of future recompenses; That they are invisible, & we have no testimony from others who know the truth of them by experience. As Alexander's Soldiers after his victories in the East, refused to venture over the Ocean with him for the conquest of other Kingdoms beyond it, alleging, facile ista finguntur quia Oceanus navigari non potest. The Seas were so vast and dangerous that no ship could pass through them. Who ever returned that was there? who has given Testimony from his own sight of ⟨p. 234⟩such rich and pleasant Countries? Nothing can be more easily feigned that it is, than that of which there can be no proof that it is not. And such is the Language of Infidelity: Of all that undertook that endless Voyage to another World, who ever came back through the immense ocean of the Air to bring us news of such a happy Paradise as to make us despise this World? do they drink the Waters of forgetfulness, so as to lose the memory of the Earth and its Inhabitants? If there were a place of endless Torments, of the millions of Souls that every day depart from hence, would none return to give advice to his dear friends to prevent their misery? Or when they have taken that last step, is the precipice so steep that they cannot ascend hither?