This argument also directly impeaches the wisdom of the Creator, for
the sense of it is this,--that, forasmuch as he was not able to manage
his government in this world, he must have another in which to rectify
the mistakes and oversights of this, and what an idea would this give
us of our All-wise Creator?
It is also said that all nations have some conceptions of a future
state, that the ancient Greeks and Romans believed in it, that no
nation has been found but have possessed some idea of a future state
of existence. But their belief arose more from the fact that they
wished it to be so than from any real ground of belief; for arguments
appear much more plausible when the mind wishes to be convinced. But
it is said that every nation, however circumstanced, possess some idea
of a future state. For this we may account by the fact that it was
handed down by tradition from the time of the flood. From all these
arguments, which, however plausible at first sight, are found to be
futile, may be argued the necessity of a revelation. Without it, the
destiny of the noblest of the works of God would have been left in
obscurity. Never till the blessed light of the Gospel dawned on the
borders of the pit, and the heralds of the Cross proclaimed "Peace on
earth and good will to men," was it that bewildered and misled man was
enabled to trace his celestial origin and glorious destiny.
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