THE PHILOSOPHY OF A FUTURE STATE. BY THOMAS DICK, AUTHOR OF A VARIETY OF LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS HARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY SUMNER & GOODMAN. ΤΟ THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D. PROFESSOR OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS. SIR, In dedicating to you this volume, which has for its object to exhibit a popu ar view of the Philosophy of a Future State, as deduced from the light of science and revelation, a consideration of a far higher nature than the formal and customary honour of addressing a man of literary and scientific attainments, induced me to shelter it under your patronage. In the several vocations in which Divine Providence has called you to offi ciate, you have proved yourself the warm and disinterested patron of all that is benevolent and good-of every thing that concerns the present and eterna. welfare of mankind: and your praises have been re-echoed from one corner of the land to another, as the champion of the Christian religion,—the doctrines of which, your voice and your pen have done so much to illustrate. Your writings furnish ample testimony to the world of your earnest, active, and unwearied solicitude for the moral and religious improvement of mankind -a solicitude which is not abated by any minor differences of opinion in those with whom you co-operate, where the great object is, to diffuse knowledge and happiness over the face of the earth. Your kind indulgence to me, on the slight acquaintance I have of you personally, and your approbation of some of my labours, in endeavouring to connect Science and Religion, induce me to hope, that, if the views taken of the present subject in any measure correspond with your own, you will countenance my humble attempts to dispel the prejudices which many well-meaning Christians may entertain, as to the beneficial tendency of exhibiting the sciences of a present, as applicable to the circumstances and relations of a future world. That you may long be spared as the advocate of vital Christiamty--as a blessing and ornament to your country-and as a zealous instructor of those who are destined to promote its best interests; and that you may enjoy, without interruption, the pleasures arising from a consciousness of the esteem and approbation of the wise and the pious, is the sincere prayer of, |