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District of Massachusetts, to wit:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-eighth day of February, A.D. 1828, in the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America, WALTER BALFOUR, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

"Three Essays. On the Intermediate State of the Dead; the Resurrection from the Dead; and on the Greek terms rendered judge, judgment, condemned, condemnation, damned, damnation, &c. in the New Testament. With remarks on Mr. Hudson's Letters in vindication of a future retribution, addressed to Mr. Hosea Ballou, of Boston, &c. By Walter Balfour."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act entitled "an act supplementary to an act entitled 'an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, 10 the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching, historical and other prints.""

JOHN W. DAVIS,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

1477

1-16

INTRODUCTION.

IT is remarked by Dr. Paley, that "enthusiasm is wont to expatiate upon the condition of the departed, above all other subjects; and with a wild particularity. It is moreover a topic, which is always listened to with greediness. The teacher, therefore, whose principal purpose is to draw upon himself attention, is sure to be full of it. The Koran of Mahomet is half made up of it." If there be any justice in these remarks, enthusiasm abounds in the present day. The sermons of many teachers, like the Koran of Mahomet, are half made up, in expatiating on the condition of the departed with a wild particularity.

Such as have observed the origin and progress of modern revivals of religion, must have noticed that they are generally produced, by expatiating on the everlasting torments of the wicked. This accounts for some sects, and certain individuals, drawing upon themselves an uncommon share of public attention. In some parts of the country, this topic has been expatiated on to such an extent and with a wildness of particularity, that teachers of the same sect became alarmed, and assembled in convention to pre

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vent a moral desolation being produced by it. Messrs Beman and Finney, with others, have been publicly censured, for their extravagant wildness and particularity. But why censure these men, if the doctrine of endless misery be true? They ought rather to be applauded for their zeal and fidelity; for if this doctrine is true, who can alarm men too much, or too soon, about their perilous condition? The time-serving policy of their brethren, who took the alarm, ought rather to be censured, for they seem more concerned for the celebrity of the sect, than the safety of precious immortal souls. If charity leads to a different construction of their conduct, it must be, that they are secretly persuaded in their own minds, there is not so much cause for alarm about everlasting misery, as the great body of the sect imagine. What rather confirms this construction is, a celebrated orthodox teacher, lately found fault with his clerical brethren, that they preached a great deal too much on this topic.

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But men are prone to run to extremes. some dwell on the condition of the departed with a wild particularity, others treat the subject of future existence with great indifference. Some are disgusted at the wild descriptions they hear from the pulpit; some are led away with sceptical reasonings; and the great portion of men, being involved in the business and pleasures of this life, the mass swim along together, with too little concern about the life to come. Indeed, some conclude we know nothing about

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