body without repentance shall be "cast into the lake of fire," and be punished for ever. There shall be no more change, but all shall be for ever and ever. Christians will enjoy the complete victory over the grave, so that the grave being no more, they will ascend into glory-the second death will be this victory to them, but to the wicked eternal punishment will be fully the second death. We might dwell upon this change, in attempts to describe to you the bliss of the world to come; but the description would be too faint-the representation would be too feeble. There might indeed be the shadow, but the substance would be wanting—there might be words descriptive of bliss, but those words would ill present to you the joys which are eternal. The human mind cannot conceive them. The human tongue cannot tell them. The mind may indeed exult in terrestrial joys, but it cannot adequately delight in those that are celestial. A finite capacity cannot conceive that which is infinite. It may muse over passing events and perishable objects, but it cannot discern in all their fulness, and in all their

glory, those that are immortal. The mind is accustomed, through sin, to bear the penalties of sin; it cannot throw off even for a moment the dead weight, and transport itself to those heavenly raptures which are above, no more than the feeble songster can tower like the eagle to the glorious orb of mid-day. Its own conceptions are too weak to see even a shadow of their glory or a glimpse of the happiness they impart. Scripture does not relieve it. Scripture only tells us of a rest beyond the graveof a retributive life hereafter, which is to be for ever. Scripture speaks of joys which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, which it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive." It speaks of glory, honour and immortality, eternal life. But there is no description of that honour, there is no definition of the glory that awaits the faithful followers of Jesus. And why? Simply because that glory is so great and celestial, that the mind could not conceive it, and therefore we must rest satisfied with what God has chosen to reveal to us, well knowing that, our

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light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” But Scripture appears to be more express respecting the punishment prepared for the wicked. "The wicked," says the Scripture, "are reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. They shall be turned into hell, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" again, “Behold, the day cometh, when the Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. "In that day shall the Lord Jesus be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and them that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who

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shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." The last verse of our text too is prophetic of the end of the wicked. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." That is, whosoever was not enrolled as a true Christian in the book, which registered the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, was cast into the lake of fire." This book contained a list of God's obedient people, and was emblematic of God's omniscience. It gave an assurance, that the Almighty knew his own people; just as the faithful shepherd knoweth his own sheep; as the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd, and flock to him when in danger, so shall the followers of Jesus Christ meet him in the air, and flock to him for protection, when all nature is departing, and when the heavens are wrapped together as a scroll, and the angel shall proclaim with the voice of authority, that time shall be no longer. Then will God know his people, and his people will know their God. Then will consciousness

return to the long buried and dissolved; as their perished frames become reinvested with sentient being, the long array of past and dormant years will burst before them into active life, and their conscious memory shall witness for or against them before the throne of God. Every moment that brings to them life, will at the same time impart a knowledge of that invisible glory reserved for the faithful. Sin will no longer weigh the creature down with misery;-all will be free, joyous, and exulting in the glories that are above. The body, you will remember, is to be raised a spiritual body, with no corruptions of the flesh, nothing perishable, nothing mortal, no weakness, pain, and disease, no death. Oh! no: death and hell will be "cast into the lake of fire." Nothing natural, but all spiritual; nothing dishonourable, but all glorious; nothing weak, but all powerful; nothing earthly, but all heavenly. "Behold, I shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound; and the dead