declared to be accompanied by disembodiment, is an assurance that the individual human non-material organizer or soul does survive the dissolution of its own organism-passing into disembodiment and latent lifeready to organize another and nobler organism, when the Creator shall endow it with the needful power.

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It will be observed that there is a remarkable difference between the statement with respect to the casting of death and hades into the lake of fire, and that which records the casting of the spirit of deception, the beast and the false prophet, into that same abyss; for it is said that the spirit of deception was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where are the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night unto the ages of the ages; whereas of death and hades it is said they 6 were cast into the lake of fire; this is the second death.' Now it is evident that this last clause is merely descriptive of what is meant by 'the lake of fire'—that it is the second death, and does by no means involve the idea that death and hades were themselves subjected to that second death- -an idea excluded by their very nature. In like manner, we ought to understand the above-quoted clause, And they shall be tormented day and night, unto the ages of the ages,' as being also merely descriptive of what is meant by 'the lake of fire;' namely, that it is a condition of continuous and enduring misery, constituting the second death. It is plain, however, that such abstractions as the spirit of deception, the beast and the false prophet, cannot be themselves subjected to this enduring torment, any more than death and hades can be subjected to the second death.

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What we are to understand is, that the lake of fire and brimstone' is a vivid emblem of the Divine displeasure; that the spirit of deception, the beast, the false prophet,

death and hades, are all equally objects of the Divine abhorrence, and that all beings capable of suffering, who shall fall into the abyss of the Divine indignation, shall undergo enduring misery, resulting from the Divine displeasure, which constitutes the second death. The concluding clause of the passage before cited is therefore to be taken in an indefinite sense, as applicable not specially to the spirit of deception, the beast and the false prophet, but to all who fall under the Divine condemnation. In so far as it may apply to the three abstractions above named, it must refer to the adherents and upholders of those evil principles, not to the abstract principles themselves.

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That there shall be cast into this symbolical lake beings capable of enduring suffering, we gather from what immediately follows: And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.' The word written' is here used in the sense of described '- Whosoever was not found described in the book of life.' The character which is needful to the attainment of everlasting happiness is very clearly described in that book. If any man's character, therefore, does not tally with this description, it may truly be affirmed of him that he is not described in the book of life. All such, it is stated, were cast into the lake of fire.'

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Now, it is not a little remarkable, that, before thus announcing that any of those who had emerged from death and hades, and had been tried before the judgment seat, were cast into the lake of fire,' the apostle gives a clear indication of the purely metaphorical nature of that emblem, by representing death and hades as being themselves cast into it, and by calling it the second death,' a second shutting out from the light of God's countenance,

and from the joy which His presence and approval inspire.

From the circumstance that death and hades were cast into this limbo before the condemned, it might at first sight be inferred that the former are still to have power over the latter; but the previous announcement, that all who are thus doomed shall be tormented day and night unto the ages of the ages,' is inimical to this supposition. It is also discountenanced by the very precise terms in which our Saviour Himself speaks on this subject, when at the conclusion of His description of the judgment scene, as given in Matthew xxv., he says (v. 46): And these shall go away into age-enduring punishment, but the righteous into age-enduring life.'

It is better, however, to refrain from making any attempt to lift the veil of imagery by which the fate of the condemned is shrouded. It is vain to speculate on the place of their abode, or the nature or duration of their punishment; whether it is to be purely mental, or both mental and corporeal; whether it is to be simply retributive and to endure for ever, or is to be only reformatory, and to cease on the accomplishment of its reformative design. Instead of fruitless inquiries into these points, or such like, let everyone rather endeavour to avoid in his own person, and urge others to escape, that dreadful destiny; for dreadful it must be, judging from the figurative language in which it is described in the Bible. Let all of us, moreover, constantly bear in mind that

In lonely disembodiment

None cry for mercy, none repent;
But sealed for ever is the doom

Of all the tenants of the tomb.'

It is remarkable that in his description of the judgment

scene, the apostle says nothing of the fate of those who are justified, and speaks only of that of the condemned. What is to become of the redeemed he leaves to be gathered from the beautiful imagery which immediately follows, and to the consideration of which we shall now proceed.

CHAPTER III.

THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH.

THE solemnities of the judgment seat having been shadowed forth in emblems to the mental eye of the apostle, that wondrous scene at last vanishes from his view, and he is left at leisure to contemplate the new order of things which had been introduced. He says (chap. xxi. 1): 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea,' or rather and the sea is no more.'

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From the circumstance that the attention of the apostle is only now attracted to the new heaven and the new earth, we may gather that they did not greatly differ in physical aspect from the old. He was given to understand that the old heaven and earth, with the former sea, had passed away before the arrival of the Great Judge; but still he saw a heaven in which the throne of judgment was set, and an earth on which stood they who had been dead, small and great, before the throne, and a sea from which a considerable portion of the dead appeared to

emerge.

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It might be objected to this view, that the averment with respect to the sea is in the present tense, and the sea is no longer.' But this expression may apply only to the now subsisting sea.

The statement contained in the 11th verse of the pre