The case is the same with the man of upright principle and holy life; crossing mountains or traversing seas can make no change in him. Novel sights may meet his eye and novel sounds his ears, but while gazing on the gaudy flora of a foreign soil, and while listening to the murmur of "rivers unknown to song" he is still a lover of honesty, a practiser of virtue, a follower of God. A hotter sun may bronze his brow, a torrid climate may relax his strength, but neither sun nor scenery can affect the principles that regulate his conduct, nor destroy the righteousness of his character, nor stain the purity of his soul. Outward circumstances are altered, but his inward nature is the same.

Now as a change of residence on earth cannot, of itself, produce a change in man's moral nature, either from depravity to holiness or from holiness to sin, so, in like manner, a change of residence from this world to the world of departed spirits cannot, of itself, eradicate the evil from the soul of a sinner, or destroy the good in the heart of a saint. When the soul has sped its course across the dreary abyss, which separates this world from the world of spirits, it finds itself, at the end of the journey, the same in moral feeling as when, escaping from the body, it first unbent its pinion for its strange and wondrous flight. That malignity which characterized the unjust man on earth characterizes him in eternity; that impurity which clave to the filthy man in this world, cleaves to him in the world of ruined spirits; that uprightness which belonged to the righteous man below belongs to him above; and that purity which adorned the holy man on earth adorns him in heaven. No one has lost his moral identity by a change of worlds. The lover of virtue has not lost his love of virtue, and the hater of God has not lost his hatred of God; the imitator of Jesus preserves his similitude to the Saviour, and the

follower of Satan retains his resemblance to the unclean fiend. The unjust are unjust still, the filthy are filthy still; the righteous are righteous still, and the holy are. holy still.

But the prospect of a moral change in man's future state is further rendered hopeless if we consider that,

2. No such change is promised in the Scriptures.-Whatever information we possess on the subject of the eternal worlds we obtain from the Bible. Revelation is the only authoritative teacher on subjects which, confessedly, lie beyond the ken of science,-beyond the telescope of astronomy. Astronomy has dipped far into the abyss of space and has discovered through its marvellous tube many a kindling orb, but it has never caught a glimpse of the heavenly Jerusalem, in all the glory of its jewelled masonry, and in all the splendours of its golden blaze. Geology has delved and bored the earth and has made us familiar with successive and remote creations, and with the dwarfish vegetation and reptile tenants of a pre-Adamite earth, but it has never penetrated to those lower regions "where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." On the state of man after death science can teach us nothing,absolutely nothing. Our information on this subject must be gathered from Matthew and Paul rather than from Herschel and Cuvier. Revelation is our only guide beyond "that bourne whence no traveller returns." Now, if the Bible be the Word of God; if the Divine original of the sacred Scriptures can be authenticated by a successful demonstration, as we contend it can,-then it is plainly our duty to frame our creed, on the subject of a future state, according to the informations of the Bible. "Life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel," but if we reject the informations of that gospel we must, on these subjects, remain in the dark. Now, the un

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changing and perpetual fixedness of man's future state is, we submit, a doctrine of the Bible. If we reject that doctrine we ought, in very consistency, to reject the Bible too; but if we receive the Scriptures as a communication from heaven, we are bound to believe their teachings on the subjects of heaven and hell.

God, in his word, has given to guilty and depraved man "exceeding great and precious promises "-promises of pardon and promises of purity, but we cannot find a solitary promise for those who die in their sins. For them this "lamp." emits no gleam of hope. On the contrary, it gives light to the despair of the lost by invariably associating salvation with the acceptance of the offers of the gospel in time and on earth. This is the tenour of all Scripture with regard to the period in which man may be saved: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Romanism, holding the miserable figment of purgatory, enjoins prayers for the dead; but our purer and more scriptural Protestantism forbids them as not only utterly useless, but as positively wrong. And prayers for mercy offered by the dead themselves cannot, it is evident from Scripture, possibly avail. You may hereafter knock at the door, but the master of the house will answer "I know you not." (Luke xiii, 25.) You may plead your outward connection with religion while on earth :"We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets," but you shall receive no other answer than "Depart!" (Luke xiii, 27.) The foolish virgins may cry, "Lord, Lord, open unto us," but the heavenly bridegroom shall reply, "I know you not!" (Matthew xxv, 12.) The prisoners at the bar of the great Judge may attempt to extenuate their guilt by asking, "When saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto

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thee;" but their plea will only call forth a clearer statement of their crimes and a weightier and more withering condemnation. (Matthew xxiv, 44, 45.) How can pardon be expected after death when Christ has taught us that a much smaller, a comparatively trifling, blessing, a drop of water, will be sternly refused? (Luke xvi, 24, 25.) "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still," will be the torturing answer that shall eternally mock the spirits of the lost. The moral loathsomeness of the sinner's nature must cleave to him for ever the repining, murmuring, malignant thoughts that filled his heart, and the polluted and abominable imaginings that occupied his mind, while upon earth, and which rendered him indescribably wretched, must still seize upon his soul, and tumultuate within his breast, and make him their hapless and wretched victim. In vain he seeks deliverance from the anarchy of his own disordered passions and miserable thoughts, which possess him like so many demons. There is the terrible sentence which fixes his irrevocable doom: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still."

But if the moral state of the wicked is unchanging in eternity, so is the moral state of the just. The righteous will be righteous still: the holy will be holy still. And this consideration, I should think, will be to the saved one of the sweetest ingredients in their cup of bliss. We are, in this life, frequently pleased in the contemplation of Christian character. When we see religion,-not in written definitions merely,but in its living embodiment; when we see a mind "clothed with humility," wearing "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit," we cannot but willingly and heartily rejoice: yet even then we rejoice with trembling. Our joy is sometimes damped with the thought: "That bright character may suffer an eclipse: that

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believing spirit may cast away its confidence: that soul which has escaped the pollutions of the world' may, again, be entangled therein and overcome.'" But in heaven no such reflections as these can for one moment darken our eternal prospects. Satan has not access to those who are with Christ in Paradise: wicked men cannot corrupt by bad example, or deceive by pernicious advice; they are excluded from the society of the saved: "Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Rev. xxii. 15.) Sin cannot pollute, for this is "the holy habitation of heaven." The day of trial is passed: probation is ended: the character of the saints is perfected and confirmed. No sinful act can be committed, entailing the Divine condemnation: no impure thought can be cherished by "the spirits of just men made perfect." The moral nature of the saved can partake of nothing but goodness, pure and unmixed, and through eternity they shall bear "the image of the heavenly" and hear the voice of God fixing their destiny of blessedness: "He that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still."

Having dwelt on the future unchangeableness of man's moral nature, let us consider

II. THE CONSEQUENT FUTURE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF MAN'S OUTWARD STATE.

Man's outward condition in the spiritual worlds will depend upon his moral state. Tell me whether a soul in eternity is holy or filthy, and I can tell you, from this circumstance, whether it is surrounded by the bright scenery of Paradise or immured in the gloomy prisonhouse of hell. In this world matters are different; men's inward state is no index to their outward condition. Tell me of some one that you know, but whom I know not,