There shall in no wise enter into the heavenly Jerusalem any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie."

The way by which happiness in the future world may be obtained is also clearly exhibited. "Eternal life is the gift

of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." "The God of ali grace hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus." The dispositions of those on whom this happiness will be conferred, and the train of action which prepares us for the enjoyment of eternal bliss, are likewise distinctly described. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." "To them who, by patient. continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality, God will recompense eternal life." "The pure in heart shall see God." "He that doth the will of God abideth for ever." "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out." "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city."

The nature of the heavenly felicity, and the employments of the future world, are likewise incidentally stated and illustrated. The foundation of happiness in that state is declared to consist in perfect freedom from moral impurity, and in the attainment of moral perfection. "No one who worketh abomination can enter the gates of the New Jerusalem." "Christ Jesus gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, and that he might present it to himself a glorious church, holy, and without blemish." The honour which awaits the faithful, in the heavenly world, is designated "a crown of righteousness." The inheritance to which they are destined is declared to be "undefiled" with moral pollution; and it is "an inheritance among them that are sanctified." "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, says the Apostle John, "we shall be like him," adorned with all the beauties of holiness which he displayed on earth as our pattern and exemplar.-The employments of that world are represented as consisting in adoration of

the Creator of the universe, in the celebration of his praises, in the contemplation of his works, and in those active servi ces, flowing from the purest love, which have a tendency to promote the harmony and felicity of the intelligent creation. "I beheld," said John, when a vision of the future world was presented to his view, "and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, clothed in white robes, crying with a loud voice, Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, be ascribed to our God for ever and ever." That the contemplation of the works of God is one leading part of the exercises of the heavenly inhabitants, appears, from the scene presented to the same Apostle, in another vision, where the celestial choir are represented as falling down before Him that sat on the throne, and saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created." Such sublime adorations and ascriptions of praise, are the natural results of their profound investigations of the wonderful works of God. In accordance with the exercises of these holy intelligences, another chorus of the celestial inhabitants is exhibited as singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."

The resurrection of the body to an immortal life, is also declared, in the plainest and most decisive language. This is one of the peculiar discoveries of Revelation; for, although the ancient sages of the Heathen world generally admitted the immortality of the soul, they seem never to have formed the most distant conception, that the bodies of men, after putrifying in the grave, would ever be re-animated; and hence, when Paul declared this doctrine to the Athenian philosophers, he was pronounced to be a babbler. This sublime and consoling truth, however, is put beyond all doubt by our Saviour and his apostles.-"The hour is coming," says Jesus," when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth: they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemna. tion." "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believ

eth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." "Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead?" We look for the Saviour, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the energy by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself." "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 shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."-The nature of this change, and the qualities of the resurrection-body, are likewise particularly described by Paul in the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians. "It is sown,," or committed to the grave "in corruption; it is raised in incorruption,"―liable no more to decay, disease, and death, but immortal as its Creator.-"It is raised in Power"-endued with strength and vigour incapable of being weakened or exhausted, and fitted to accompany the mind in its most vigorous activities."It is raised in glory"-destined to flourish in immortal youth and beauty, and arrayed, in a splendour similar to that which appeared on the body of Christ when "his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white and glistening."--"It is raised a spiritual body"-refined to the highest pitch of which matter is susceptible, capable of the most vigorous exertions and of the swiftest movements, endued with organs of perception of a more exquisite and sublime nature than those with which it is now furnished, and fitted to act as a suitable vehicle for the soul in all its celestial services and sublime investigations.

Such is a brief summary of the disclosures which the Christian Revelation has made respecting the eternal destiny of mankind-a subject of infinite importance to every rational being-a subject of ineffable sublimity and grandeur, which throws into the shade the most important transactions, and the most splendid pageantry of this sublunary scene-a subject which should be interwoven with all our plans, pursuits, and social intercourses, and which ought never for a moment be banished from our thoughts.-I shall, therefore conclude this department of my subject with a remark or two

On the practical influence which the doctrine of a future state ought to have upon our affections and conduct. When we look around us on the busy scene of human life, and especially when we contemplate the bustle and

pageantry which appear in a populous city, we can scarcely help concluding, that the great majority of human beings that pass in review before us, are acting as if the present world were their everlasting abode, and as if they had no relation to an invisible state of existence. To indulge in sensual gratifications, to acquire power, wealth, and fame, to gratify vanity, ambition, and pride, to amuse themselves with pictures of fancy, with fantastic exhibitions, theatrical scenes, and vain shows, and to endeavour to banish every thought of death and eternity from the mind, appear to be in their view the great and ultimate ends of existence. This is the case, not merely of those who openly avow themseives “men of the world," and call in question the reality of a future existence; but also of thousands who regularly frequent our worshipping assemblies, and profess their belief in the realities of an eternal state. They listen to the doctrines of eternal life, and of future punishment, without attempting to question either their reality or their importance, but as soon as they retire from "the place of the holy," and mingle in the social circle, and the bustle of business, every impression of invisible realities evanishes from their minds, as if it had been merely a dream or a vision of the night. To cultivate the intellectual faculties, to aspire after moral excellence, to devote the active powers to the glory of the Creator, and the benefit of mankind; to live as strangers and pilgrims upon earth, to consider the glories of this world as a transient scene that will soon. pass away, and to keep the eye constantly fixed on the realities of an immortal life are characteristics of only a comparatively small number of individuals scattered amidst the swarming population around us, who are frequently regarded by their fellows as a mean-spirited and ignoble race of beings. Though death is making daily havoc around them, though their friends and relatives are, year after year, dropping into the grave, though poets and orators, princes and philosophers, statesmen and stage-players, are continually disappearing from the living world; though sickness and disease are raging around and laying their victims of every age prostrate in the dust, and though they frequently walk over the solemn recesses of the burying-ground, and tread upon the ashes of "the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge and the ancient, the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator,"-yet they prosecute the path of dissipation and vanity with as much keenness and resolution, as if

every thing around them were unchangeable, and as if their present enjoyments were to last for ever.

If this representation be founded on fact, we may assuredly conclude, that the great bulk of mankind have no fixed belief of the reality of a future world, and that more than the one-half of those who profess an attachment to religion, are as little influenced in their general conduct by this solemn consideration, as if it were a matter of mere fancy or of "doubtful disputation." It is somewhat strange, and even paradoxical, that, amidst the never-ceasing changes which are taking place among the living beings around us, men should so seldom look beyond the grave to which they are all advancing, and so seldom make inquiries into the certainty and the nature of that state into which the tide of time has carried all the former generations of mankind. If a young man were made fully assured that, at the end of two years, he should obtain the sovereignty of a fertile island in the Indian Ocean, where he should enjoy every earthly pleasure his heart could desire, his soul would naturally bound at the prospect, he would search his maps to ascertain the precise position of his future residence, he would make inquiries respecting it at those travellers who had either visited the spot or passed near its confines, he would peruse with avidity the descriptions which geographers have given of its natural scenery, its soil and climate, its productions and inhabitants; and, before his departure, he would be careful to provide every thing that might be requisite for his future enjoyment. If a person, when setting out on a journey which he was obliged to undertake, were informed that his road lay through a dangerous territory, where he should be exposed on the one hand, to the risk of falling headlong into unfathomable gulphs, and, on the other, to the attacks of merciless savages, he would walk with caution, he would look around him at every step, and he would welcome with gratitude any friendly guide that would direct his steps to the place of his destination. But, in relation to a future and invisible world, there exist, in the minds of the bulk of mankind, a most unaccountable apathy and indifference; and not only an indifference, but, in many instances, a determined resolution not to listen to any thing that may be said respecting it. To broach the subject of immortality, in certain convivial circles, would be considered as approach. ing to an insult; and the person who had the hardihood to