for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." By the outpouring of the Holy Spirit the apostles were not only endowed with power to perform miracles, but also both they and their successors were to be made the instruments of spiritual conversion; sin was to be dethroned, righteousness was to be established, and Satan, the prince of this world, was to be bound over to the judgment of the last day. Christ came into the world to lay the foundation of His Church, but He appointed His followers to be the builders, under the direction, and by the aid of the Spirit, after His departure from the world. Thus it pleased His wisdom to do more by the hands of His weak servants in the world than He was pleased to do Himself. Amazing wonder! the disciple in this respect appeared to be above his Master.

2. His going to the Father was an assurance of His constant intercession near the throne of heaven in behalf of His people. His work upon earth was confined within certain limits, and to a certain few; in heaven He secures the universal success of all the prayers and the operations of those who trust in Him. He ever liveth to intercede. In the next verse

He says, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask anything in my name I will do it." Having finished the work which was given Him to do upon earth, all power and authority were invested in Him, so that all things were to be at His command for the promotion of the welfare of those whom He purchased with His own blood. No prayer of theirs shall be left unanswered, no spiritual effort of theirs shall be left unblessed. Yes, brethren, we have a security in His intercession in heaven, and the operations of the Spirit upon earth, that all things shall work together for our good; and being steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.

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The Twenty-sixth Sunday after Trinity.

EVENING SERVICE.-Eternal Punishment-Mark ix.

Verse 44.-" Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

IN perusing the pages of sacred scripture, we find that the eternal world is presented to us as two great provinces, perfectly distinct and solely separated from each other. One of these provinces consists in happiness, the other in misery; the one in joy, the other in sorrow; the one in light, the other in darkness; the one in perfect enjoyment, the other in utter destitution. That we may be induced to desire the one and to dread the other, we find that the strongest language which art can devise, and the most vivid figure which nature can supply, are employed to describe them respectively. For instance, heaven is portrayed by a city of pure gold, like unto clear glass, its foundations being garnished with all manner of precious stones, having a wall of jasper, twelve gates of pearl, and a street of transparent glass. It is called paradise, for its beauty and pleasantness. It is said that there thrones, and crowns, and sceptres, and royal robes, and harps of gold are provided for all the inhabitants; not that those things actually exist according to our notion of them, but they are employed figuratively to meet our faint ideas of comfort, and elegance, and happiness. On the other hand, hell is compared to a prison, where there are chains, and scourges, and fire and brimstone, and the smoke of their torments ascending up for ever and ever. Thus, the most desirable objects in nature are employed to describe the bliss of the redeemed, and the most repugnant things to describe the torments of the condemned. Hence our Saviour in

speaking of the punishment of the wicked says, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." The metaphor is evidently taken from Isaiah lxvi. 24. "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have trangressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." The prophet had here one of two images in view, that is, either the Valley of Hinnom, or the scene of a field of battle. The Valley of Hinnom was formerly a pleasant valley on the east of Jerusalem. Here the idolatrous Israelites erected at one time an image of brass, and devoted themselves to the worship of idols, offering their children in sacrifice at the horrid shrine of the god Moloch. (2 Chron. xxviii. 3.) After the return of theJews from the captivity of Babylon, they regarded this valley as a place of peculiar abomination; and the dead carcases and filth of the city were deposited there, and it was not unfrequently the place of execution; it became, therefore, extremely offensive. The air was polluted and pestilential, and to preserve it in any way pure it was necessary that fires should be kept continually burning. The extreme loathsomeness of the placethe corruption of the atmosphere, and the lurid fires blazing by night and by day, made it one of the most appalling and terrific objects with which a Jew was acquainted. It was called "the Gehenna of fire," and was the image which our Saviour often employed to denote the future punishment of the wicked. Or probably the image is taken from a scene where the people whose lands had been desolated by invading armies, were permitted to go forth after a decisive battle to walk over the field of the slain, and to see the dead and putrifying bodies of their late formidable foes. Those bodies in which worms were already generated, they gathered together in heaps, and kindled fires, partly to consume the carcases, and partly to preserve the air from pestilential influences. The prophet, by the instruction of inspiration, foresaw that the number should be so great that the wormthe worm feeding on the dead should not die, as long as there

were carcases to devour, and that the fire used to burn the bodies of the dead should not be extinguished until the whole should be consumed. The figure, therefore, denotes great misery as well as certain and terrible destruction. In our text it is applied to the state beyond the grave, and is intended to denote that the destruction of the wicked shall be awful, widespread, and eternal.

Our first enquiry shall, therefore, be, What are we to understand by this worm and this fire? and secondly, The duration of the torments inflicted by them.

I. What are we to understand by this worm and this fire? Are we to understand that there will be in hell a natural worm such as is generated in a dead body, and elemental fire such as we are accustomed to on earth? We cannot conceive this possible: the language is solely figurative. The worm implies the remorse of a polluted conscience, and the fire implies the consciousness of the displeasure of an offended God. And what pains can be more intolerable-what torments can be more fierce-than such awful reflections incessantly gnawing the guilty soul? Remorse is a most undesirable companion in the present world. There are no pains so hard to bear-no sufferings so difficult to endure, even now, as a guilty mind; but now it is merely like cold brimstone lying on the soul, when death opens the door for sparks of Divine vengeance to enter in, then unextinguishable flames will be produced; and what language can expresswhat imagination can conceive-the excruciating agonies endured by the subjects of those miseries!

Connected with this fact there are a few things which may be profitably considered.

1. This worm is produced by sin. It was not generated until man became "dead in trespasses and sins." What a world of happiness surrounded our first parents in the garden. of Eden! There was nothing to mar their joy-nothing to disturb their peace: nature smiled on every side. A clear sky, a pure atmosphere exhilarated their spirits, a fertilising

soil produced all the variety which they could desire, an abundance of the most delicious fruits supplied all their wants, while a variety of the richest flowers met their eyes with beauty, and filled the air with fragrance. All things constituted to their pleasure and amusement, and the inward serenity of their minds was not surpassed by the outward calm and placid scenery around them. This was their state when sin found them; but the moment it entered, the whole scene was changed: confusion and misery took the place of harmony and happiness; vice dethroned virtue; thorns and briars took the place of fruit and flowers; a sordid downcast overspread the countenance that was before so frank and serene, and the worm that never dies, being bred in the soul, Adam and Eve fled to hide themselves among the trees of the garden from the presence of the Lord. Yes; from that day to this sin has been the precursor of guilt, and guilt has been the inevitable consequence of sin.

2. The size of the worm is commensurate with the magnitude of the sin. Hence the declaration of Christ, " And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself," &c. (Luke xii. 47, 48.) Though we know that every sin is a transgression of the law, and that he who offendeth in one point is guilty of the whole, there is no such thing as a small sin every sin is mortal; every sin is damnable; yet, a repetition of sin adds to the accumulation of guilt, and consequently, to the accumulation of punishment. It is thus God's justice will be vindicated in the final distribution of punishment. Every man shall bear his own burden. When the child of ten years old dies unpardoned, he shall have a sufficient load of guilt to make him for ever miserable, but it will be light in comparison with the burden of that wretch who lived threescore years and ten in a continued series of crime and wickedness. This is a most solemn part of the subject; for if a man be determined to die impenitent, it would be inconceivably better for him to die this moment, than to live additional twenty years in a course of sin. For every year, every month, every week, every day will add to