fleeting. Every year brings us nearer to the great mystery. We know full well that every eoul among us will soon solve the awful riddle of futurity. Surely, then, it is of eome moment that we should stand in right relations with the world of the dead, if only we can know what those relations should be. IIL GoD BULEB OVER THE REALMS OF THE DEAD. The psalmist, when meditating on the Divine omnipresence, exclaimed, "If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there " (Pa. cxxx.ix. 8). 1. Therefore it is vain to hope to escape from God by the gate of death. The suicide is mistaken if he thinks he will elude the grasp of the great Avenger. 2. God will maintain order and justice in the realm of the dead. Bad souls do not descend into a Miltonic hell, ruled over by Satan and his crew, at whose mercy they must be without the interference of God. Such a pandemonium does not exist.. As far as the Bible is a guide on the subject, there seems to be a solemn order in the regions of the dead. 'l'he confusion of earth does not reach the silent rea.lms on the other side of the dark river. If we would be well dealt with there, we must be right and straight with God's justice here. IV. THE REALM OF TllE DEAD WILL BE A DOLEFUL PLACE FOR TllE SINNER. The old delights will all be extinguished. The worldly store will be left behind. If the soul has no better treasure, it will be starved and beggared. The strongest and most exalted on earth will find that their power and rank are utterly gone. There kings lie low. 'l'he guilty soul will stand naked, with all its sin exposed. There will be no shelter from wrath and punishment. Christ alone can save us from lhis doleful prospect, by giving us his life eternal. V. THE WORLD WILL WEAR A NEW ASPECT WHEN VIEWED FROM TllE REALM OF THE DEAD. Seen from the sun, the earth must appear to be o. very small planet. Many gteat interests, delights, and distresses of earth must seem but poor child's play to the large sad eyes of death, but spiritual experiences must seem intensely real. Yet every man will be himself still. Pharaoh is recognized. The future is linked on to the past; it will look back on the past, and gravely judge it. Ver. 27 (" Their iniquities shall be upon their bones ").-Indelible sin. The idea. seems to be that the guilty Egyptians shall not have honourable burial like that of the kings and princes who have been laid in the tombs with their weapons of war by their side-a token that they may yet roo.m as great fighting heroes through the dim regions of the nether world. 'l'he Egyptians are forbidden this prospect. They who of nil people cared for the preservation of the bodies of the dead, by embalming and burying in huge pyramids, are to ho.ve their bones flung in a. heap like a confused mass of corpses hurriedly gathered together from a. bo.ttle-fiold. 'l'his is a punishment of sin. I. SIN ON0E COMMITTED REMAINS WITH THE SINNER. Our own deeds are our lo.sting possession. We mo.y lose all else and still not lose them. lu the exciting moment of temptation the foolish fancy is entertained that the sin may be quickly committed nnd then left behind. The sinner will flee from his guilt and leave it in the dark depths of some distant forest. Alas I this is impossible. The awful thing pursues its maker into the wilderness, into the city, into the sacred sanctuary of the home. II. SIN ENTERS DEKPLY INTO THE NATURE OF THE BINNER. It is not merely a deed of the ho.nd. If it were that only it would have no morn! character. But it springs from the inner being, and it comes home to roost. Though the flesh be bCrRped from the bones, still the sin remains, ns though cleo.ving to the very skeleton-it is so close a companion, its seat is so terribly centred within. III. SIN PURSUES THE BINNER AFTER DEATH. The sinner does not cnrry his wealth with him, but he carries his wickedness. His estate must be left behind, bis iniquity will accompany him. His body he must cast off, but he cannot cast off his sin. The man and his sin will enter into the dread world of the dead together, there to be judged by God, there to reap the consequences of their fearful partnership. IV. No HUMAN EXPERIENCE CAN REMOVE SIN. Iniquities lying ou tho very bones of tho dead I Who shall tear them off and fling them away? Tears will not wash them out, for tears cannot undo the past. Amendment will not destroy them, for even if that bo possible, it is wholly a thing of the future, it does not touch the record of the past. v. CHRIST DLOTS OUT SIN THAT IS OTllERWISE INDELI.DLE, He cannot deny history, 174 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [en. xun.1-32.
tllm back the wheels of time and unknit the web of the past. But he can and ho does offer pardon. When sin is forgiven God will remember it no more against the sinner (Jer. xxxi. 34). With pardon Christ also brings a new heart aud life. The new inner J,fr. has had nothing to do with the olJ sin. It makes a fresh start unhampered with the ugly burden of the past. This great result is brought about on Ohrist's side by his <leath and resurrection (Rom. iv. 25), and on our side through penitence and faith (Acts iii. 19).