"Free from the law, beneath whose mortal sway
Matter is changed, and varying forms decay,
Elysium shall be thine: the blissful plains
Of utmost earth, where Rhadamanthus reigns.
Joys ever young, unmix'd with pain or fear,
Fill the wide circle of th' eternal year:
Stern winter smiles on that auspicious clime;
The fields are florid with unfading prime;
From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow,
Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow;
But from the breezy deep, the blest inhale
The fragrant murmurs of the western gale."

"They whose spirit thrice refined
Each arduous contest could endure,
And keep the firm and perfect mind
From all contagion pure;
Along the stated path of Jove
To Saturn's royal courts above

Ном. Odyss. 1. ΙV. v. 561.

Have trod their heavenly way,
Where round the islands of the blest
The ocean breezes play;
There golden flow'rets ever blow,
Some springing from earth's verdant breast;
These on the lonely branches glow,
While those are nurtured by the waves below.
From them the inmates of these seats divine

Around their hands and hair the woven garlands twine."

PIND. Olymp. π. ν. 123.

"On the death of an Egyptian, if there be none to accuse, or lay to his charge any crime, all his kindred leave off mourning and begin to set forth his praises; they declare his piety towards the gods, and his justice towards men, his chastity, and other virtues; and pray the deities to receive him into the society of the just. The common people take up the cry and proclaim that he is to live for ever with the just in the kingdom of Jove." DIOD. SIC. 1. 1. c. 92.

"The Brachmans believe that death is to philosophers the beginning of a real and happy life." - STRAB. 1. XV. c. 1.

"That place under the earth into which the Egyptians imagine the souls of the dead descend, is called in their language Amenthe." -PLUT. de Isid. et Osirid. c. 29.

"Unspotted spirits you consign

To blissful seats and joys divine."-HOR. 1. 1. carm. 10.

See notes on 2 Tim. i. 10.

14. This is the second death.

"After their death in the world the good lead a life of rest and peace; yet not altogether a blessed and divine life, until they die a second death, of which I will tell you more hereafter." - PLUT. de fac. in orb. lun. c. 27.

REVELATION ΧΧΙ.

19. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald ; 20. The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the

eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

In the mythologic earth of Plato it is said :

"The mountains are smooth and transparent and glowing with beautiful colours; of which the well-known stones that are here so highly prized are but fragments, such as sardin stones, jaspers, and emeralds, and all others of the kind."-PLAT. Phædo, c. 59.

"The whole city is of native gold, and its surrounding ramparts of emeralds. Each of its seven gates is cut out of one trunk of the cinamon tree; the entire ground of the city, and the pavement of all the streets and squares is of ivory; the temples of the gods are built of cubic blocks of beryl, and the high altars on which the hecatombs are sacrificed, of one sole amethyst. The inhabitants have properly no body (for they are impalpable, and without flesh and bone) but have only the figure and idea of it; notwithstanding this they walk, and sit, and have all their senses, and converse like other men. In short their soul appears to walk about quite naked, having merely the semblance of a body wrapped about them.

"No one here grows old, but remains always of the same age as when he first arrived. Neither is there anything of what we term night, nor what we properly call day; but it is never brighter nor darker than our twilight before sunrise. They know only one season; for with them it is perpetual spring, and zephyr is the only wind that blows there." - LUCIAN. Ver. Hist. 1. II. с. 11.

24. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it : and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

"The regions mild of peace,

Full joy and calm eternity of ease.
There no rude winds presume to shake the skies,

No rain descends, no snowy vapours rise;
But on immortal thrones the blest repose;
The firmament with living splendour glows."

HOM. Odyss. 1. VI. v. 42.

"If I had carried off the whole of the fire from heaven, what damage should 1 have done; since the inhabitants of heaven do not suffer cold, neither do they need artificial light."-LUCIAN. Prom. c. 18.

"When the body perishes, the soul surveys the etherial regions and is filled with splendid light."-MAX. TYR. diss. 41.

"Meditate upon that blessed day when the mysteries of nature shall be revealed to you, this darkness be dispersed and the light shall break in on you on every side. Imagine with yourself how great that brightness is, where so many stars mingle their glorious beams; a light so serene and clear, that not the least shadow of darkness shall rest upon it: all heaven shines out with equal splendour: day and night have their turns only on this earthly globe and the regions round about it." - SENEC. Epist. 102.

27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

"Thither no wicked and impure person shall ever be able to come; but the good, after their death in the world, being carried thither, lead an easy life in peace and repose." PLUT. de fac. in orb. lun. c. 27.

THE END.

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