Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/248

236 into eternal glory these bodies will return to dust. But the wicked are reunited to their bodies for evermore. They can never again be free of them. And henceforth they have but the nature of the flesh. There is nothing spiritual left to them, with which to lessen the heaviness of their flesh. All that the flesh lusteth for, they attain; and then, when the flesh wearieth of that which it attaineth, their lust is turned to nausea; and one of hell's chief torments is to have known the delights of being in the spirit and then to return to the flesh.'

" 'And the eternal flames,' I asked, 'are they real flames, that burn and scorch the body?'—'They are the inward flames of eternal desire without hope of satisfaction.' Then on my head he placed a helmet. 'This,' he said, 'is the helmet of Salvation, which I place on thy head, lest the flames should scorch thee.'

"Then I knew that I was saved by the love of Jesus, and that I should descend to hell only to see the woe I had escaped; and I fell to the ground and thanked the Lord that, of His mercy, He had redeemed me; and I vowed a vow that, when I should return to the body, I would give all that I possessed, and follow Jesus, for that naught else availed in this world. Then I took his hand, and he led me through the air, and my heart was filled with a grievous dread of that which I should see.

" 'Now thou shalt know what is real sin,' said the Spirit to me. 'Many indeed already think they know; but the ways of the Lord are different from those of man, and many who thought that they were righteous groan now in hell.'