That was surely no unconscious life which St. Paul saw when he was
caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable things, nor was it a
blank unconsciousness that he looked for in his desire "to depart and
be with Christ which is far better" (Phil. i. 23).

Do you want further proof? Look at our Lord and the thief on the
cross. The two men had been hanging together dying on the cross, just
about to get through the veil to the world beyond. The poor thief did
not know what was beyond that veil--darkness, insensibility, stupor,
oblivion. The only one on earth who did know hung there beside him.
And when the poor dying one turned with the words, "Lord, remember me
when Thou comest in Thy kingdom," He promptly replied, "To-day thou
shalt be with Me." If any one knew, surely He knew. If it meant
anything, it meant, "There shall be no oblivion, no unconscious
sleeping. To-night, when our dead bodies lie here upon the cross, you
and I shall live and know each other as the two men who hung dying
together on Calvary." Ah! the wonder to him as he went in beyond the
veil, as though the Lord would lead him, lest he should be afraid.

Beyond all question God has revealed to you plainly enough that your
beloved has gone into a full, vivid, conscious life. He is more alive
to-day than he ever was on earth.

What follows? This. If I am fully conscious what am I conscious of?
Surely, first of all I must be conscious of myself, conscious of the
continuity of my personal identity, conscious of the continuity of my
personal character. I must feel that I am the same "I," I am still
"myself." Death which removes only the outer covering leaves the Ego
just where it was. No better. No worse. The Bible lays no emphasis
at all on death as making any change in character. Our Lord assumes
the characters as remaining the same. The mere act of dying does not
alter character. I am the same I. I have entered into a new
environment more favourable for the exercise of my faculties, more
adaptable to the acquisition of knowledge, more helpful, I trust, to
growth in good. But I am the same "I." As I leave off here I begin
there. I take into that world just myself as I have made it. If I
have made the best of myself what more should I desire to take?
Consciousness, Memory, Thought, Love, Character. If I have not made
the best of myself, if I have acquired a distaste for God, for
holiness, still I take in myself just as I stand.