PART IV.

PERSONAL AND ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES OF ACCEPTING OR REJECTING THE OFFERS OF THE GOSPEL.

§ 1. RETRIBUTION.

Lect. XXV. The rich man and the beggar-Death terminates probation.

§ 2. JUDGMENT, OR FINAL DISCRIMINATION.

Lect. XXVI. The Drag-net-The final discrimination.

§ 3. REWARDS PROPORTIONED TO MERIT.

Lect. XXVII. The absence of the King-Rewards equitably dis

66

tributed.

XXVIII. The Rich Fool-Grave miscalculations.

XXIX. The buried Talent-Neglect of Duty, and its con

sequences.

XXX. The Prince's Wedding-A soul unfit for heaven.

XXXI. The barren Fig-tree-A useless life ending in ruin.

66 XXXII. The Ten Virgins-Unprepared for death.

LECTURE XXV.

DIVES AND LAZARUS; OR, DEATH, THE END OF PROBATION.

LUKE XVI. 19-31.

"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

WHAT a contrast is here exhibited in the lives of two men! One is described as having for the object of life, self-indulgence. He was not vulgar, riotous,

vicious; only godless, irreligious, selfish, prayerless, and worldly. The other had his hope in God and heaven. Dives (for so we agree to call him, after the Latins), had all the leisure which wealth could secure for an uninterrupted attention to the service of God and his soul's welfare; all the opportunity it can furnish for pious labors. But he lived for himself and the world. Then their conditions are contrasted. The one is rich; the other, poor. Then they are contrasted in their deaths. The one was buried; doubtless elegantly, attended by many mourning friends. The other died. But his body is not mentioned here, as no one cared for it. Then their destinies are contrasted. This was the point of the story. The form of worldliness our Saviour was particularly reproving on the occasion of describing these men, was covetousness. He therefore showed that money imposes responsibilities on its possessors, while it also furnishes them the means of selfindulgence. It is on the latter fact men are prone chiefly to dwell in their estimate of wealth; on the former their Redeemer would fix their supreme attention. He further reminds us that money cannot be carried away; so that wealth and poverty alike terminate with life. He also shows that men may pass from the two extremes of this life to the two opposite extremes of the next. Honors, possessions, enjoyments, may be exchanged for shame, poverty, and misery; while also the latter may be exchanged for the former. Here the unseen world is unveiled; and both conditions of human beings are shown to be extreme. Here we see the first becoming last, and the last first; the highest taking the lowest place, and the lowest passing to the highest. We see, here, also, the man who was

prayerless on earth forced to pray in hell. And yet it is a strange specimen of prayer; made, not to God, but to a saint; and faring, as all other prayers to departed saints, little to the benefit of the petitioner. But the prominent feature of the parable is that of death, as the introduction to an eternal condition of blessedness or woe. Both these men die, as all others must. One is described as dying under the guardianship of angels, who carry his spirit directly to a state of repose and blessedness. Of the other, our attention is called to his burial, in order to see the vain pomp of a man's burial, whose soul may be in hell, while men` are pronouncing a eulogy on his virtues. We are not informed whether they passed to a planet, or to open space. Our curiosity is never gratified as to the part of space where departed spirits are gathered after death; perhaps, because we cannot now comprehend the relations of disembodied spirits to space. The infinitely more important point is presented with the utmost clearness and fulness, that there are two perfectly contrasted states there. And the parable confirms the most solemn views any one can possibly take of death. It is here presented as an exchange of good for evil, and evil for good; as an accumulation of evil or of good.

Our attention is first called then to notice,

I. THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE CHANGES DEATH

PRODUCES.

We are taught here,

1. That it is an exchange of conditions for both classes. That is, the one exchanges all his evil for good; the other, all his good for evil. "Son, remem