SERMON XXIV.

DIVES AND LAZARUS;

OR, THE SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE FOR THE PURPOSES OF SALVATION.

(Intended as a check to Infidelity.)

Luke xvi. 31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

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TERNITY is at hand! Let us take a view of it

A view set before us by Jesus Christ himself: by him "who brought life and immortality to light," and who best knew how to describe the state of a saint in heaven and a sinner in hell. Our text is the close of a parable, designed to reprove the Pharisees, who were covetous and worldly. Here we have an account of a very wicked man who was rich, and of a very good man who was poor. Death came and ended all the pleasures of the one, and all the pains of the other. The rich man, being in hell, desires the poor man may be sent from heaven to convert his brethren on earth; but he is told in these words, that if they will not mind their Bible, they would mind nothing else. This text, my friends, is chosen on purpose to recommend the Bible to you, that you may not neglect the only book, which, under God, is able to save your souls.

We read in the 19th verse- "There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." It is not a sin to be rich; nor is it a sin for the rich to wear handsome clothes, nor keep good tables: but it is very dangerous to the soul to be rich; because those who have much of the world are tempted to love the world too much, to forget God, and to neglect their souls. A life of ease, pleasure, and honour, is so contrary to a life of faith, repentance, and selfdenial, that few rich men are saved.

Ver. 20, 21." And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who 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." Learn from this, that we cannot judge of any man's state,

before God, by his circumstances in the present world. A wicked man may be very prosperous, and a good man may be in great affliction. Poor Lazarus was helpless indeed, as his name signifies: it is hard to be poor, but harder still to be sick and poor. Lazarus could not work, or he would not have begged. He could not even walk. Somebody was kind enough to bring him to the rich man's gate (for there was no parish relief in those days) in hopes that he would be observed, pitied, and relieved. Poor Lazarus was very modest and humble. A bit of broken meat was all he wanted; but this was denied. The wanton pampered dogs came and licked his running sores; which shews that he had not a bit of linen to cover them, and keep them from the air; and he was so weak that he could not keep off the dogs, which seemed ready to devour him.

What a picture is this of a hard-hearted rich man, and a patient beggar! "Dives could not plead that he was oppressed by a number of beggars, for Lazarus was alone; nor that he was unknown to him, for he lies at the gate; nor could he say he was idle, and might work, for he lay helpless on the ground; nor that he wanted a great deal, for he would have been contented with crumbs: not that his servants took care of him, for not one of them relieves him!" Well! if man will not pity, God will.

"It came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom."

No doubt, death was welcome to him. He had nothing in this world, to set his heart upon: that is an advantage which the poor have above the rich. Poor Lazarus sunk at last under his heavy burdens. Perhaps his wounds mortified; or he might be starved to death. But blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; they cease from their labours and troubles, and are at rest. Angels, who are ministering spirits to the saints, carried his departing soul to glory; where, like an honoured guest at a feast, he was placed next to the father of the faithful, in whose steps no doubt he had trod, having been a partaker of the same precious faith in Christ.

The rich man also died, and was buried. "Riches profit not in the day of wrath." Money will not bribe death. Dives was bound to the world by a thousand silken cords

and golden chains; but death broke them all in a moment, and hurried away his guilty, unprepared soul to the torments of hell. What availed his pompous funeral? The pampered carcase must be the food of worms, while his wretched spirit is confined in the region of despair.

"And in hell he lift 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." Ver. 23, 24.

His eyes, once fixed on earth and earthly things, and which were always turned away from God and his word, and now forced to look upward and the glimmering of light only serves to discover, at a dreadful distance, the happiness he had lost by his sins, and the bliss of that neglected child of God, who once lay and perished at his gate.

Observe. Now he prays. He should have prayed on earth, then he would have been heard. He prays to a saint; he should have prayed to God. He pleads relation to Abraham, calling him Father. Church privileges, or relation to pious people, will not save wicked professors. He asks for mercy, but he asks too late; the door of mercy is for ever shut. He does not expect deliverance, he asks only a moment's partial ease; but this he asks in vain; and how just it is, that he who refused a crumb, should be denied a drop! Observe the answer-ver. 25. "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."

Mark this well, you who place your happiness in eating and drinking, and putting on fine clothes. Are these your "good things?" Poor portion indeed! No man can have a greater curse than to be rich, and take his pleasure, and enjoy himself continually, if this be his all; if his heart is set on these things, while he lives in sin, neglects his soul, and is alienated from the life of God. The remembrance of such a carnal state will be the hell of hell. Remorse for such cursed folly is "the worm that never dies," and will add fuel to the fire that shall never be quenched. La

zarus had all his evil things on earth. He had borne the cross, as every one must do, who follows Christ. Not that he was sayed by his poverty and afflictions. There is no merit in these things. Christ alone can save us from our sins; and there are many who are miserable here, who will he miserable also in hell. But Lazarus was a pardoned sinner, and was born of God. Perhaps his afflictions led him to God; and it is happy for poor people when their troubles are sanctified to them, when they learn the evil of sin in the evil of suffering, and having no comfort of a worldly kind, seek comfort in the knowledge of Christ and true religion.

"And besides all this, said Abraham, 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;" ver. 26. Awful separation! Now saints and sinners meet in the same church; but the distinction will soon be made, and no more intercourse be suffered for ever. The kindest relation, the dearest friend, cannot come to speak one word of comfort to the lost soul; nor can the prisoner of hell ever make his escape, or obtain a release for a single hour. But though the miseries of the damned admit of no relief, they are capable of addition. Should their relations come thither, seduced to sin by their counsel or example, it would add to their torments. This was what Dives dreaded, and therefore he cries to Abraham, ver. 27, 28. "I pray thee, therefore, Father, that thou wouldst 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."

Dives felt the hell which he formerly disbelieved. He had made a jest of hell many a time, and laughed at the fears of religious people, and their pains to avoid it. He had taught his brothers to do the same; and encouraged by his example to persist in a sinful course, he had reason to expect each of them would follow him to hell, accuse him as their tempter, and charge their ruin to him. This, he knew, would increase his sufferings.

Let this be a warning to those who encourage their acquaintance to drunkenness, whoredom, dishonesty, or other

sins. Great is the guilt of enticing others to sin, and great will be their torment, when a new sufferer arrives to lay his ruin at their door.

Ver. 29. "Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." From this answer it is plain, that in the judgment of Christ there was enough in the Scriptures of the Old Testament to convince men that there is another life after this; a future state of rewards and punishments, whatever some pretend to the contrary. It was the privilege of the Jews to have this testimony; it was sufficient for their conviction; and it was the sin and ruin of those who disregarded it. We, my friends have the same advantage, and a much greater added to it. We have Christ, the Evangelists and the Apostles; let us hear them.

Dives was not satisfied with this reply, but said, ver. 30. "Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." He carries with him to hell the same slight thoughts he had of the Bible when on earth. He presumes to be wiser than God, and to dictate a more effectual mean of conversion than God was pleased to appoint. It is as if he had said, "They do not mind the Bible; its doctrines, commands, and threatenings, are grown familiar to them; nay, they make a jest of it all. But an apparition would startle them: if Lazarus, whom they knew to be a good man, were to appear to them, and tell them how happy he is in heaven, and how miserable I am in heil, they would be alarmed, converted, and forsake their sins."

Observe, now, the final answer that Abraham gives-"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." This answer well suits the present times; when many wicked men, with a boldness unknown in former days, try to rob us of our Bibles, and cheat us out of eternal life. There is nothing new, my friends, under the sun. The Devil began his works of destruction by persuading Eve to disbelieve the word of God. He has carried on his murderous designs by the same means ever since: and he is making a bold push, by his infamous agents at this day, to keep people in their sins, by denying the truth of Scripture, and so